JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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A man who had been a farmer, and also a miner, and who had been ill-used by his landlords, dug a cave for himself by the seaside, at Marsdon Rocks, between Shields and Sunderland, about the year 1780, and the singularity of such a habitation, exciting the curiosity of many to pay him a visit; our author was one of that number. Exulting in the idea of a human being, who had bravely emancipated himself from the iron fangs of aristocracy, to live free from impost, he wrote extempore with chaulk above the fire place of this free man, the following lines:
Ye landlords vile, whose man’s peace mar,
Come levy rents here if you can;
Your stewards and lawyers I defy,
And live with all the RIGHTS OF MAN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Spence – a ‘radical’ of that time believed in universal suffrage, ‘social guarantee’ extended to provide income for those unable to work; The ‘rights of infants’ [children] to be free from abuse and poverty. – what a madman!
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How propaganda works. China going great guns, but at what cost?
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/01/sowing-doubt-about-china-but-at-what-cost.html#more
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Not on the list:
– China biolabs – but at what blah
– China’s severe Covid lockdowns – but blah blah
But does feel like subliminal programming – China = Cost
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Those who remember von Daniken and his theories on ancient civilisations will get a sense of deja vu on reading this
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14045481/Shock-new-theory-Easter-Island-netflix-Ancient-Apocalypse.html
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Unlike Erich von Däniken, Graham Hancock does not believe in ancient extraterrestrial visitation.
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I have often expressed my concerns at the headlong race to a digital world which not only has often seemed to make life more complicated but has profound implications for our energy supplies and security
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2000800/ex-mi6-china-ev-uk-ban-sir-richard-dearlove
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Shortly before the project was terminated a controller on the CBS evening news said: “It takes me 12 commands to do what I used to do with one.”
https://www.cs.hmc.edu/~markk/SWE_copies/worstever.html
“A young man, recently hired, devotes years to a specification written to the bit level for programs that will never be coded. Another, to a specification that will be replaced. Programmers marry one another, then divorce and marry someone in another subsystem. Program designs are written to severe formats, then forgotten. The formats endure. A man decides to become a woman and succeeds before system testing starts. As testing approaches, she begins a second career on local television, hosting a show on witchcraft. An architect chases a new technology, then another, then changes his mind and goes into management. A veteran programmer writes the same program a dozen times, then transfers. The price of money increases eight times. Programmers sleep in the halls. Committees convene for years to discuss keystroking. An ambitious training manager builds an encyclopedia of manuals no one will ever use. Decisions are scheduled weeks in advance. Workers sit in the hallways. Notions of computing begin in the epoch of A, edge toward B, then come down hard on A + B. Human factors experts achieve Olympian status. The Berlin Wall collapses. The map of Europe is redrawn. Everything is counted. Quality becomes mixed with quantity. Morale is reduced to a quotient, then counted. Dozens of men and women argue for thousands of hours: What is a requirement? A generation of workers retire. The very mission changes and only a few notice. Programming theories come and go. Managers cling to expectations, like a child to a blanket. Presentations are polished to create an impression, then curbed to cut costs. Then they are studied. The work spikes and spikes again. Offices are changed a dozen times. Management retires and returns. The contractor is sold. Software is blamed. Executives are promoted. The years rip by with no end in sight. A company president gets an idea: make large small. Turn methods over to each programmer. Dress down. Count on the inscrutability of programming. Promote good news. Turn a leaf away from the sun. Maybe start over.”
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How would you like one of these incendiary devices near you :
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/01/17/evacuations-road-closures-begin-as-fire-engulfs-worlds-largest-battery-plant-in-california/
and
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/17/massive-fire-engulfs-moss-landing-battery-plant-triggers-evacuations/
The power plant that previously operated on that site would never have produced such toxic pollution but would have provided useful power to the grid , which the batteries would never have done .
The leftists got what they voted for , and the other fires in LA . They got it good and hard !
I would rather a nice safe nuclear power station . Or even better , if coal was nearby , a nice safe , wealth generating coal fired power station .
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This seems an increasing demand by those who expect recompense for the past and the hugely improved standard of living conferred on them
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14295201/tony-armstrong-wealth-back.html
Where does it stop? Do the Romans Saxons Vikings and Normans need to pay huge sums to those of us in Britain?
Do the Mongols need to compensate India for the mogul empire. How much should Spain pay out to mexico?
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https://rumble.com/v6al5ky-robert-kaplan-global-weimar-waste-land-and-a-world-in-permanent-crisis.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp Sunday book review interview: The world is becoming more interconnected and claustrophobic as Globalization 2.0 pulls us closer together. All three great powers are in decline, but America has the greatest potential to remake itself, and can see a new burst of dynamism under Trump. Israel stands at the heart of this global geopolitical war. Because of urbanization cities will be the principle world stage going forward where crowds, technology, and history will intersect.
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We have never found a cave painting of a salad, just animals for meat…
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