Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

December 4, 1795: Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher from the Scottish Lowlands, born in Ecclefechan, Scotland. He founded the London Library, contributed significantly to the creation of the National Portrait Galleries in London and Scotland, was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University in 1865, and received the Pour le Mérite in 1874, among other honours. He’s best known for writing a major 3 volume history of The French Revolution: A History (1837) and for later arguing that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men". French historians of the era did not like his take on the French Revolution.




December 4, 1872: a Canadian-built, American-registered merchant brigantine ship Mary Celeste was found adrift by a Canadian ship in the Atlantic off the Azorean islands. Its captain Benjamin Briggs and his 9-man crew were not on board. All had disappeared without trace. It remains a mystery as to what happened to make them abandon the ship. Or were they taken? Many strange tales of what happened to the crew of the mysterious ghost ship.

This much is known. On 5 November 1872, the merchant ship Mary Celeste took on a cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol in New York City for Meissner Ackermann & Co. The alcohol was to be transported to Genoa, Italy, for use in strengthening Italian wines. The ship was seaworthy with an experienced captain and capable crew.

The Mary Celeste sailed out of Staten Island, New York. One month later it was discovered, under sail and in good shape, off the coast of southern Portugal – completely deserted. All ten people aboard had vanished without any sign of violence or struggle, and were never heard from again. What happened to them, and how the ship managed to sail merrily along for almost ten days without any crew, are enduring mysteries.

The captain of the Mary Celeste was Benjamin S. Briggs, who came from a seafaring family and had commanded other ships and made many successful voyages. He was known as a fair, pleasant man who was always appreciated by his crews. He was also a deeply religious man and a teetotaler.

On this fateful trip, the captain was accompanied by his wife Sarah (who had made several other voyages with him) and their two-year-old daughter Sophia. Because of school, the couple left their seven-year-old son Arthur behind in Marion, Massachusetts, with the captain’s mother. The other seven people on board were the crew: two Americans, one Dane, and four Germans, all with solid reputations who spoke good English.

More at The Mystery of the Ghost Ship ‘Mary Celeste’

Solved: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste



Dec 4, 1957: As a part of the Disney "Tomorrowland" series "Mars and Beyond" episode with help of technical advisers Dr. Wernher von Braun, Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, and Dr. E. C. Slipher. Walt presents a humorous look at what man might find on Mars, with predictions for exploration of the planet with an atomic spaceship.



Disneyland - Mars and Beyond:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk7lf2D848I


USA #1 on this day in 1965: The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVOJla2vYx8

Australia #1 song this day in 1965: The Seekers - The Carnival Is Over




PHOTO OF THE DAY: Liberal Party Leader Jeremy Thorpe and Jimi Hendrix (1967). Hey Jeremy where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?




December 4, 2014: Jeremy Thorpe died at age 85. He led the British Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. His career was ruined after he was accused and then charged with being part of a conspiracy to kill his former lover, Norman Josiffe aka Norman Scott, a former model. He was acquitted, but never rehabilitated politically.


A British three-part television series, titled A Very English Scandal, based on John Preston's book of same title aired on the BBC in May 2018, directed by Stephen Frears, with actor Hugh Grant starring as Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott.


December 4, 1988: Rock 'n' roll star Roy Orbison gave his final concert in The Front Row Theatre in Highland Heights, Ohio. Only 2 days later, Roy would pass away suddenly from a heart attack at age 52.



Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman (from Black & White Night) Sept 30, 1987:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PLq0_7k1jk


December 4, 1993: Frank Zappa died at age 52. He was a non-conformist, musically innovative musician who produced a diverse body of work, with his group, The Mothers of Invention.

As Frank Zappa once said, Politics is the entertainment wing of the Military-Industrial Complex. As George Carlin said, it's all one big club, and you ain't in it.

In this excerpt from the 1984 Music Box interview, the genius Zappa talks about the likely use of race-specific bioweapons and why he believes nuclear weapons will never be used.

"I also believe that all the warfare of the future will be conducted with these biological agents because now gene splicing is a thing that can be done. It is feasible to consider the preparation of certain diseases that will kill only specific races, nationalities, or people with certain interests because you can tailor the disease to attack certain things in certain categories."

"It's foolish to consider the possibility of nuclear war because, from a business standpoint, it's impractical. It stops all business … what will be in the warheads will not be things that destroy real estate. It's much more practical to think of missiles going someplace and putting out chemicals or microbes that enable one party to subjugate the other party by controlling its labor force while leaving the buildings intact."

Race-Specific Bioweapons & Nuclear Weapons

Frank Zappa's father worked as chemical warfare specialist at Edgewood Arsenal, where MKULTRA experiments among many other chem warfare developments were conducted.

"Those Jesus freaks
Well, they're friendly but
The shit they believe
Has got their minds all shut..."
—Frank Zappa, "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing", You Are What You Is (1981)

"The illusion of freedom will continue for as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will take down the scenery, move the tables and chairs out of the way, then they will pull back the curtains and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." - Frank Zappa



Your Mid-Week Treat of Unusual Words!

Hoity-toity - How most Americans view the British...or is that the French? Not to be confused with hotsy-totsy. We can discuss in the Rogue Mootstow. LOL!




One must be careful though!




For you elder timers...

[Bally002]

Ahhhh.  Disneyland in the 50's and 60's....

So much has changed.

Bally )

[EndtheMadnessNow]

December 5, 1890: Austrian film director Fritz Lang was born in Vienna. He’s best known for the classic Weimar German silent films, Metropolis and M. He fled into exile in the USA after Hitler came to power and carved out a successful career in Hollywood. He was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.


His 1929 film Woman in the Moon showcased the use of a multi-stage rocket, and also pioneered the concept of a rocket launch pad (a rocket standing upright against a tall building before launch having been slowly rolled into place) and the rocket-launch countdown clock. In 1963, he appeared as himself in Jean-Luc Godard's film Contempt.


Dec 5, 1924: Letter from S. Jonce to U.S. District Attorney Harlan F. Stone, Requesting that He Investigate the Activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Selma, Alabama.


National Archives


December 5, 1945: five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers, comprising of 14 airmen, disappeared off the coast of Florida, as were all 13 crew members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that subsequently launched from Naval Air Station Banana River to search for Flight 19. Thus further cementing the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. No trace of the aircraft or airmen has ever been found. A Navy investigation concluded that the planes ran out of fuel after flight leader LT Charles Taylor got lost. Taylor's mother did not want her son blamed, so she lobbied to have the report changed to state "cause unknown" which has led to bizarre theories about the aviators being abducted by aliens.




December 5, 1952: A freezing cold fog descended on London and was responsible for an estimated 12,000 deaths (recent research) from respiratory conditions in the weeks that followed. It became known as "The Great Smog" that lasted 4-5 days. London's poor air quality had been a problem since at least the 13th century.


Days of toxic darkness

Case Study - Smog

1952: London fog clears after days of chaos

The Story of the Great Smog of London

The Great Smog of 1952 | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror




December 5, 1965: Martha & The Vandellas "Dancing In The Street" was performed on The Ed Sullivan Show.




Back in the 80s I thought Van Halen was the original...LOL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHeEQckqtmU


Dec 5, 1986: HEARTBREAK RIDGE, Clint Eastwood's triumphant tale of the Grenada invasion.




December 5, 2013: Inspirational South African leader Nelson Mandela died at age 95, but the Mandela Effect lives on. He was President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the country’s first black head of state, and the first elected in a democratic election. His government dismantled the apartheid system.




One year ago...




Former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien in the WSJ: "If his critics would take off their partisan lenses and look at his résumé objectively, they would see he is one of the most experienced people ever to be nominated for FBI director."





@IDF | @UNRWA | The State of Israel continues disinformation campaign against UNRWA


Make Mom's Great Again!

[Bally002]

Martha and the Vandellas.  

Class act.  Very pretty ladies.

Cheers,

Bally)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

This looks like an ordinary USB-C connector, but when we CT scan it, we find something sinister inside...


Last year we CT scanned a top-of-the-line Thunderbolt 4 connector and were astonished to find a 10-layer PCB with lots of active electronics. A lot of people saw the scan and wondered whether malicious electronics could be hidden in a tiny USB connector.

The answer is yes. This is an O.MG cable created by @_MG_ , a security researcher and malicious hardware expert. It looks like an ordinary USB cable, but it can log keystrokes, inject malicious code, and communicate with an attacker via WiFi. Let’s see inside...

For more See the X/twitter thread for a lot more. Never know when you buy a thumbdrive, plug it in and...Boom!


Winter at Avebury stone circle and henge.


History of Avebury Henge and Stone Circles

Exploring the stone circles at Avebury | Avebury Wiki


NASA has postponed the Artemis II lunar mission to April 2026 due to concerns with the Orion spacecraft's heat shield. The mission will proceed with a modified reentry trajectory to reduce peak heating during reentry. Artemis III, aiming to land astronauts on the Moon, is now scheduled for mid-2027, dependent on the readiness of SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System. These adjustments reflect NASA's commitment to safety and the strategic goals of the Artemis program, which is pivotal for future Mars missions. The updated mission timelines for Artemis II and Artemis III reflect time to address the Orion environmental control and life support systems.


Artemis II Crew


Trump Taps Elon Musk's Billionaire Buddy Jared Isaacman. Maybe this guy can get NASA back on track.


Founder of Draken International, a Florida-based company which provides adversary training to the US, British, and other NATO air forces, and the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments (payment processor) when he was 16 years old in 1999. As of September 2024, his estimated net worth is US$1.9 billion. Sounds like an Elon twin. BTW, Draken International is owned by Blackstone Inc, the real estate arm of BlackRock.

In a world that often dismisses the extraordinary as mere fantasy, The Telepathy Tapes dares to explore the profound abilities of non-speakers with autism—individuals who have long been misunderstood and underestimated. These silent communicators possess gifts that defy conventional understanding, from telepathy to otherworldly perceptions, challenging the limits of what we believe to be real.  For years, their parents and teachers have quietly witnessed these remarkable abilities, knowing that the time to share their truth would eventually come. But now, as the evidence mounts, the time has come to reveal what has been hidden in plain sight.

This groundbreaking series challenges everything we think we know about communication and the human mind, inviting viewers to step into a reality where the impossible is not only possible but happening every day. Through emotional stories and undeniable evidence, The Telepathy Tapes offers a fresh perspective on the profound connections that exist beyond words. Traveling with Neuroscientist Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell, witnessing mind-boggling telepathy tests and forging deeply intimate relationships with families around the globe - Host Ky Dickens invites you to contemplate the world through the eyes of those who speak without words. Prepare to be captivated, challenged, and ultimately transformed as the series shines a light on the untold capabilities of those who have been underestimated for far too long.

The Telepathy Tapes


Grand Theft Otto: An Ottoman supply train still resting in the Arabian desert where it was ambushed by T. E. Lawrence of Arabia 107 years ago on the Hejaz railway.


THE HEJAZ RAILWAY HEDIA STATION

I’m surprised the British rascals of antiquity didn’t take it back to England for one of their museums.

Darkness Falls
Arabia Calls
Wings Spread
Battle Begins
Seven Pillars. Light the flame

Seven Pillars of Wisdom (History Version)




"There are a great many figures that could have been added to this cartoon. Bill Gates could certainly be added next to Fauci. Judge Merchan and Jack Smith could be interchangeable with Letitia James. We could have added the 50 security agency officials who swore that the Hunter laptop was ‘Russia disinformation.” I should have added Merrick Garland for sure. My bad. The entire Biden crime family including Joe himself could be added with Hunter, but alas, space is limited."


Let’s go through the lineup, shall we?

Lock Them Up The Sequel!


P. G. Wodehouse on Writing... But which one are you printing off?




Preparing to hook up the lights and decorations in the front yard. Doesn’t say this is outdoor rated, but probably OK.




Dragon America...

[Bally002]

Sad about the Artemis 2 crew.

All that training and expectations.

Kind regards,

Bally)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Happy Birthday BIAD!

December 6, 1907: The Monongah mining disaster was a coal mine explosion at Fairmont Coal Company's Number 6 and 8 mines in Monongah, West Virginia, which killed 361 miners. It has been described as "the worst mining disaster in American history" and was one of the contributing events that led to the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.


171 of them were Italian migrants. Others killed in the disaster included Russians, Greeks, and immigrant workers from Austria-Hungary. 216 women were widowed, and the miners left behind 475 children, with a further 31 born after the disaster. Ugh, dark times.

The WV Mining Disaster That Killed Hundreds of Italian Men and Boys





December 6, 1917: More than 1700 people were killed and 9,000 injured after a devastating explosion aboard French munitions cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc after colliding with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The explosion flattened more than 2 square miles of the city of Halifax. Everything within a half mile radius was obliterated. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time, releasing the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT.


The exact number killed by the disaster is unknown. The Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book, an official database of the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, identified 1,782 victims. As many as 1,600 people died immediately in the blast, tsunami, and collapse of buildings. The last body, a caretaker killed at the Exhibition Grounds, was not recovered until summer 1919. An additional 9,000 were injured. 1,630 homes were destroyed in the explosion and fires, and another 12,000 damaged; roughly 6,000 people were left homeless and 25,000 had insufficient shelter. The city's industrial sector was in large part gone, with many workers among the casualties and the dockyard heavily damaged.

CBC News: A city destroyed: The Halifax Explosion, 100 years later in 360-degrees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSuX9RvLq54


Dec 6, 1941: LT Ichiro Kitajima briefed torpedo bomber pilots aboard the aircraft carrier Kaga about the plan to attack Pearl Harbor the next morning. Planes from the Kaga would score hits on the battleships Nevada, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, West Virginia, and Maryland.




The guided missile cruiser USS Galveston (CLG-3) fires a three six-inch gun salvo in 1968 (projectiles can be seen upper left hand corner). In the 1986 film TOP GUN, Maverick's G-1 leather flight jacket includes a USS Galveston “Far East Cruise ’63–4” patch.




Dec 6, 2012: Submarine Cryptologic Technician Robert Patrick Hoffman II, 40, of Virginia Beach, Va. was arrested. Fell for not one, but 2 honeypot traps. One by Russians and one by FBI with agent alias Tracey Tea. His license plate read "GR8 LEI." In 2014 he was Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Attempted Espionage.




The New York City Police Department has the armory & manpower of a CIA-backed paramilitary army, but can't find a lone wolf who rode away on a penny-farthing.


Man on the Run





"Like other insurers they play by the rules"


Maurice R. Greenberg (born May 4, 1925) is an American business executive and former chairman and chief executive officer of American International Group (AIG), Insurance Hall of Fame and the Thousand Points Of Light club. Establishment guys like Maurice wrote & lobbied the rules which congress signed into law.



Pete Hegseth Will Make The Pentagon Great Again


Three wives, seven kids, wow, that is a feat in of itself! Brady Bunch +1!




Dec 6, 2024: Gov Ron DeSantis hereby declares Dec 6th as Naval Air Station Pensacola Remembrance Day in Florida.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Weird how suddenly Elon is running around Capitol Hill and Mar-a-Lago with his son "X" in tow. Say goodbye to the old bureaucracy and hello to the new bureaucracy, which is probably going to be some form of technocracy with many shiny objects to chase around the new & improved carnival.




Wonder Woman as a nymph/mermaid in the Realm of the Dead, and her new daughter Elizabeth.


Wonder Woman v6 014 (2024)


Why is almost every brain rot media outlet referring to Brian Thompson as the "slain" United Healthcare CEO as if they all chose the same Middle English adjective typically used for warriors killed in battle (Valhalla) and not a multi-millionaire cartel insurance salesman who got shot amid an insider trading lawsuit in an ongoing DOJ investigation? Smells like a distraction.










ET is trying to channel Puharich and The Nine with his quartz hat.




Weekend hideout on Cornwall’s coast, UK...




...while dreaming of Bora Bora




Friday night words...


John Langdon ambigram artist and his name were part of the inspiration for the protagonist of Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon) who also appears in The Da Vinci Code.

[Bally002]

Remembering Pearl Harbour.  (7th here)

Kind regards

Bally)  (Ex R.A.N.)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

December 7, 1941: A Message from Pearl Harbor that changed the World forever.






Japanese Admiral Yamamoto’s sleeping giant quote portrayed at the very end of the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! as:

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."


It was reported he wrote in his diary "I'm afraid all we've done is to wake a sleeping giant and fill it with great resolve." But, he never kept a diary and no evidence has surfaced that he ever said it. However, the quotation came to encapsulate his belief that Japan could not win a long war with the United States and that the attack on Pearl Harbor had become a blunder partly due to the bungling by the Foreign Ministry in delivering Japan’s declaration on December 7, 1941 to the State Department which led to the attack happening while the United States and Japan were technically at peace.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin extra on Pearl Harbor attack, today 1941:


FADM Chester Nimitz believed the U.S was fortunate that the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a surprise. Had the U.S. known of the approaching Japanese fleet, the American fleet would have been sent to intercept it and then been entirely lost to a superior force.


Dec 7, 1941: Kazuo Sakamaki became the first Japanese PoW in U.S. captivity after his midget sub ran aground during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 50 years later, he was reunited with the sub when he attended a symposium at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.


Dec 7, 1941: USS Ward (APD-16) fired the first American shots of the war in the Pacific when the destroyer sank a Jap midget sub trying to enter Pearl Harbor. The 14th Naval District HQ believed the action was a false report, not recognizing that the sub was part of an incoming Japanese attack. USS Ward was built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California in a record of 17½ days back in WWI days!!



Ironic Fate: Set ablaze by kamikaze strike on 7 December 1944. Later scuttled by gunfire from the USS O'Brien whose commanding officer was the Captain of the Ward on December 7th 1941. WoW!


In early December 2017, Ward's wreckage was located by RV Petrel on the seabed in Ormoc Bay near Ponson Island in the Philippines.


The photo of the explosion of USS Shaw's forward magazine is one of the most iconic images from the attack on Pearl Harbor. Despite the heavy damage, the Shaw was repaired by 1942 and served in the Pacific for the rest of the war, earning 11 battle stars.




On the bow of the small boat, battling the fire & rescuing survivors, is the Mess Attendant (a cook) who had first mounted a machine gun attack against Japanese aircraft aboard West Virginia. Afterward he conducted rescue operations. Navy Cross recipient Doris "Dorie" Miller, namesake of future aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller (CVN 81).


Full Size Image

1. USS West Virginia (BB-48) sunken and on fire on Dec 7, 1941.
2. USS West Virginia (BB-48) raised, repaired & anchored in Tokyo Bay for Japan's formal surrender in September 2, 1945.


After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bill Of Rights was prepared for an emergency evacuation. Archivist of the United States Solon J. Buck stands with a volume containing the Bill of Rights, wrapped for "quick removal."




For a 1961 episode of THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, Walter Cronkite visited Pearl Harbor with the Japanese spy who had tracked and reported US Navy ship movements prior to the 1941 surprise attack. The visit was supposed to be a secret, but the former spy got drunk and revealed who he was to the locals. Cronkite had to quickly spirit the spy out of town before he was grabbed and beaten.

World War II With Walter Cronkite: December 7, 1941 - 1983:




On Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2022, the keel was laid for Block V Virginia-class submarine USS Arizona (SSN 803), named in honor of the 1,177 heroes lost aboard BB-39 at Pearl Harbor. The Arizona will be the first US Navy submarine to deploy with hypersonic missiles around 2028.


The sponsor for Arizona is Nikki Stratton, the granddaughter of Donald Stratton, a Seaman First Class aboard the battleship USS Arizona who survived the attack. He died in February 2020 at the age of 97.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Dec 7, 1947: The film Dangerous Years opens. Marilyn Monroe as "Evie", her first film. Producer Sol M. Wurtzel paid Marilyn Monroe $125.00 for a week's work. Originally slated to play a "secretary" she only worked one day and played a walk-on as a waitress at the Gopher Hole.




December 7, 1972: Apollo 17, the last moon mission, was launched. During the trip, a photograph was taken of the Earth using a 70mm Hasselblad camera by crew member, Ron Evans or Harrison (Jack) Schmitt, known as "The Blue Marble". The photo is one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence.


Before the Blue Marble a picture of the fully illuminated Earth by the ATS-3 satellite was used in 1968 by Stewart Brand for his Whole Earth Catalog, after campaigning since 1966 to have NASA release a then-rumored satellite image of the entire Earth as seen from space. He got inspired during an LSD trip, seeing a "psychedelic illusion" of the Earth's curvature, convincing him that a picture of the entire planet would change how humans related to it. He sold and distributed buttons for 25 cents each that asked: "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?"

The original images including AS17-148-22727 at 70mm Hasselblad Image Catalog

Apollo 17 in Real-time – The moment the Blue Marble photo was taken in the context of the rest of the Apollo 17 mission.


Dec 7, 2024: the 45th anniversary of the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

"The last shot to be filmed in principal photography for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991 was the final scene on the Enterprise-A bridge with Kirk and his crew. It was an emotionally-charged moment, and a lot of visitors gathered around the set Director Nick Meyer called for a wide shot of the set, taking in the entire cast. The camera pushed gently in to Kirk, who reflected pensively on the end of an era. After that, William Shatner remained in his captain's chair as he recorded his voice track for Kirk’s final log -- And that was it. The director said "cut!" and it was a wrap for Star Trek VI. Well, almost. The cast and crew gathered in front of the set for a champagne toast. Denise and I remained on the bridge for a few moments to absorb the ambience. Then Denise noticed a strange smell."


"One of the video monitors had overheated and caught fire! It was one of the screens directly behind the captain's chair. It was just a small flame, and I tried to smother it a blanket. Meanwhile, Denise alerted one of the special effects technicians, who grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the small fire out very quickly. No big deal. After the commotion died down, we joined our coworkers in toasting the completion of the film. Fri Dec 6, 2024, the 33rd anniversary of the release of Star Trek VI."

— Michael Okuda, graphic designer on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country


Trump attends Notre Dame Cathedral reopening in Paris. Of course Elon came along. Did he bring X too?

Trump wearing a spiffy gold/yellow tie which in the elite circles represents perfection. He wore the same tie on his field trips to Europe during his first term. Big daddy is back.


CNN photos/Live updates


Looks like this was done out at Burning Man...


It's now at Tesla HQ Texas.

The Great Filter concept is a proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox, which asks, "Where is everybody?" in this vast, lonely universe. The idea is that there's some barrier or series of barriers that civilizations must overcome to achieve interstellar communication or expansion. If these filters are too tough, it could explain why we haven't met any aliens yet.



In today’s fawning tribute to the NYPD’s surveillance system, the paper celebrates surveillance and even laments that New York does not have enough. That’s the thrust of the entire article.


Detectives Scour Thousands of Hours of Video for Clues in C.E.O. Killing
There is not a single word or moment or expert in the article critiquing the vast expansion of government power and surveillance or the way it has shaped modern private individual life and liberty. Not a single word, source, quote, or expert is provided who can share with people the truth that with all their new technology, police have become far less effective at solving serious crime. By failing to ask questions or provide this info, NYT is able to avoid deep questions about multi-billion dollar global surveillance industry and who benefits and who is harmed by unprecedented expansion of surveillance. All portrayed as cool, slick, effective crime fighting.


No, not a flashback to the 1950s, but from today's edition of the UK Daily Mail...


Full Size Image
BIAD's shed is the safest place in all of England. It's true. I read about it once in the Daily Sheltered Mind's Mail!



Meanwhile, let's dance...
Dec 7, 1977: at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood: The premiere of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.




Saturday Night fever...



For when the world has abandoned you...


The brand was named after the USSR space dog Laika, the first animal launched into orbit. The cigarettes were produced under supervision of the Ministry of Food Industry. The cigarettes were mainly sold in the Soviet Union, but also in the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and Finland as Duty Free variants.


Merry Rogue Christmas...

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Dec 8, 1954: "Mickey - Control your neutrons!" The premiere of THE ATOMIC KID.


This film is advertised on the marquee of the Hill Valley Town Theater on November 12, 1955 in Back to the Future (1985). It can briefly be seen after the DeLorean is sent back to October 26, 1985.


Dec 8, 1955: The world premiere of Roger Corman's DAY THE WORLD ENDED.




Dec 8, 1957: The Day Called X aired – Nuclear Attack Dramatization (27 min) CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, presented by Glenn Ford in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city’s civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown).

"The local government officials are brought to a shelter to survive."

"The government's top priority is for it to survive."





Dec 8, 1982: nuclear freeze activist Norman Mayer held the Washington Monument hostage by falsely claiming that he had a 1,000 pounds of dynamite. Mayer was shot to dead by U.S. Park Police when he attempted to drive off in his van. Ashes interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Norman Mayer story thou shall not copy:

"An Edge in My Voice, Installment 55" copyright 1982, 1985 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation.

This work appears online via special arrangement with the the author, Harlan Ellison. You can thank him by visiting the HERC Store. Copying or distributing any part of this piece for personal use, commercial use, or any other use you can come up with is strictly forbidden.  Breaking this rule will result in the author coming down on you like the proverbial Hand of God or, barring the author finding out, your being forced to spend 15,000 years in Purgatory watching the same three episodes of "Perfect Strangers".

An Edge in My Voice

Harlan Ellison, a Jewish atheist died back in 2018, but I'm not taking any chances. His literary estate is currently executed by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.

As a side note, I read a few of sources that stated this was the longest recorded police sniper killing in U.S. history at about 480 yards. And also, it is the earliest recorded use of night vision scopes by police snipers.

Ghosts of DC - Three Things That Happened at the Washington Monument

Norman Mayer trivia: He was responsible for a turning point in the life and career of political strategist/journalist George Stephanopoulos. Then 21-year-old intern at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Stephanopoulos writes about the experience in his memoir "All Too Human" (1999).




The West are now hailing him as the 'saviour' of Syria.


I'm surprised the embassy didn't delete that tweet.
https://x.com/USEmbassySyria/status/864144602584035328

How Syria’s rebel leader went from radical jihadist to a blazer-wearing ‘revolutionary’

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says the Syrian people have become a "subject of another geopolitical experiment" ... "I know the Americans very well."

Western Media Currently.



Syria has fallen. We don't know what is coming next, it seems like 4 or 5 new small countries can be formed from the dead Syria, or a bloody "all against all" huge civil war could follow; who knows.

Syrians are celebrating like how the Iraqis & Libyans celebrated. Those filled with hope are blind to reality.

Islamic rebels backed by US intelligence didn’t just overthrow Assad to help Syrians. These events unfolded to make war with Iran possible.

Israeli ground forces have entered Syrian territory, penetrating beyond the demilitarized buffer zone, for first time since 1973.

Israel is the big winner. The spice must flow.



Did we not know where these guys were before today?




Who is fighting who again? "a fairly new phenomenon" - LOL, Adam Schiff has always been full of shit.


In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA

The Knights Of Righteousness (The ARRSEPedia is the British Army encyclopedia)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Dec 9, 1924: Stanley Curtis, 16, shoots to death his girlfriend, Betsy Ross, also 16, after she finds "immoral pictures" of nude women in his pockets and argues with him about it in Gloucester City, N.J. He insists he produced the pistol to scare her and fired by accident. Curtis will plead guilty to manslaughter next year and be given an indeterminate sentence in a reformatory. Apparently even 100 years ago the news media's favored word..."slain".


100 years later it's "immoral pictures" on phone in pocket.


December 9, 1979: The 'eradication' of the "smallpox virus" was 'certified', making it the FIRST human disease driven to 'extinction' by a 'vaccine'.




Dec 9th is National Llama Day. Did you know that the Y-12 National Security Complex (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) who maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, took part in a nonproliferation effort called Project Golden Llama in Chile that removed all of the country's highly enriched uranium.


It really whips the llama’s ass.

During shipment preparations, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred 27 February 2010 off the Chilean coast causing widespread damage to surrounding areas. Contingency plans were made, and the shipment made its way to Oak Ridge with minimal delay.



GRAY LADY DOWN (1978) starring Charlton Heston is a thriller about a U.S. Navy mission to save the crew of a submarine that sank after colliding with a freighter. Scenes were shot using USS Trout (SS-566) prior to the sub's transfer to the Imperial Iranian Navy which they renamed her Imperial Iranian Ship (IIS) Kousseh (SS 101), meaning "Shark". Her Iranian crew took control of her at New London, Connecticut in December 1978, but abandoned her there in March 1979 following the Iranian Revolution.

The U.S. regained custody of the Trout and then used the sub for training. The Trout was sold for scrap in 2008.




Remember Nicole Smith-Ludvik? The woman who stood atop the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa (2,717 ft, 828m) for an Emirates Airlines ad. The show must go on...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QY9x0__W8



Genius move by Trump, LMAO!


https://x.com/BehizyTweets/status/1864446668474589233


A Lockheed Martin self-funded technology demonstration satellite, called Tactical Satellite (TacSat), is ready for a 2025 launch. TacSat is on a mission to prove specialized sensing and communications capabilities on orbit.


Tax dollars. Your money. You are funding the speciation of a new, post-human race: the COGSEC skinwalker.

The Cognitive Security industry is slowly becoming a breakaway civilization, completely divorced from reality. It has its own narratives and culture, little of which overlaps with simple hu-man concerns like ethics or the natural right to cognitive autonomy.

Gestating in the deep-state desert, that liminal wasteland where the entire ecology subsists on DARPA and DoD grants, it has grown into a $30 billion grift based on one simple game... first, define people’s activity online as the product of automated influence operations.

Then, use this as casus bellum to deploy all the techniques in your "disinformation kill chain". Essentially, all-out cognitive warfare against the domestic population.

A subset of COGSEC, is social media analysis, best represented by Graphika, who are directly funded by state organizations such as the Pentagon's DARPA and the Minerva Initiative, and has received grants from the U.S. Navy and Air Force.


The rabbit hole deepens...


Did they mean ALICE "Psychics"?

ALICE finds first ever evidence of the antimatter partner of hyperhelium-4






A simpler time...? Nothing is what it seems...







This is why AI really means Artificial Ignorance.



Artificial Ignorance

[EndtheMadnessNow]

And there it is...


The Nation


The AI confessional in THX 1138...




Keeping us safe!



Get a THOR bug out camper before it's too late...


Mention 'Rogue Nation' and get a 10% discount while supplies last!


Monday words...







Good night...

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Dec 10, 1541: Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are sentenced to a traitor's death for "allegedly" having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and 5th wife of Henry VIII. Culpepper was beheaded, but Dereham then suffered the full horror of being hanged, castrated, disembowelled, beheaded and quartered. Both heads were set up on pikes above London Bridge. Catherine and Lady Rochford were beheaded at the Tower of London on 13 February 1542. Brutal times.






Dec 10, 1941: a PBY Catalina scored the U.S. Navy's first credited air-to-air kill of WWII when the bow gunner armed with twin .30-caliber machine guns shot down one of three Mitsubishi Zeros that were attacking the flying boat during a Japanese raid on the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines.


The Consolidated Model 28 was flown by the U.S. Navy as the PBY Catalina. “PB” stood for Patrol Bomber while “Y” was the Navy’s manufacturer code for the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. The Navy first took delivery of the Catalina in 1936. By end of WWII, the PBY was the most numerous aircraft of its type with 3,300 built.
The Navy’s first air-to-air kill of WWII wasn’t scored by a fighter


Dec 10, 1952: INVASION, U.S.A. had its world premiere on this day at the RKO Pan theater in Minneapolis.


Low B-grade film, but not without its entertaining moments...


Mr. Ohman: I think America wants new leadership.
Vince Potter: What kind of leadership do you suggest?
Mr. Ohman: I suggest a wizard.
Vince Potter: A what?
Mr. Ohman: A wizard, like Merlin, who could kill his enemies by wishing them dead. That's the way we like to beat Communism now, by wishing it dead.

General: Do you remember what Senator Baker said when the military appropriations bill came up for vote?
Secretary of Defense: He said we could safely reduce our armed forces by half.
General: He wasn't only wrong, he's dead.

Newscaster: A steel plant, built at a cost of $50 million, burns to the ground. Part of the terrible balance sheet of war. Billions of dollars of property lost to the American people forever because we did not provide a strong enough army to protect ourselves.

President: For every atom bomb dropped on our country, we have taken three to the enemy's heartland and we have huge stocks of atomic weapons in reserve.



December 10, 1953: Hugh Hefner published the 1st edition of Playboy magazine, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover, and as the 1st centrefold pin up. Readers were warned: “This is not a family magazine.”

"If we are able to give the American male a few extra laughs and a little diversion from the anxieties of the Atomic Age, we'll feel we've justified our existence."




Dec 10, 1954: Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma relinquished command of Allied Forces in the Mediterranean. As a sign of respect, British, American, Greek, French, Italian and Turkish admirals from the NATO Headquarters at Malta manned oars and rowed him out to HMS Surprise.


MOUNTBATTEN LEAVES MALTA - Newsreel footage - identifies the rowing admirals.

A few decades later, the Irish also showed their feelings toward Lord Mountbatten with a boat called shadow rigged for surprise.


Assassination of Lord Mountbatten


In November of 1961, Fortune Magazine told its readers "The Economy Can Survive a Nuclear Attack."


I wonder how many readers back then believed that BS.


"Don't Wait for This..." FOX HOLE Fallout Shelters ad, 1961. Take out a second mortgage and get one now!
Not a home owner? No problem.
"Renters: The only shelter that can be re-located when you move."




Run, Dig or Stay by Dean Brelis (1962)




The infamous NSSM 200 memo on Global Population Reduction Strategy


Here's a PDF copy from our friends over at US AID: THE KISSINGER REPORT


Perfect Christmas gift for family...

[EndtheMadnessNow]

1983: "The final use of the (Proud Prophet war game) hotline was a message sent by Caspar Weinberger. Addressed to Moscow, it read, 'May you burn in hell like you are going to burn here.'" NOTE: The popular movie WarGames was released JUNE 3, 1983.


Remember, we are all living INSIDE a multi-player Alternate Reality Game.
Also, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." — Arthur C. Clarke

Note: Venturing too far down the rabbit hole will land you in the funny papers.

Long article:
The Secret Pentagon War Game That Offers a Stark Warning for Our Times


The holiday issue of Anal OG Analog Computing, December 1985.




December 9, 1988: Sidney Lumet's RUNNING ON EMPTY opened.


Not to be confused with the 2024 movie of same title starring Clint Eastwood's daughter, Francesca.

James Taylor - Fire And Rain (BBC In Concert, 11/16/1970)




Damn, C'mon woman, hurry up!




Oh great, now ya tell us.


Daily Weaponised Mail ...But only admitted it yesterday. |  PETER HOTEZ


Tick, tick...40 days...




Elon Musk's Transatlantic Tunnel: A $20 Billion Dream or Delusion?

Elon Musk, through The Boring Company, has proposed constructing an underwater tunnel from New York City to London, promising a travel time of 54 minutes for a cost of $20 billion. This proposal has stirred a mix of skepticism and enthusiasm online. Critics argue about the feasibility, safety, and cost-effectiveness, while supporters highlight the potential for revolutionizing international travel and reducing infrastructure costs. The discussion also reflects on Musk's history of ambitious projects and the broader implications for global connectivity and economic benefits.


The $20-Trillion Tunnel That Could Link New York and London

LOL, I could visit BIAD at a local London pub and be back home same day in time for dinner. Course none of us will see anyone being zipped under the sea in a vacuum tube in our life times.

Ironically, 10-15 years ago China had proposed a Transatlantic Tunnel from NYC to some China port city. They offered to chip in billions for it but neocon politics got in the way.


Now? Really??




Northrop is carrying out experimental flight tests over New Jersey causing UAP hysteria.




Satellite Photos Show Russian Navy Exodus From Syria, Syrian Missile Boats Sunk at Pier




Severance season 2 starts Jan 17, 2025!

[BIAD]

LOL, I could visit BIAD at a local London pub and be back home same day in time for dinner. Course none of us will see anyone being zipped under the sea in a vacuum tube in our life times...

That would be fine in theory, but sadly, the hopes of the same type of speedy travel fails miserably
when one looks at train travel outside of England's capital. The prices of tickets northwards alone
guarantee sour looks that would rival the flat beer sold in London.

BIAD's abode is situated in the place where this picture you kindly provided in a previous post and
is known for the first public form of railway use. I also believe the Man-Girl has connections with
a certain Scotsman, although whether Gordi can fly or not cannot be said at this time.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Happy International Mountain Day!
Mountain Day refers to three different and unrelated events: (1) Mountain Day, a student celebration in some colleges in the United States in which classes are cancelled without prior notice, and the student body heads to the mountains or a park, (2) International Mountain Day, held each year on 11 December, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 2003 to encourage sustainable development in mountains, and (3) Mountain Day, a national holiday in Japan as of 2016.




On December 11, 1919, the citizens of Enterprise, Alabama, erected a monument to the boll weevil, the pest that devastated their fields but forced residents to end their dependence on cotton and to pursue mixed farming and manufacturing. Measuring an average length of six millimeters (one-quarter inch), the insect illegally entered the USA via Mexico in the 1890s and reached southeastern Alabama in 1915. It remained the most destructive cotton pest in North America for much of the twentieth century.


The infestation led to the introduction of the peanut—an alternative crop popularized by the Tuskegee Institute‘s George Washington Carver. Peanut cultivation not only returned vital nutrients to soils depleted by cotton cultivation, but also proved a successful cash crop for local farmers.

Boll Weevil Honored


Here's Ms Vampira...The original glamour ghoul herself, "Vampira", of late night 1950s television, believed to be the first television "horror host" was actually born Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi (later changed to the easier surname Nurmi) on December 11, 1922 in Gloucester, Massachusetts (not Finland as she often claimed).


Of course, her unusual figure was a key factor to her success, as Vampira claimed to be gifted with the following measurements: 38-17-36! Her uncle was the multiple Olympic medal runner Paavo Nurmi.

She was raised in Astoria, Oregon, where she worked in tuna and salmon canneries. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1940, with hopes of becoming an actress. After several minor film roles, she found success with her Vampira character, television's first horror host. Nurmi hosted her own series, The Vampira Show, from 1954 to 1955, on KABC-TV.

In the 1940s, Nurmi claimed she had a child with Orson Welles; since Welles was married to Rita Hayworth, the child was given up for adoption.


December 11, 1959: Twilight Zone's "And When The Sky Was Opened" S01E11 aired. Three astronauts return to Earth after testing an experimental rocket. Then things start getting weird. Rod Taylor, Charles Aidman and Jim Hutton star in Rod Serling's adaptation of a Richard Matheson story. One of the best, in the top 5.




Dec 11, 1959: Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals $40k to start a new life with boyfriend Sam Loomis. In Gus Van Sant's remake, Marion Crane steals $400k. She did it again in 1998.


It's not actually stated in the movie, but the clues are there with the novel released in 1959, and December 11th being a Friday in 1959.



Tales of New Jersey - "Andrews' Balloon" "what seems to have been the world's first steerable balloon. He built several of them in the period 1848-1866. Each consisted of 3 cigar-shaped gas bags, lashed together & filled with hydrogen..." (New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, 1963)


"Being a collection of the best tales, fact and folklore that have appeared in the pages of Tel-News, the informal publication sent to all New Jersey Bell customers since 1935."

"We hope you enjoy these tales as much as the Tel-news' editor, Frank P. Townsend, has enjoyed the pleasant chore of ferreting out the unusual and the little-known about our State over a span of nearly 30 years. The illustrations accompanying the stories are by Harry Devlin, of Mountainside, New Jersey."
Tales of New Jersey


Dec 11, 1972: Apollo 17 became the 6th and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon. Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only trained geologist to walk on the lunar surface.


S72-49079 (8 September 1972) - This is the official emblem of the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission which will be flown by astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmitt. The insignia is dominated by the image of Apollo, the Greek sun god. Suspended in space behind the head of Apollo is an American eagle of contemporary design, the red bars of the eagle's wing represent the bars in the United States flag; the three white stars symbolize the three astronaut crew men. The background is deep blue space and within it are the Moon, the planet Saturn and a spiral galaxy or nebula. The Moon is partially overlaid by the eagle's wing suggesting that this is a celestial body that man has visited and in that sense conquered.

The thrust of the eagle and the gaze of Apollo to the right and toward Saturn and the galaxy is meant to imply that man's goals in space will someday include the planets and perhaps the stars. The colors of the emblem are red, white and blue, the colors of our flag; with the addition of gold, to symbolize the golden age of space flight that will begin with this Apollo 17 lunar landing. The Apollo image used in this emblem was the famous Apollo of Belvedere sculpture now in the Vatican Gallery in Rome. This emblem was designed by artist Robert T. McCall in collaboration with the astronauts.

Apollo Lunar Surface Journal


Seven weeks before resigning the Presidency, Richard Nixon and his wife Pat fly to Syria 1974 for a visit with President Hafez al-Assad and his family, including 8-year-old Bashar:




Almost there. From the 1982 cover for 'The Running Man,' by Stephen King.





Oldest known Ten Commandments tablet heads to auction

The Temple Mount isn’t even the mount they need. The Dome of the Rock contains the Well of Souls that’s true-but in the Samaritan Pentateuch (and corroborated by the most recent Dead Sea Scrolls research) it was at Mount Gerizim that Moses commanded the building of the altar.


If god is a woman
The devil is too
Better get down on your knees
I’m gonna pray for you, pray for you
Get down on your knees
Pray for you
Heaven and hell hath no fury
Better watch what you do
I’m gonna pray for you
I'm gonna pray for you

Blessed be my haters
I love to hear ‘em talk
I make waves like an alligator
Walk on water through the swamp
Through the swamp
I’m gonna walk on water

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Dec 11, 1924: Gwyneth Ericka Morgan, the artistic 29-year-old daughter of a Welsh peer, vanishes from the seedy Limehouse district of London. The aspiring sculptor is known to have an adventurous streak and associates with many bohemian types that her family dislikes. Morgan’s father, Lord Tredegar, will privately seek help from Scotland Yard before going public about the disappearance in January. Her body is fished out of the River Thames in May the following year. Rumors that she died in an opium den, the death concealed by the proprietors, are never proven.


Sad ending but the 'adventurous streak' reminded me of a few banners.


Dec 11, 1954: USS Forrestal (CVA-59) was launched. The Forrestal named after the first United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal was the world's largest naval vessel at the time, and the first new U.S. carrier to be built with an angled flight deck, steam catapult, and an optical landing system. The Forrestal also was the first carrier designed to support jets.




Captain Claire Thompson OBE RN assumed command of HMS Queen Elizabeth on 10 December 2024, becoming the first female captain of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier. She previously commanded the frigate HMS Montrose and was awarded an OBE for leading the ship in several major drug and illegal arms interdictions.




Rats are jumpin ship...


FBI Director Chris Wray announces plans to resign


R.I.P. George Joseph Kresge Jr. otherwise known as The Amazing Kreskin, master of Mind Games, dies at 89. He was an American mentalist who became popular on television in the 1970s. He was inspired to become a mentalist by Lee Falk's comic strip Mandrake the Magician, which features a crime-fighting stage magician.


The Amazing Kreskin, Mentalist and 1970s Television Star, Dies at 89

Amazing Kreskin, One of Johnny Carson’s Favorite Guests

He didn't fool Art Bell. Kreskin predicted a big UFO show, claimed he predicted 9/11 and Art calling him a terrorist and then banning him from Coast to Coast for life. LOL. Art Bell clip: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeUw3hZV8f8

"Kreskin" www.kreskin.com "predicted" the Largest UFO sighting in a century ... he repeated this on the Art Bell show and backed it up with a $50,000 donation to charity if he was wrong. He narrowed it down to Thursday 6/6. That evening nothing happened and he subsequently went into damage control mode. This audio is of Art and "The less than amazing" Kreskin mixing it up. Kreskin sounds every bit the fool. Turns out it was all deception and Art bans him from the show.

Does the new Chinese police ball chasing down culprits remind you of anything from our distant viewing past?...


China’s sci-fi spherical Death Star-like robot cop uses AI, facial recognition to track criminals

...The question is whether Number Six could evade the Chinese rover. I have faith in Patrick McGoohan:




Ducks Fly Together

(Brock Pierce played young Gordon Bombay before DEN.)




I suspect this may prove to be the understatement of the century...


'Our understanding of the universe may be incomplete'


Caution: Idiocracy is happening sooner than expected.




Mid week words...


Scallybatch, every family has at least one.

[Bally002]

I have been on the Forrestal.  Was a mighty ship back them.

As for the Math question, I can believe it.

True love bought a young lady a digital clock for work as the co worker can't read an analogue clock.  True one.  Workers can't use mobile phones while employed except during rostered breaks.

Wife is taking the clock to work tonight for the young lady's use.

Kind regards,

Bally))))