Category: Current Events

Fifteen Years to Proxima Centauri

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How’s that for a cool title!

H/T to Hans G. Schantz for the retweet on this that brought it to my attention.

This guy is researching a propulsion system based on “quatised inertia” that he says would allow a probe to reach the Oort Cloud in a year and Proxima Centauri in 15 years.

That’s a pretty bold statement.  Watch his video if you’re interested.  He says he was given a million dollar grant from DARPA  to study it.

I wonder if they’ll give me ten million to do my research on cold fusion.  My data looks pretty good.

Seriously, he says there’s company putting an experiment into space to test this thing out.  I guess we’ll know if it works.

 

0.0001% Full

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Almost the last week of July and finally an end to the endless torrential rain.  Today a beautiful day, almost a June day with temperature in the high sixties and blue sky and bright sun.  Camera Girl’s vegetable garden looks like all the life was washed right out of the plants by the flux of water dissolving the nutrients out of the soil.  The leaves of the squash plants are pale and yellowish.  I’ve told her I’ll try to save them with some fertilizer later today.  But all in all, the fields look good.  The grass is very green for the end of July and the monarch butterflies and their caterpillars have begun appearing on the milkweed.  In actuality the butterflies must have been there a while ago without being seen because the caterpillars are almost full grown.

I guess today I’m feeling less pessimistic than usual.  After all, there are still something like one hundred million Americans out there who still believe  lot of the things I believe in.  And even if we’re outnumbered and dispossessed of our rights and persecuted by the bugmen we’re still here.  And now that we’ve recognized our status as the enemy of the woke we have a natural tendency to band together for protection, to accomplish goals and for fellowship.

We can seek each other out and make common cause with others of our kind whenever we need to diverge from what the official policy would force us to do.  And that goes for cultural activities too.  They’ve destroyed all the fraternal organizations and now they’ve even destroyed the children’s activities like the Boy Scouts but they can’t do much about a fishing trip or a baseball game.

But we’re going to need to figure out how to recognize each other.  Secret handshakes and lapel pins probably won’t cut it.  John Locke said, “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”  So maybe our actions will have to be the signs that announce our principles.  I’ve been thinking for a while that maybe the churches we attend will be part of this sorting process.  Recently I’ve read that one or two of the denominations are splitting apart based on whether or not the local congregation adheres to biblical teachings about homosexuality and ordaining women.  This splitting up of churches into orthodox and deviant congregations sounds like a very good idea.  Freedom of religion is a very difficult right to subvert even in the new America and can be a valuable force in allowing normal people to retain many healthy social practices.  I’ve sometimes thought that being a clergyman might be my fate.  Who knows, one day “Saint photog the Venerable” could end up on a stained-glass window as the patron saint of blue check twits.  At least it’s possible.  I wonder if Elon Musk has an on-line ordination that includes a pay-pal button for Sunday donations?  I’ll suggest it to him.  He needs the cash too.

But yes.  I’m a lot more optimistic today that life in the American archipelago isn’t as bleak as I sometimes feel.  Sure, the Deep State is in charge and the Uni-Party is as corrupt and evil as anything Stalin perpetrated.  But there’s a lot of good people around still.  Just by our presence we prevent that much more bad from infiltrating into the space around us.

So let’s say today I feel like the glass is 0.0001% full instead of 99.9999% empty.  For today, that’s good enough.

The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

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Damning.  Will anything come of it?

 

Who Will Fight Joe Biden’s Wars?

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The Neo-Cons want to fight Russia and China.  Well, that’s a bold ambition.  The question I have is fight them with what?  Or should I say with whom?  Because despite all the gear and munitions we’ve handed over to the Ukraine I’m sure we could ratchet up domestic production of weapons and munitions if we decided we want to.  But I don’t think we have an army to use those weapons.

Recruiting doesn’t seem to be going well.  The demographic that the military has always depended on to fill their ranks has been declared the enemy.  Straight white men are white supremacists and not to be trusted or promoted in the ranks.  So, it looks like minorities, women and sexual deviants will have to take up the slack.

But will they?  I’m guessing they won’t.  And if war seems imminent, I think the shortfall will get much, much worse.  And that’s as it should be.  Fighting for your country is a duty.  But when you’ve been told it’s no longer your country then it goes without saying that you must step aside and let the new owners bear the burden and make Joe Biden proud.

And I think it’s important that the new country use its new flag.  I think the rainbow flag should be hoisted high over the ranks of the high heeled drag queen warriors.  Why, if the Russians and Chinese even hear that these fierce soldiers are going to be the tip of the spear, I doubt they even show up.  They’ll surrender unconditionally and allow the victorious army to sashay through downtown Moskow and Beijing to the marshal beat of that proud anthem, “It’s Raining Men.”

Seriously, I think Washington is hoping to get the Poles and Baltic nations to attack Russia for us.  The question is whether we’re willing to start chucking nukes when the Russians start using them on these NATO partners.  I can’t make up my mind.  But chances seem good I may find out.

As far as the Chinese, I don’t think it will get beyond a war of words.  I don’t believe the US navy still commands the respect that it used to.  The Chinese won’t even have to call our bluff.  Taiwan does not want to be drawn into a confrontation with China.  They want the status quo to go on for as long as it can.  And in fact, I believe that the Koreans and Japanese probably feel the same way.

But as I said, I think it’s extremely likely that Biden’s neo-con military and state department may manage to trigger World War III.  How exactly it starts; Ukraine or Kaliningrad or the Baltics or Poland is unclear.  But the options are all there and it doesn’t look like there’s anyone smart enough or sane enough to prevent it.

It’s sort of ironic that while madmen like Stalin and Mao were in charge of Russia and China guys like Eisenhower and Nixon were smart and sane enough to prevent the situation from boiling over into nuclear war.  But now fate has given us Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  I guess I should be able to see the humor in this.  And I guess I do.  But the laughter is a little like hysteria and the smile is more like a grimace.

Well, hail to the chief.  Go get them Joe and good luck, you’ll need it.

21JUL2023 – OCF Update

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Once again I will be uprooted from my cushy lair and hurled into the outer void.  I must travel and unravel my tangled skein of thought while keeping track of time, space, and parking meters.  I will return sometime today after many frustrating and mind-deadening minutes of forced waiting.  I shall bring my new omnibus Shakespeare to while away the time.  The Bard will comfort me with his timeless prose and poetry;

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
See you soon.
photog, the idiot.

PublicSq Now Listed on the NY Stock Exchange

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Public Square (PublicSq) today becomes a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).  Their business is providing a marketplace of companies that respect rather than denigrate traditional values.  According to their website they want to provide alternatives to woke companies in as many categories as they can find.

Looking at their “Swap” listings I see they highlight:

Buy Seven Weeks Coffee, Ditch Starbucks

Buy American Woman Beauty, Ditch Sephora

Buy Good Ranchers, Ditch Butcherbox

So, in each case for a well-known company that has a woke or progressive ideology they are providing an alternative company that in PublicSq’s judgement is not woke.

I am interested in PublicSq and their efforts.  I know very little about their methods and even less about their results.  I know that in the past some less than honest people have tried to jump on the social conservative bandwagon and the results were disappointing.  So, I’m trying to figure out if PublicSq is for real.  But the fact that they were able to get listed on the NYSE is at least an indication that they aren’t a complete fly-by-night outfit.

If nothing else I think I’ll join the site and maybe list myself as a business and see what comes of it.  I’m curious if there is a high foot traffic associated with the buzz coming from their listing on the NYSE.  Between this and what’s going on with Tucker Carlson trying to form his own media company there is at least some hopeful signs that non-woke life still exists in corporate America.

Who knows maybe I’ll soon be touting the miraculous emergence of a right-wing business phoenix rising out of the ashes of old America.  In that case, as an emerging titan of industry I’ll immediately move to crush my woke foes with ruthless speed.  Left-wing photography and fiction writing will be laid waste and “them that dies will be the lucky ones!”

But I digress.

I’ve never understood why no one has made a serious attempt to cater to the traditionist side of the market.  I guess they figured that losing the Left was a more dangerous risk than losing the Right.  After all the Left is the youth market and they’re the hip, with-it sector and worth more.  I think they’re wrong.  Most young people are poor.  The people on the Right work and have families.  They should have seen this reaction coming.  I only hope the people trying to capitalize on this trend are smart enough to do a good job.  I feel if it’s done correctly, it will have a major impact on the market place and that in turn could throw an enormous scare into the large corporations that have jumped on the woke bandwagon and at heart are fools and cowards.  A little idea of what could happen is on display with the Bud Light boycott.  If the Right ever learned to coordinate its action it could be a powerful force that corporations would fear to insult.

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 19JUL2023 – Joe Was Wrong

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Joe was wrong, as usual. It will not take F-15s to fight against the government. History shows that it takes from 3 to 5 percent of the people willing to take up arms to overthrow even a tyrannical government. There are far more armed conservatives than that. Also, Joe, again mistakenly, believes the US military would strafe and bomb US neighborhoods or drive Abrams tanks through homes and businesses. In fact, many individuals and even entire units may defect to the rebels’ side.

Americans can be tough to handle in the best of times. Get them fighting mad and we are not like the sheeples of Asia and half of Europe. Add in the fact that there are 20-24 million trained veterans to add to the mix and no sane army wants to get tangled up in that.

That the rebels would have support from about 50% of the population would also work in the rebels favor.

PS: Did you see where our fearless leader terrorized another young child by pretending to cannibalize her? Why isn’t he locked away in his Depends eating gruel in an asylum. If I did that to children unknown to me in public, I’d be in the hoosegow trying to keep the father rapers off me.

Figuring the Odds

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Galaxy’s Edge is a science fiction series by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole that I quite enjoy.  In the series there is a character that I guess you’d say is a “space pirate.”  And when he is deciding whether to attack some ship or raid a port, he asks a particular member of his crew, “What are the odds?”  And this character being some kind of mystical being immediately spits out a percentage for success.  One percent or forty percent or whatever.  And then later on at a different juncture, he’ll ask him again, “What are the odds” until he finally gets the odds he likes and then he strikes.

Well, that’s what I’d like.  I’d like to know what are the odds of success.  I mean, eventually this whole rotten system we live under will collapse just based on the plain awfulness of the people in charge and the illogic of the things they claim to believe.  But when?

We’ve been seeing the very beginnings of popular discontent with the creepier, more nightmarish aspects of the current social structure.  I think the transgender cause has been the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  The Target and Bud Light boycotts have shown that people can finally get so sick of being gaslit about some obviously crazy idea that they will revolt against it.

And maybe this will be happening more and more.  But the question remains, will it reach a critical mass and bring down the regime or will this thing go on for many years to come?  I think the answer comes down to one thing, money.

Specifically, if a Tucker Carlson or an Elon Musk or PublicSq can’t make a profit providing a platform for the partisans on our side of the culture war then there won’t be any platforms.  Up till now the answer has been no.  The Right used to have Fox News but now they’ve capitulated.  But this year Elon Musk stepped up and bought Twitter.  In my opinion this was unprecedented.  Musk was betting forty-four billion dollars that he could make money by providing a social media home for the ~ 50% of the American population that up until now has been marginalized by Silicon Valley.

And this enormous bet that Musk has placed seems to have inspired a few other entrepreneurs to try to capitalize on the enormously underserviced market for non-woke products and services.  For instance, we’ve read how Disney’s movies and even theme parks have of late been underperforming.  At the same time a movie by a Christian studio that was ignored by all the mainstream critics beat out Indiana Jones at the box office.  So, there are hints and sparks of hope.  Something seems to be happening.

But the ratio between what they have going for them and what is going on for our side is so large, so daunting, that I hesitate to dare to hope that the status quo could be changed.  And let’s face it.  We’re not hoping to destroy their side.  That would be laughably absurd.  All we hope for is that our side can have stuff of our own.  We don’t need Disney to change.  We just need a small studio that can make movies we’d pay to see.  We don’t need Google and YouTube to see the light.  We’d just like Twitter and Rumble to make enough advertising money to stay in business.  We don’t need beer companies and department stores to cater to our ideology we just want ones that don’t rub our noses in their warped beliefs.

And so, we get back to my original question, “What are the odds?”  Have we reached the point where the madness of the Left has finally alienated enough normal people that they’re willing to boycott woke companies and pay subscription fees to avoid reading straight up propaganda and buy old movies to avoid having Disney proselytize their kids into the rainbow coalition.

So have we reached that magical point?  Are we 50/50?  Could something really break out and alter the status quo?  What do you think?

What Are the Odds that a Major Change is Imminent?

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Tucker Seems to Be Moving Forward With His Plans

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PublicSq is an anti-woke company and seems to be a perfect fit for Tucker’s audience.