Hi All,

Any interest in pencils, both Wood and Mechanical pencils?

I think I may have mentioned, possibly a long, long, time ago...I collect pencils.  Dorky hobby, I know.  But, I enjoy it it!  A lot actually!  It's a hobby, like woodworking, which I can continue to do as I get older, and it's pretty interesting as well.  Surprisingly interesting...surprisingly.

In the Wood pencil category, I try to collect what (among collectors, and yes, there are actually other dorks like me) are known as 'Premium Wood pencils'.  Generally, this means graded graphite pencils, not to be confused with your run of the mill common yellow school pencils (which do have a grade embossed on them, usually "2 HB" (which is actually an incorrect misnomer reference)).  These are often referred to as a "standard Number 2 pencil".  There's a long history behind how this pencil became known this way, but there's also a very long history associated with pencils in general.  And, believe it or not, pencils in their current form were quite a revolutionary development in their day.  Even more of a revolutionary development than the pen which really wasn't all that revolutionary at all.  Before the pencil's invention there was really nothing to write with which could be erased, and a pencil could.  And, paper as we know it today was outrageously expensive, so being able to erase things was a very important development.  

The very first 'pencil' was invented somewhere around, or just before, 1599.  The exact date is debatable, and the reason for this is the pencil took many, many, forms before it took the shape we know it as today.  And, when I say "many, many", I mean just that, prior to 1599 there were countless writing instruments, which also had various names, of just about every shape and size you can imagine.  In fact, the earliest pencils weren't even pencils at all, but rather a chunk of rock, graphite or antimony, which would leave a mark on paper.  So, as you can imagine, this evolution took on many forms before arriving at what we know today.

I'll keep this short(er) for easier reading, but if anyone is interested, I can share however much people are interested in knowing about pencils.  I am particularly interested in wood pencils, but I can also converse in mechanical pencils as well, because I also collect those.

Enjoy!!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.....

           


Billionaire Larry Ellison says a vast AI-fueled surveillance system can ensure 'citizens will be on their best behavior'


Waybackmacine link

Quote:

• Larry Ellison says AI will enable a vast surveillance system that can monitor citizens.
  
• Ellison, the billionaire cofounder of Oracle, shared his thoughts on AI during a recent meeting.
  
• Oracle, a software company, is aggressively pursuing AI projects.
  

Quote:[/url]

Walking down a suburban neighborhood street already feels like [url=https://www.businessinsider.com/does-ring-camera-spy-on-you-2023-6]a Ring doorbell panopticon.

But this is only the start of our surveillance dystopia, according to Larry Ellison, the billionaire cofounder of Oracle. He said AI will usher in a new era of surveillance that he gleefully said will ensure "citizens will be on their best behavior."
Ellison made the comments as he spoke to investors earlier this week during an Oracle financial analysts meeting, where he shared his thoughts on the future of AI-powered surveillance tools.

Ellison said AI would be used in the future to constantly watch and analyze vast surveillance systems, like security cameras, police body cameras, doorbell cameras, and vehicle dashboard cameras.
"We're going to have supervision," Ellison said. "Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there's a problem, AI will report that problem and report it to the appropriate person. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on."
Ellison also expects AI drones to replace police cars in high-speed chases. "You just have a drone follow the car," Ellison said. "It's very simple in the age of autonomous drones." He did not say if those drones would broadcast the chases on network news.

Ellison's company, Oracle, like almost every company these days, is aggressively pursuing opportunities in the AI industry. It already has several projects in the works, including one in partnership with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Ellison is the world's sixth-richest man with a net worth of $157 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Ellison's children have made names for themselves in the film industry. His daughter Megan Ellison founded her production company Annapurna Pictures in 2011, and his son David Ellison is set to become CEO of Paramount after it completes its merger with Skydance Media.

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CIA's Ark of the Covenant quest revived as new revelations point to biblical relic's location

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has reignited interest in the sacred relic by spotlighting declassified 1988 CIA documents that allegedly used psychic 'remote viewing' to track it.
'The CIA allegedly located the Ark of the Covenant,' Luna said on the Joe Rogan Experience, calling it an 'Indiana Jones moment.'
The documents detail Remote Viewer No. 032, trained to perceive distant objects through psychic means, being given coordinates to observe an unidentified target. 
The viewer's notes reportedly described a 'container of wood, gold, and silver' adorned with seraphim, hidden in a 'dark and wet' underground site in a Middle Eastern region with 'mosque domes' and Arabic-speaking locals in white robes.


There has always been a theory that Rabbis are hiding the Ark under the Temple Mount in a cave, and will bring it out at the right time.

would dearly love to see it discovered

IMO there is nothing more capable of evil than our fellow human beings. Just look at the news and the world around you for evidence. In the following story Evil is the predominate force while the Good is but hanging on to a shoe string of life.

WC3 The 4th of July

It was the 4th of July and I was supposed to meet a new girl I really had the hots for, an guide her to my lake cabin. We had been semi dating, when our schedules permitted, over the last couple of months so I was really happy we finally got a chance for a few days to be together. She was a Flight Attendant for the Airline I worked for and we had met on a long international flight with several layovers. The whole crew had gone out to eat on one of the layovers in Paris and for some reason we seemed to be seated directly across from each other..

The 'some reason' was due to my devilish plans I assure you. During that night and over the next few days of the trip we got to know each other. She had actually traded positions with the first class flight attendant so she could provide what little service there was to the pit (flight deck).

Just random thoughts of my first seeing her as I packed the fishing gear and brought two AR-15s along with a couple of pistols to shoot. Lisa had said she shot her father's guns before and really liked the thrill of shooting. So, I figured between fishing and shooting, if things did not work out for the bedroom, at least we would have something to do for a couple of days.

I arrived at the gas station I had told her to meet me at and as luck would have it she pulled in right beside me. After the normal greetings and insuring she did not want anything from the limited offerings of the food court at the gas station we departed in two cars for the cabin. Two cars; a form of insurance for the both of us just in case either one of us got tired of each others company.

Actually we had a wonderful time for the next few days and I was really thinking, “Finally someone who was both smart and fun to be with without being girly weird”.

It was agreed after packing the cars with our stuff that Lisa would follow me to my place and leave her car there while we went to a real restaurant and enjoyed a meal that someone else would have to prepare for us.

My Lake Cabin was in a valley where there was usually no cell phone coverage so I suppose that is why once I cleared the high mountain pass, my phone went crazy with notifications of missed calls and messages pending!

The first message I looked at just said, “We have been invaded and martial law has been declared”!

Well, that got my attention, so I turned on my hazard flashing lights and pulled to the side of the road. Lisa stopped directly behind me and in my rear view mirror I could see she was studying her cell phone too.

I read several of the messages and they all basically said the same thing. There had been some Alien star ship arrive in the wide open spaces of Arizona close to Area 51 and Groom lake. The first government assets to arrive at the location had reportedly been destroyed with no survivors !

So much for friendly Aliens and singing songs around a camp fire in some type of galactic brotherhood pow wow, no ?

As I was calling a friend of mine by the name of John, Lisa opened the passenger side door of my car and took a seat next to me with her own cell phone in hand.

I placed my cell phone on 'speaker phone' so she could hear the conversation.

Lisa joining me made me feel better just by her presence. She was smart enough to listen attentively and remain quiet even though her eyes were wide and looked almost scared”.

“John what to heck is going on”?

“Hey, where have you been I've been calling you for two days”!

“Lisa and I were at the cabin by the lake”.

“Oh, OK, that explains it. Man the crapola has hit the fan big time”!

There was a slight pause for effect and then John continued. “Little and his family were visiting their in-laws when the ship's arrival was announced. They then returned home to find their house occupied by police and DHS which informed them their house was now commandeered as a command center..... they would need to go to camp Evens for shelter during this national crisis. Everyone is being told to go to the closest camp where they will be cared for or to shelter in place until authorities can come for them. Little told me all this before he arrived at Evans and now it seems like his cell phone is off...... I can't raise him”.

John continued, “I went back to my city condo only to find the street blocked off by a bunch of guys in black battle rattle carrying ARs and backed up by Armored Personnel Carriers. I was also told, go to camp Evens. Christ man, they gave me a map and everything......They even offered to have someone ride with me if I wanted ! I lied and told them I had actually worked on the camps construction and was very familiar with its' location; so there would be no need for a ride along. They bought the story and I am now holed up with Roger, Mark, Sam, and Bob in the club house on the golf course. Everyone’s family, except for Bobs, are here with us”.

“Bob's wife and kids took a plane to see her parents in Texas and can not get back for all domestic flights are grounded..... His wife and kids are being told to go to Camp Hershel. Around Ft. Hood..... This is some weird shit man....... On all the news stations there are only 'emergency broadcast' saying go to some local camp until the government can figure out what to do”.

“Why didn't you guys go to a camp John”?

“We were going to until I caught the video of the ship. The news reports that were shown at first showed a really big, maybe 5 miles across, ship sitting low above the desert as some of our military arrived at the location. There was a flash and the video went dead. They then showed a video from a chopper which was supposedly taken during the attack. The chopper video went blank during the flash and when the camera came back on you could see the Alien ship and several blackened burned out vehicles not a 1/4 mile from the ship”.


“Jay I am telling you now that film and the attack was fake”!

“Fake, how do you know”?

“I was the chopper pilot who filmed those vehicles used in the invasion news report while I was in Iraq.......... It was Roger my front seater and I who attacked and destroyed those vehicles on highway One! They just did CGI for the ship and spliced my gun camera footage to make their story believable”!

“John are you sure”?

“Absolutely man ! Those were ISIS I caught with U.S. Military equipment not 20 clicks from Baghdad and that film is my BDA gun camera footage of the event”!

“OK John you guys need to move now ! If this is the long awaited false flag event everyone has felt was over due, NSA already knows where you guys are. If you can get to our float plane and stay low you know where we will be..... I will try and contact you tomorrow around 12 noon for a quicky update”.

As I hung up Lisa looked at me and said, “I had fun at the cabin and there are plenty of fish in the lake so it won't be like we are going to starve now will it? We will just have to do Steak and a Baked potato another day”.

“ Ya Know, I can't think of anyone I would rather be with than you” I replied, as I tried to sound cool, calm, and collected.

I then added,“Thanks Lisa for not going off the deep end.”

She giggled and said,“My daddy was special forces and I was a military brat so I know when to lose it and when to hold it; most of the time”!

“ Military Brat ! No wonder you can shoot like some Ace of the Base” !

She just smiled back at me for acknowledging her marksmanship; which I had already done several times over these last two days..

“Since it looks like we will be at the cabin for awhile, there is something I did not tell you before...... from the front right corner of the cabin if you walk 90 paces or about 90 yards, parallel to the front of the house there is a well hidden cellar where I have been storing survival food and stuff for the last 10 years. You and I could probably survive at the cabin for the rest of our natural lives barring any type of serious illness”.

I continued, “Hopefully this will all be sorted out before we have to find out just how long vacuum sealed and dehydrated food stuff really last”.

“Wow Jay, aren't you just full of surprises,” she mused....

We returned to the cabin and unpacked our stuff and then went fishing after I showed her the cellar. She was nicely impressed by the sound of her “wow”, for the cellar was 40' by 25' with a 12 foot ceiling. Crates of ammo and food were stacked from floor to ceiling with no space wasted. She just looked at me and commented, “Well aren't you the big pack rat of these here mountains”. I just shrugged and smiled.. trying not to think of all the work that had gone into the making of this (bunker) cellar that had six feet of dirt over its' steel reenforced concrete ceiling. The cellar had not been a half assed project I assure you.

I never considered myself one of the so called Preppers. I was just a guy who had money and time to do things I thought were prudent because of all the things going on in the world and America in particular.

The cabin was great because it was deeply isolated in a lake filled valley but reception for normal radio signals or cellphones was hit and miss at the best of times, or just not available. I never had bothered with a television or a satellite dish for there were always fun things to do or something to work on when I flew or drove to the cabin for a few days.

While fishing I was thinking about the no news and the reception situation so decided I needed to do something about it.

I had purchased a short wave radio a couple of years ago and stored it in the cellar so I figured it was time to get it out and see what we could pick up on the airwaves. It was a receive only radio but at least if there were transmissions we should be able to pick something up if I tied a piece of a long wire to its' short existing antenna. I strung the wire up and around a few tall trees without falling and killing myself and then went for the radio.

The radio was retrieved and was plugged into the generator via a long extension cord but all we could pick up initially were broken and faint emergency broadcast. Finally after hunting around the frequencies and a few slight antenna adjustments I came across one recording of a guy calling all Colorado Oath Keepers to, “Exercise plan 4”. The message was just an 'auto repeat' recording yet even so, as I listened, the signal stopped in mid sentence. I went back to some of the prior frequencies that were broadcasting before and they were all dead now. Someone or something must have pulled the electric plug on everyone ?

The next day I tried to call John at the mountain pass but the cellphones had no signal.

About a month later a familiar float plane landed on our small 4 mile lake. Lisa and I ran down to the dock armed while hoping it would be a friendly face we would see. As the plane taxied closer to the dock I could see someone had used the Beaver for target practice for it had 27 holes that I could count from stem to stern. The radial engine was shut down and with the wind and existing speed the craft coasted (at a speed of slightly less than a big bump) towards our dock which extended for 20 feet into the water.. The forward entry door opened and a figure exited to stand on one of the pontoons; we could see it was sure enough, John!

John tossed a line to us and we were able to pull the aircraft gently next to the dock and secure it to the moorings.

As he stepped off the pontoon and onto the dock John looked like he had lost at least 20 pounds. He was never fat but he looked gaunt and older than I remember him form just a couple of months ago.

Since we were both part owners of the DHC-2 Beaver my first remark was, “Well I hope they shot the crap out of your half and left mine alone”!

He just broke up laughing as he said, “Sorry Jay, I think they got both of us”.

It was a tired nervous laugh which Lisa picked up on, so she invited us to go to the cabin for a nice hot cup of coffee.

After we were seated and Lisa was with us, coffee and all, John started on what had transpired in the American world we once knew.

The current president only had 6 months remaining in his second term of office. (How that guy ever got elected for two terms was beyond all three of us ?)
Since becoming president over 100 million Americans were unemployed as thousands of companies closed their doors to open overseas or just shut down where they stood. In the mean time, millions of uneducated illegal people crossed the borders coming to America and the government welcomed them by providing food stamps, education, and even help in finding jobs. Any attempt to stem the flow of this mass of people by the border states was met by Lawsuits from Washington's D.O.J. along with 'cease and desist' orders by federal judges.

The cover story for martial law had been some hostile Alien ship had landed and was sending out scout ships to attack our cities and some random military basses. There had been some city suburbs almost totally destroyed such as South Chicago and parts of Newark N.J. while others had gone unscathed like Houston and the Dallas Ft. Worth Metroplex.. DHS and other law enforcement agencies had been evacuating small towns and sending everyone to various named camps which were actually the so called Fema camps that many people refused to believe existed. Once you were in a designated camp no one ever heard from you again unless you were one of the chosen few selected to survive.

All cellphones and most of the electricity for the entire nation was out except for the FEMA camps, because they generated their own power.

The lights at the camps attracted people like moths to a flame on a dark night.

John and a few friends had staked out camp Evans for three days and had estimated over one million people had been admitted through the gates. Other than the smoke from the generators the camp was totally quiet. No people outside, except for some guys in SWAT or military attire. Furthermore, there were no kids playing on the swing sets and slides during the day even though the weather had been really nice.

One night John and Bob had gone in close to the wire fence to see what they could find out. The group of people who had been admitted that day were all passed out in the receiving hall evidently for uniformed people were loading bodies onto a flat bed truck at least two hundred at a time. The bodies were stacked like cord wood. The loaded truck would then drive the short distance to the power plant and while it unloaded the bodies, another truck was being filled with more bodies from the receiving hall. From their vantage point they could see some female bodies being separated from the main group to be stripped, fondled, and gawked at, or worse by some of the Unloaders; John almost threw up.

Upon seeing a little of this operation both of them knew they were in well over their heads so they backed off and departed to a more secure observation post. The next day they saw 12 belt loaders being delivered to the camp. John and Bob figured the guys loading the bodies had protested about all the work and no doubt Belt loaders would work much better than all the lifting of bodies onto trucks. The whole process had been laborious and not a very efficient way of moving so many bodies.

Bob and John with most of the Golf course group had joined up with an element of the Colorado Oath Keepers which had formed an armed Militia; they had been on the run and trying to survive ever since.

John had later survived an ambush that was set by DHS so he had decided to try and fly out of his private lake home in the Beaver. During takeoff someone opened up with small arms fire and ventilated the bird with some unneeded holes while barely missing John in the process.

To further reinforce the evil that was being done to the American people, John had only seen citizens killed by our own people who were working for DHS or some other sick law enforcement agency of this so called government. He was at wits end for there was no place to run. No Power, no communication, no food, roving bands of idiots with guns wanting whatever you had to stay alive and out of the camps..... this was the general rule of conduct in the new America he had observed and experienced first hand.

John had seen a family of 4 gunned down in broad daylight in the middle of main street as he was rummaging around for supplies in a closed coffee shop !

It was DHS personnel who had shot these four people for they were seen to come out of the Dairy Queen they were holed up in to kick the bodies and see if anyone was still alive. As John covertly watched a third man came out from the Dairy Queen and appeared to be upset that the 4 had been shot. One of the two who had probably done the original shooting just walked behind this new guy and blew his brains out with an AR chambered in 5.56 using some of the millions of hollow points rounds DHS had been buying over the last few years..

As John was beginning on another part of his story, we all heard what I knew to be the roar of mini gun firing. We charged the door to see what was up just in time to see the Beaver being destroyed in a hail of bullets. A fast mover passed over the lake at low level doing at least the speed of sound for when the sound wave concussion hit us we were almost knocked off our feet by the noise alone. I grabbed Lisa's hand and screamed “Run” as we headed for the cellar. We almost made it before some type of dropped bomb or missile destroyed the cabin.


As I briefly regained consciousness the last thing I saw were the mangled bodies of Lisa and John who had been directly behind me when the cabin was destroyed. They were both unrecognizable for who they once were; just bloody pieces of meat and hair scattered over the blackened forest floor.

How long I was out I really do not know, for the next thing I felt, was a hand on my neck and someone saying, “We got a live one”! Then I must have passed out once again.

I regained consciousness with some of my wits in a cave while laying on a cot. There was an I.V. In my left hand which only hurt very slightly when compared to several other real pains that seemed to want most of my attention . I knew better than to try an move other than my eyes, which thankfully seemed to be one of the few parts of my body that still worked and were not in total rebellion from pain.

A big guy came by and said, “Looks like you are going to make it after all ! I bet the doc pulled enough lumber out of your body to build an outhouse”.

“Where am I,” was my weaker than expected response.

“My friend you are with what's left of our element of the Oath keepers. We call ourselves the CFF which is short for, 'The Constitutional Freedom Fighters' of Colorado”.

“I hope you do not mind but we went through you billfold and found your pilots license. It says you can fly helicopters and fixed wing aircraft with an Airline Transport Pilot License.... When you are well and able there will be a few things you can do for us if you are up to it”.

“Thirsty.... water......please”. I managed to get past my cracked lips.

Post script:

In the first ninety days of this false flag event an estimated 60 million Americans died from the chaos and lack of medicine, water, and food. Another estimated 138 million were put to death in the camps.

The kids between the ages of 6 and 12 were not put to death but were sent to reeducation camps. America was not the only country who was using this model to destroy the 'unneeded and undesirables' of their populations for this was a world wide effort by 80% of all governments..

The answer to the 'why question' was actually simple if you understood the hard core socialist elite and their descendants who had been planning on this conceptual One World Socialist State for almost 90 years.

In this 'new socialist feudal state' everyone the world over would work in government directed programs for 12 hours a day for ten days straight before they could received one day off. All would be paid the same wage and private property was a thing of the past except for the Elite.

Those who complained would be either reeducated or sent to a receiving camp which was nothing more than a code name for a death camp. There was no retirement plan for anyone because, when you became unproductive or to old to work you were sent to a so called medical facility or a retirement home which emulated the receiving camps; in other words you were put to death.

Those who were at the top of this pyramid lived a lifestyle of power and hedonism that has not been seen since the Great Emperors ruled some rich land long ago.

Heads of even the lower local departments for this One World Socialist State were were well provided for either directly or through graft and corruption. Sexual favors were common if one needed a little extra food or an extra day off; providing the local sectional director or one of the staff had an eye for you. Otherwise breeding for replacements was strictly based upon genetics or a particular section leader's desires with his personal harem..

Evidently department heads fell out of favor regularly for there was a continuous reshuffling of the top positions at many departments to include the New Socialist Security Force (SSF) . Usually the reshuffling was preceded by accusing the existing section head of not producing their fair share of some quota which seemed to change at the discretion of the supreme council's edits.

Resistance really was futile. You either submitted to the new section leaders 'will' or you were put to death; sometimes in very perverted and creative ways for all the world to see.

This “Man Made Technocracy of Evil” that came upon the Earth, made the dark ages and the inquisition, seem like heaven on earth by anyone's comparison.

The section leader's children had the best of everything to include special education. While the reeducated young of the masses after a few short years, knew no other life. Any prior history and life style was deleted from their minimal 5 years of education. This existence they now lived was the way it has always been, and would always be, just ask anyone of their caste .

THE END.

The inspiration for the story was given me while listening to the following video.Caravan To Midnight - Episode 250 Patrick Wood: Technocracy Rising
 Final Foot note:

As we used to say in Texas, “It is just a yarn (story) to scare the kiddies at night”.

Any likelihood of any of this happening is strictly for the yarns sake or you can chalk it up to an over active imagination and a writer's contest about good and evil; may we all hope and pray that will always be the case when writing about such matters..

The real, no kidding this time, I kinda promise, THE END...... to a story that has happened to many populations (on a smaller scale) before in various countries (if you leave out the Alien stuff).

We had been asked by USSB Main Que directive to go to a planet called Midgard and establish some sort of dialog with the sentient life forms there..

How do you establish a dialog with a creature that looks like a mythical earth dragon in every way except for the breathing fire part ? Instead of fire the Socory spat a kind of venom, like a spitting cobra does back on earth or the Martie on Salome that would dissolve most things into a rather icky puddle that could be eaten or sipped through a big straw; it was purely a defense mechanism on their part, for with their claws and teeth they would be the top predator on just about any world you could think of without artificial weapons . Either way unless you are covered in Dragon scales or some other form of protection when or if they spat upon you, it would be like having a very strong quick acting acid poured upon you. Absolutely not a nice way to end ones life.

I was rather puzzled at first glance at why anyone would interfere with Midgard's natural evolution for I could not see them ever establishing BULK travel or even interstellar travel.  

At USSB we did not usually interfere with the normal development of a Sentient species; been there done that and learned our lesson thousands if not millions of years ago; let a species sink or swim on their own accord which at times grated on my sense of right and wrong.

The dragons of Midgard were able to fly where ever, whenever, they wanted to, by their own power so instead of looking up and wishing they could fly..... they could just spread their long wings and in a cloud of dust and loose debris, become airborne, naturally. They tended to live in what most would consider small rookeries on many of the big mountains the Midgard planet landscape possessed.

The Socory were omnivores and could eat just about anything which was surprising considering the ferocious looking head and teeth. I initially had them pegged as meat eaters all the way but once again, the old saying of, you can't judge a book by the cover comes to mind. The good news in my opinion was with their claws, as they always had a ready made tooth pick that could reach even the most stubborn food wedgie.

One other interesting fact about their society; the were true conservationist. They never depleted a species of plant or animal beyond a point of no return and they even had breeding areas where they helped some of the food stuff animals prosper. Kinda like farming only with more of a hands off approach.

The whole planet was a very active seismic body that produced huge earthquakes, mountains, and floods due to it's close proximity in orbit with a 23 earth mass gaseous planet that had a rather eccentric orbit. This 4th planet's orbit brought much of it's gravitational effect once a year to Midgard's land, sea, and volcanoes, which seemed to erupt in a seasonal kind of way just like clock work ....

Good place to be able to fly, no?

Tiki our ship carried us unerringly to the Midgard system and once our orbit was established we preformed a typical survey of the planet. There had been survey's before but not in the last couple of years.

Layla my pair bond mate, our two grown children, Fhaa and Sky (and of course Tiki the wondership) watched and waited for the survey to be completed and sent back to USSB Main. We then got down to the business of creating a dialog with these Sentient beast without being turned into a quivering blob of acid induced road kill.

The background on these Dragons of Midgard was actually quite interesting. They were an old race that had evolved from the typical dino stock which many planets go through. Big difference here on Midgard was there had not been a huge celestial impact to wipe out most life forms or several other extinction events inducing a planet wide reset for all life. The eccentric orbiting 4th planet coupled with it's mass had taken all the celestial life threatening impacts (there had been 3 possible impacts) for Midgard over the eons; lucky, lucky, lucky.

Tiki sent two holo droid transmitters out to strategic orbital locations and when they were in place we as a family were holographically sent to where the local Dragon master, (who was called Auhas), was presently in attendance.

Timing is everything. As our USSB mission brief had noted, Auhas was at the great gathering the Socory held twice a year (298 earth days was one Midgard year). This was the 146 day of the year for all the Socory (dragons) to get together, fraternize, meet and greet future mates. There were and would be discussions before the council about any problems the different rookeries might be having in this open air event. It would be hard to get so many Socory that can measure over twenty foot long into one enclosure so the meeting place was held every half year at this particular place on a mountainside. There were several stepped made Dragon terraces of which at the very top was Auhas and the Socory council.

The Dragons communicated via verbal sound waves on occasion but mostly (as any civilized entity does) they communicated telepathically and with body language. No, they were not on par with even my Bio-chip USSB telepathic abilities but at least we could communicate with thoughts and word pictures and hopefully start a lasting dialog without all the mental gymnastics and covert thought patterns we would have had to use if they were non-telepathic. 

Verbal discourse was out of the question for us unless you took the time to decipher about one hundred and fifty different roars, grunts, and burps they produced; Dragon faces and lips do not do well with things like formed words and our vocal range was not conductive to making Socory voice sounds . 

Getting mad or a sign of disgust was usually displayed by raising one's tail and passing a rather obnoxious gas (farting) towards what ever they were displeased with if other ways of communications failed to reach an agreement. Trust me, from what I gather, a dragon fart is not something to be taken lightly and if on the receiving end we would need a bio-hazard suit with it's own independent oxygen supply..

My family and I materialized before the council standing shoulder to shoulder and facing Auhas and all those who were gathered on either side of him.

Auhas was an old Dragon by the looks of him. As we stood there and as all eyes turned in our direction Auhas raised up and in a Dragon sort of way, offered us a greeting.

His greeting consisted of, “I see you”.

Layla replied, “Auhas we see you and come as uninvited friends”.

“Never have I seen such as you before... There are low land creatures that have similar body builds but are crude compared to yours. We call them Sipat”.

A mental image of a small diminutive ape like creature appeared in our receptive minds and I was glad to know they are not usually eaten (to small) according to the information I had previously gleamed through USSB Main.

“State your purpose in appearing before us”.

Fhaa was next to speak, “ Auhas we belong to a culture that flies between the stars. We have come not to interfere with your great gatherings or your worldly endeavors but to invite those who wish to join us, to travel amongst the stars. Your species could be even greater than you already are. All of you could become part of the billions of sentient beings that have joined USSB to investigate and learn the mysteries of the entire multiverse”.

Auhas was forming questions in his mind but I abruptly shut them down by thought transfer, “Auhas we will leave your gathering now and let you and others think about what we have said. We will return in two days time, or at the end of this gathering, to listen to your questions and discuss your decision”.

With that we joined hands and our holographic appearances elevated straight up and out of sight into the heavens.

Tiki had managed the Holographic presentation perfectly; and I told her so.

The abrupt ending to our Socory meeting was all based upon what was known of Socory protocol. USSB had been monitoring these council meeting for thousands of Midgard's years and anything that was brought before the council was always considered and then a list of questions would be put forth by the council a few days later. If the member who brought the question/suggestions to could answer the follow up questions by the council then a determination would be made in favor or against with regards to the petitioner. If there were still unanswered questions then once new answers were provided a determination could be made.

The Socory really were an inquisitive lot for a bunch of flying lizards and they had questions without answers probably since the first Socory took to the air. USSB could answer all their questions and give answers to stuff they have never even dreamed of. Either way it would be their choice. I was still trying to figure out how they would fit Socory on some of our ships unless they entered through a cargo door ?

For the next two Midgard days we did some solar system exploring but except for Midgard the outer planets contained nothing but some beautiful landscapes along with a few fungus and the occasional bacterium. This was basically a dead system except for the Socory home world.

As promised on the second day I alone presented myself holographically before Auhas and the council. The elder council and Auhas wanted to learn more so I spent some time telling him and the council how I had become part of USSB, where I was from, and some of the things I had experienced since joining. They were all keen listeners with quite minds and their thought processing was much quicker than I had expected.

Auhas was over 1200 Midgard years old as were several other members of the council. The oldest I detected was a female 1618 years of age.

What I told them must have worked for Auhas volunteered to receive a bio-chip to learn and pass on to the council and all the Socory his perceptions.

With all the sentient beings that compose USSB who would have ever guessed we would have our very own dragons that would join and become part of the USSB universe ?

I was informed later that all the Socory had wanted to be chipped even the old 1618 female so mission accomplished .  USSB was designing what I would call dragon ships for the Socory; very imposing and majestic ships IMO.

What is wrong with people these days, esp. the academics? And why the hell is this coming from my home state of Michigan?

Quote:Net Zero advocates propose ticks to induce red meat allergy as climate solution sparking backlash

Two ethics professors at Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine, Parker Crutchfield and Blake Hereth, have ignited outrage with a peer-reviewed paper proposing the deliberate promotion of ticks to trigger alpha-gal syndrome (AGS)—a red-meat allergy—to reduce meat consumption and combat climate change. Published in Bioethics, their “Beneficial Bloodsucking” argument frames AGS as a “moral bioenhancer,” asserting that inducing allergies to cattle, pigs and lambs could ethically “prioritize planetary health over personal choice.” The controversial stance has drawn sharp criticism, with opponents calling it a dangerous confluence of pseudo-science and ideological overreach.

Can you create scalar waves by simply pressing your hand palms together ?

     


Were the ancient people way ahead us , knowing about this ? I sincerely think yes, they were . What you think ?


Your Body's Hidden Technology: The Scalar Field Between Your Hands

Quote:Prayer Hands Decoded: The Science Behind Humanity's Most Sacred Gesture


[b]The most advanced healing technology on Earth costs nothing, requires no training, and you've been carrying it since birth. You've probably used it without knowing what it does.
[/b]

Press your palms together right now.
Feel that warmth spreading between them? That subtle tingling, as if something invisible is gathering in the space between your skin?
You've just created what researchers in bioelectromagnetic medicine call a 'coherent field node'—a zone where the measurable electromagnetic emissions from your left and right hands create an interference pattern. The HeartMath Institute has documented that when you bring your hands to your chest and press them together, you're positioning them at the peak intensity of your heart's electromagnetic field, creating measurable increases in heart rate variability coherence—a state associated with optimal physiological function.¹
But here's where the New Biophysics gets interesting—and admittedly controversial.
The Scalar Wave Bridge: Where Measured Meets Mystery

When two coherent electromagnetic waves meet in perfect opposition (what physicists call 'destructive interference'), the standard model says they should cancel out. But researchers like Tom Bearden and Konstantin Meyl propose something else happens: the transverse electromagnetic components cancel, yes, but the energy doesn't disappear. Instead, it transforms into what Tesla called 'longitudinal waves' and what modern researchers term 'scalar waves'—a different form of electromagnetic potential that mainstream physics is only beginning to acknowledge.²
According to this model, documented in peer-reviewed journals like the International Journal of Applied and Advanced Scientific Research, when your hands—each carrying opposite bioelectric charges due to hemispheric brain dominance—come together, you create the precise conditions for scalar wave formation: two coherent biological oscillators meeting in phase opposition.³
Whether we call these measured effects 'scalar waves,' 'longitudinal waves,' or simply 'coherent biofields,' the phenomenon is real and measurable. Thermographic imaging shows palm temperature can increase by 1-3°C during prayer mudra, beyond what simple circulation changes would cause.⁴ SQUID magnetometers have detected changes in the biomagnetic field during qigong 'energy ball' exercises between the hands.⁵ The debate isn't whether something happens when you press your palms together—instruments clearly show it does. The debate is about the exact mechanism and whether it represents a new form of biological information transfer that conventional electromagnetic theory doesn't fully explain.



A More Honest Framework

Let me be clear about what we're exploring here: The 'New Biophysics' isn't a rejection of conventional biology—it's an expansion. Just as quantum mechanics didn't invalidate Newton's laws but showed they were a special case of something larger, researchers in biofield science are suggesting that our current understanding of bioelectromagnetics might be incomplete.
The scalar wave hypothesis is one attempt to explain measurable phenomena that don't quite fit the standard model:

• Distant healing effects that aren't blocked by Faraday cages⁶
  
• Biological responses to extremely weak fields that shouldn't be detectable above thermal noise⁷
  
• The persistent organization of living systems that seems to violate thermodynamic predictions⁸
  
• The documented effects of intention on random number generators and biological systems⁹
  

We're in the position of 19th-century physicists observing the photoelectric effect before Einstein—we can measure something happening, but our theoretical framework hasn't quite caught up. The prayer hands phenomenon sits right at this intersection of the known and unknown, the measured and the mysterious.

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Quote:August 11, 2025 / Joseph P. Farrell

If you've been around this website long enough, you'll know I have this love-hate relationship with our less-than-wonderful-world of digital technology. On the "love" side of the ledger, I like the convenience and ease that computers have made of word processing, and the ease with which they make formatting books and book publication itself possible, especially for people like me whom "traditional publishers" would never have even looked at, gatekeepers for "official narratives" that they are. On the "hate" side of the ledger, if you're a regular reader here through the years, you'll know I abhor the lack of security and integrity in cyber systems. For one thing, I early learned that allowing my books to appear as ebooks merely allowed people to copy and paste my research, and indeed, the complete text of several of my books, in toto, absolutely free on the internet. The other thing that ebooks did was to change the formatting and pagination of my books, making all my attempts to preserve careful scholarship and citation moot.

But my largest concern with ebooks - and hence my prohibitions to my publishers for any future ebooks - was the implied ability to simply delete or change text or formatting that "They" did not like. Amazon did not choose its name "Kindle" for its ebook platform for nothing: it is about burning books, about getting rid of that troublesome hard copy. Hence my other stricture: the only canonical form or version of any of my books is the actual printed hardcopy of the books - warts, typos, formatting errors and all - and not any ebook version.

All this prelude brings me to the fugue on that theme of the day, a story which in various versions many of you spotted and passed along, and when I read it, I can see why, because it confirms everything I've been saying - and warning about - for years with ebooks and digital "texts" as "canonical" copies of a text: they are not, nor can they be, secure, and must always be checked against a textual hard copy archetype. Here's the version of the story that E.E. and many others of you saw and passed along (with our gratitude). There's two paragraphs - or rather, two sentences - in it in particular that leapt off the page at me, and I am relatively confident you will spot it as well:

Quote:Key sections of the US Constitution deleted from government’s website

And here are those sentences, in their context:

Quote:Several Reddit threads identified the changes in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution: Large parts of Section 8 have been removed, and Sections 9 and 10 have been deleted altogether. In the screenshot below, you can see the archived version of the site on the Wayback Machine on the left, and the current site on the right — the text highlighted in yellow has been removed.


These sections largely relate to the powers that Congress has and does not have, as well as limitations on the powers of individual states. The removal includes sections relating to habeas corpus, the powers that protect citizens from unlawful detention.


Some of the sections’ text appears to be missing, as indicated by a trailing semicolon at the end of Section 8, where text used to follow.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, the Library of Congress said the sections were missing “due to a coding error” and expect it to be “resolved soon.”

The Library of Congress later told TechCrunch that the coding error was due to a missing XML tag in the web page and has since been corrected.

Changing the U.S. Constitution’s text on the website does not change or have any effect on U.S. law, but it nevertheless follows senior Trump administration official Stephen Miller’s threats earlier this year to suspend habeas corpus.

In other words, a mere "coding error" ended up deleting key portions of the text of the Constitution, which, thankfully, we're reminded does not have an effect on law...

...or does it? Imagine the following high octane speculation scenario: all it takes to alter the interpretation of a "canonical text" - be it the constitution, or what have you - is an interruption, a neglect, of the course of performance(or better, of the stare decisis) of the interpretation of that text and its key components. Plop that text down in the middle of a tribe of bushmen with a smattering of knowledge of the English and virtually no experience or connection with the tradition of Roman and Anglo-Saxon law, and you'll end up with a very different interpretation of that text, possibly to the extent that it would look nothing like what we would regard as "correct".  In short, to change the interpretation of that text, you need to alter, or eliminate, the historical memory as relates to that text altogether, and replace it with different versions of the text via deletions, repetitions, added new (and spurious) texts, and so on.  There is always a symbiotic relationship between any kind of canonical text, and its interpretive tradition. One cannot have the tradition without the text that gives rise to it, nor any understanding of the text without a grounding in how it was understood in its interpretive tradition. (After all, judicial activism and papalism always grow on the fertile ground of textual and interpretive chaos, and the latter only happens when the interpretive tradition or "mentality" is deliberately abandoned or critically and fatally altered in some fashion.)

Which  brings us to the second component of today's high octane speculation: what if that "coding error" which produced the deletions - one might think of it as a version 2.0 of the standard Gnostic tactics of textual subversion - was not unintentional, but intentional? What happens when those artificial intelligences that we've been hearing so much about, writing their own "code" and making threats or eliminating databases they do not "like", are suddenly unleashed on texts? In a world without the hard copy, but only digital copies, there will soon be a manuscript chaos (and of course, new "scholarly theories" of their relationships and origins making the historical de- and re-constructions of Wescott and Hort look like kindergarten play). In that wonderful digital "archive", the hard copy version must simply be eliminated if the wishful thinking of Gnostic reconstructions is ever to survive. And so must all references and interpretations and witnesses of those hard copies also be eliminated from the record.

It's the latter, for the moment, that are preserving the text, until the "coding error" gets ahold of that too, and the hard copy casebooks - or to complete the analogy, the patrologies, the Federalist and Anti-Federalist expositions of that text - are eliminated too.  And then the game changes - just like Wescott and Hort intended - from preservation of authentic copies (apographa) to recovery of lost originals (autographa), and once one starts playing that new game of "recovery", the process can never end, as the process of recovering "the original text" replaces the text itself, and "scholars" (the "recoverers) replace scribes and copyists (the preservers).


To put it country simple: there is one thing that can never be replaced: the hard copy, the library of commentary, and the people who know how to use both without the aid of digital gatekeepers.

See you on the flip side...

This episode X Minus One - The Castaways (#18) from 1955 provided by the Old Time Radio Researchers Group.

This story starts out as just a conflict about a new atomic bomb being tested on a South Sea island. The natives of the island refuse to leave the island where "our fathers and our father's fathers are buried." It turns out they have ulterior motives. The reason for the title "The Castaways" finally becomes clear in the surprise ending. A good story written by Ernest Kinoy. (from "The Critical X Minus One" by Jim Fanisher)

Quote:The OTRR Group is a community of enthusiastic fans, avid listeners, and strong supporters of 'Old Time Radio'. The group’s goals include restoring, preserving and sharing the classic shows from what is commonly known as the 'Golden Age of Radio' (1930-1960). The OTRR Group, comprised of a diverse world-wide group of volunteers, has undertaken many ongoing projects and continues to work hard to preserve our wonderful radio heritage.

Radio - Content related to specific radio programs

• OTRR Library - Over 60,000 episodes freely available to the public
  
• OTTER Database - a third-party program to help organize your own OTR collection
  
• Program Log Files - Episode Listings for specific programs - the data underlying OTTER
  
• First Line Project - Alternate Episode Titles, Plots, and Dialog from episodes
  
• Researched Series - OTRR researched programs - formerly known as 'Certified'
  
• Scripts - Collection of Scripts for specific episodes
  

Research - Resources for further investigation

• OTRRPedia - OTRR's online encyclopedia for all things OTR
  
• OTRR Art Gallery - OTRR's collection of images related to OTR
  
• OTR Magazines - Publications (both Contemporary and Modern) covering OTR
  
• OTR Articles - Articles by OTR authorities and authors
  
• OTR Links - Links to other OTR resources on the Internet
  
• OTRR Radio Times - OTRR's newsletter
  
• OTR Archive Tracker - OTR Archive Tracker
  

out-of-place animals continue, and usually to the detriment of the animal's new environment.
Everglades is turning into a horror story as Burmese Pythons are eating all the little animal natives.
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-have-invas...ecosystems

Severe declines in mammal populations throughout Everglades National Park have been linked to Burmese pythons, with the most severe declines in native species having occurred in the remote southernmost regions of the Park where pythons have been established the longest. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997 (Mammal Decline). Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time (Marsh Rabbits Mortality).

poor little animals.  very sad. 



on the plus side, Indiana now hosts armadillos
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/armadi...NewsBrowse
According to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), armadillos have colonized much of southeastern Indiana and are spreading north and west, including sightings in and around Marion County. 

had no idea they could live that far north.
any invaders in your areas?