Where I live, marmots are known as groundhogs and they are a plague on our farming community, devouring crops and digging burrows that are often the cause of horrible tractor roll-overs resulting in injury and death. So there is no bag limit nor closed season (except for deer season). They are considered pests to be eradicated, not cute little fuzzy-wuzzies to be kept as pets.
What is the back-story on that marmot? Why is s/he not flipping out and clawing the human whose hands we see? Is s/he a long-time pet? On drugs? Idiosyncratically gentle?
Looks like the off year elections were not good for the GOP…Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio. Both sides of the media saying abortion drove the results. I guess the country is good with killing babies. May have to face it…the Ds strategy is brilliant and the country is turning blue and not much we can do to stop it. Politics downstream from the culture.
Mixed bag on the elections. Biden is already saying that voters approve of his policies.
Here in CO an Amendment that would have gutted what we call the Tabor Amendment failed, biggly. Touted as relief on Property Tax (which will soar because of the higher assessments) but would reduce refunds of Income Taxes, it was no such thing. Have to see how the School Board races came yet.
Hmmm. Here’s a “curious” one…
“Hamas accuses UNRWA of aiding civilians fleeing warzone;
“Terror organization furious at civilians relocating from northern Gaza to southern Gaza where they cannot be used as human shields.” https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379959
To be compared with this “curious” one, wherein the Secretary General of the UN and Hamas seem to be on the same page…(actually, not so curious, in fact not curious at all…):
“Guterres: Civilian deaths show something ‘clearly wrong’ with Israel response;
“UN Secretary-General continues his criticism of Israel’s self-defense against Hamas, ignores Hamas use of human shields.” https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379961
Steve: what you said, I guess. We used to live in Colorado and there was a huge problem with prairie dogs –carriers of plague and diggers of leg-breaking holes– which I consider to be very close relatives of marmots. They’re cute in the abstract but guess what, in the real world they literally carve out their niche for survival, and too bad for everybody else.
Steve:
They’re also good eating. But… that was a damn cute sink plug.
My farm had ravines that were thick with copperheads. I also had two as pets.
The UN Secretary-General was recruited out of the Eurotrash left. (He was prime minister of Portugal at one point).
Blinken says “[it’s] clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza”. Why is that clear?
Oh, you mean he was “recycled”…?
Related…
“Gaza resident: ‘The IDF fired, but not at us’ ;
“Rare testimony of a Palestinian woman tells of her escape from Gaza City under the protection of IDF forces.”— https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379869?ssr=1
Nonapod – The sad part is that Bliken is right that Iraeli occupation of Gaza is not a good idea. Thanks to Obama and Biden, though, it may be the least bad idea.
I hate to be “that guy” but…
Marmots are a genus, and there are 15 species of marmots. Groundhogs are one of the 15, so while all groundhogs are indeed marmots, not all marmots are groundhogs 😉 FWIW, most of the critters that Americans would simply call “marmots” are either hoary marmots or yellow-bellied marmots.
Prairie dogs are in the same tribe of “marmotini” but are a separate genus “cynomys” with 5 identified species. Related, but not the same.
Barry Meislin, I’m shocked, SHOCKED that the terrorist leaders would do this!
RE: UFOs, AARO, and Dr. Shaun Kirkpatrick
I understand that many in the UFO Community—including some potential whistle blowers with first hand knowledge of the programs Grusch testified exist–do not trust AARO and Dr. Kirkpatrick believing, it appears, that he is working for the Pentagon’s Secrecy faction, appointed to his position to forestall any actual Disclosure.
In fact, I have seen a statement by at least one whistle blower who says that, while he has first hand knowledge of the concealed crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs, and he took his information to AARO and to Dr. Kirkpatrick, but that AARO never did anything with it.
Given this, I see mentions—here and there–that some people in the UFO community have heard that Dr. Kirkpatrick will soon be resigning his position.
Hmmm via Wikipedia
“In North America, on the basis of mean linear dimensions and body masses through the year, the smallest species appears to be the Alaska marmot and the largest is the Olympic marmot.
…
Marmota olympus – Olympic marmot, endemic to the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, United States”
Bauxite: duh. Obviously the last thing Israel intended to do on October 6 was reoccupy Gaza. But when you have to protect your people from being massacred by depraved barbarians you do what you have to do. Apparently the Biden administration is not all that keen on Israelis getting that protection.
RE: UFOs and AARO
If you read the legislation which created AARO you would think that it was intended to be, was set up to be a very activist organization—collecting and analyzing information on UFO sightings, investigating all of the various programs and actions of DOD regarding UFOs going all the way back to 1945 and compiling a list of them, making policy recommendations, setting up a website where government and contractor employees could send in their information about any government or contractor UFO programs they worked on or had knowledge of, even setting up rapid reaction teams to go out into the field to investigate incidents.
All this, yet, outside of a couple of minimal reports to Congress, after a year plus of existence they have just managed to stand up the mandated website.
I remember that, early on, there was talk that they only had a few employees and were very understaffed. Is this still the case?
Initially AARO was to be directed by and reported to Undersecretary for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie–the same apparently clueless high level civil servant who briefed members of Congress in the first UFO hearing.
Then, it appears that, because nothing was actually getting done by AARO, AARO was switched to reporting to and being directed by the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and, soon afterward, the mandated website miraculously came into being.
However, outside of the so far minimal Reports and the new website, I have no idea of what AARO might have been doing, or has accomplished.
It may be that AARO is the place where information about actual UFOs–the top 5% which are truly “anomalous”–goes to die or, at least, that may have been the original plan of some within DOD.
pkudude99
Marmotini…shaken or stirred?
I’ll show myself out.
FOAF – The ideal scenario for post-war Gaza would be some kind of international conservatorship. I don’t think Israel trusts anyone to lead that sort of arrangement though, including us. They probably shouldn’t.
If a lot of serious researchers in the UFO Community are right, and that various parts of the government/DOD—using a number of publicly set up and also secret research programs–have been intently gathering information on (sometimes interacting with), and studying UFOs for almost 80 yeas now, they should have accumulated a veritable mountain of information.
If it hasn’t already been accomplished (and I suspect that—to one extent or the other–it might already have been), the task is now to gather this information together, to winnow it down, and to actually analyze it with the much more powerful analytical tools which we now have, as opposed to what was available in, say, 1947.
And while any analysts are about it–as Jacques Vallee and some others have suggested–attention should not only be paid to the nuts and bolts—to the technical aspects of UFOs and their performance–but also to the psychological and socio-cultural aspects as well i.e. what has the impact been on individual “experiencers,” their families, and their communities, and what has been the impact of the UFO phenomenon on our mind-sets, on the direction of our societies, and on our ideas about consensus Reality?
Have UFOs and the images, and ideas surrounding them had a growing impact on many of us as individuals, and also on our societies, moving them–as Vallee suggests—in a particular direction?
What, for instance, might be the impact on individual citizens who have seen a UFO but who were too intimidated to report it,or who did report it, as a consequence, were ridiculed for it or even had some repercussions at the work?
How might that have effected their view of their view of society and of their government?
Sorry. Change to “How might that have affected…”
Any ideas on how I can get rid of groundhogs, other than shooting them? They become very wily once you start that if you happen to miss.
I’ve tried live traps but often end up with skunks instead of groundhogs.
I’m so fed up with them.
So Rashida Tlaib got censored by Congress, so what?
In a bygone day and age–when personal reputation was much more important than it apparently is today, and when “shame” was also a much more important factor as well–such censure might have actually meant something, and had a personal impact on the person censored.
But today?
I doubt it.
Marmots vs UFOs (Uffing Furry Objects)? Which are more interesting?
Marmots.
Don’t ask Bill Murray.
Sorry. I am apparently off today.
It should have been “censured,” not censored, although she should have been censored as well.
Do Marmots have any natural enemies, the importation of which might end up being worse than the Marmots themselves?
Do Marmots have any natural enemies, the importation of which might end up being worse than the Marmots themselves?
Naturally that would depend on the Marmot species in question and its habitat. But generally the predators of most Marmots are things like coyotes, wolves, foxes, and larger eagles.
This video is the clearest description of the background leading up to the present situation in Israel that I’ve found. At around 19:25, a point is made that I haven’t seen elsewhere. When there are discussions of a “two-state solution,” consideration must be given as to what type of “state” would the palestinian people produce. If the last 65 years haven’t proven that a palestinian state would not rise above a medieval regime, certainly the events of October 7 are conclusive.
CapnRusty:
One thing is crystal clear: the Palestinians will not accept any 2-state solution. They have been pretending to want it, for propaganda purposes. The reason they have always refused it is that it’s not their goal. Israel itself – Jews in charge of ANY land that was once ruled by Muslims (in the case of Palestine that would be the Ottoman Empire) – is unconscionable to them. The Jews must go. A side-by-side 2-state solution will never be acceptable to them, unless perhaps generations from now if there’s some sort of major re-education project in Gaza and the West Bank. I don’t see that happening.
Robert Frost, “A Drumlin Woodchuck” (Marmota monax)
One thing has a shelving bank,
Another a rotting plank,
To give it cozier skies
And make up for its lack of size.
My own strategic retreat
Is where two rocks almost meet,
And still more secure and snug,
A two-door burrow I dug.
With those in mind at my back
I can sit forth exposed to attack
As one who shrewdly pretends
That he and the world are friends.
All we who prefer to live
Have a little whistle we give,
And flash, at the least alarm
We dive down under the farm.
We allow some time for guile
And don’t come out for a while
Either to eat or drink.
We take occasion to think.
And if after the hunt goes past
And the double-barreled blast
(Like war and pestilence
And the loss of common sense),
If I can with confidence say
That still for another day,
Or even another year,
I will be there for you, my dear,
It will be because, though small
As measured against the All,
I have been so instinctively thorough
About my crevice and burrow.
From my observations, a Marmot’s first line of defense is to remain completely still.
Does washing it really do it any good?
@ Rufus T. Firefly
• Quick Note: Caught up on my correspondence, posted a reply to your ‘Nov 1: Euthanasia in Canada’ comment.
Again, thank you for sharing.
We just love our little groundhogs! Last summer’s bachelor returned this year with a wife and child. They spent their days rooting around in our backyard. And coming up to the patio twice a day for cat food, carrots, Cheerios, and shortbread cookies. They eat a LOT! We never tried to bathe one!
Mom and Dad would eventually deposit their little one with us to babysit while they went off to do groundhog things. In our suburban neighborhood, nobody gardens. And there’s a nearby forest, so I like to think they didn’t cause the damage y’all are describing.
They’ve gone away to their winter dens now, but they livened up our lives this summer…we actually miss them. What does it say about your life if a groundhog can make it more interesting???
Neo,
The sticking point, AFAIR, was the right of return. That had always been one of the demands of the PA/PLO. But reviewing the history of the negotiations over the years, I don’t see anything about it other than the displaced persons committee.
According to this review, the PLO indicated they were willing to recognize the right of Israel to exist in 1993 and the charter of the PA was to be changed to reflect that.
Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.
Israel-Palestinian Negotiations: History & Overview
Now that we’ve covered the marmot issue, can we address the issue of African and European swallows?
“Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.”
Except that wasn’t Arafat, the head of the PA, the one who prepared for and decided to launch the second Intifada after the breakdown of the Camp David negotiations (or “negotiations”, actually) in the year 2000?
And wasn’t Arafat the one who coined the phrase “Peace of the Brave” to describe and rationalize that deadly intifada?
And wasn’t Arafat the one who planned and laid out the strategy of the “Phased Destruction” (in Arabic, to be sure, not English) of the Zionist Entity as his rationale for seeming to accept the existence—and legitimacy—of that Zionist Entity? (Which seeming acceptance is the reason why Edward Said, naive academic that he was—oh he of so little faith—severely criticized Arafat and ultimately broke with him…)?
Snow on PIne:
I assume you know the abduction-related research of historian Dr. David Jacobs? And I wonder whether you’ve caught “Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton.” It was produced by Jennifer Stein, head of our local MUFON chapter. It’s serious and well-done. I was able to get it on my TV (Comcast) via Xumo.
I’ve heard both Jacobs and Walton in person at MUFON sessions. Even , some years back, the late pioneer/nuclear physicist Stan Friedman!
Love that facial expression. It’s a strange world full of strange experiences.
IrishOtter49:
Air speed, or how they carry the coconuts?
Barry Meislin,
You’re right, according to Elliott Abrams.
“there should be no doubt about the origin of the second intifada: it happened when Yasir Arafat decided that more violence was useful to him. That case is closed.”
It’s based on that old 1977 Lennon cassette which also contained “Free as a Bird.” With new AI tech they were able to separate John’s voice from the piano, add new piano and instrumentation, plus some new lyrics by McCartney.
Voila!
The video uses AI tech to composite all of the Beatles from different eras (including Pete Best) playing together and clowning around.
It’s not a bad song. I found Lennon’s later output kinda thin, lacking that satisfying, crunchy, complexity from the Four Lads pitching in during their ascent to “the toppermost of the poppermost,” as Lennon put it when trying to cheer up the Boys during their hard climb upward.
But it was the video which did me in and not entirely in a good way. It looked like the aging Sir Paul surrounded by the Ghosts of Beatles Past.
To a lesser extent, they are my ghosts too and I don’t like to think of them that way.
Thanks for that link, Brian E. That review helps understand what has happened and who the players were.
I watched about 1 minute total looking and listening to the Beatles “new” video, including fast forwarding to see if it got any better.
It seemed very formulaic to me. The film techniques are great! It really looks like all those different aged Beatles are in the room together. I’m probably too young to really understand the Beatles, but it was all too obvious, or predictable.
Some friends dragged me to the Cirque de Soliel Beatles show in Vegas years ago. I like Cirque de Soliel so I appreciated some of the artistry and all the acrobatics, but, just like the new video, it seemed too commercial and cloying. My friends really liked it though. So they wanted to buy a remembrance from the gift shop. Yes, you exit through a giftshop.
They were shocked by the prices and ended up not buying anything. When we got outside and they commented at their surprise at the costs of the Chinese made, Beatles approved merchandise I laughed and said, “When have you ever known the Beatles to do anything for free? They are the most commercial band in the history of pop music.” I don’t think they appreciated my saying it, but no one had a reasonable argument to dispute my point.
I assume you’ve heard the Yoko Ono – praying mantis joke?
I assume you’ve heard the Yoko Ono – praying mantis joke?
Rufus T. Firefly:
Actually, I’ve not. I asked my good friend, ChatGPT:
_________________________________________
I’m not aware of a specific joke involving Yoko Ono and a praying mantis. Yoko Ono is a well-known artist and musician, and jokes about her are not uncommon, but I don’t have information about a specific joke involving her and a praying mantis. If you have more context or details about the joke, I’d be happy to try to provide more information.
_________________________________________
I can guess the mantis joke, but I suspect Chat can’t acknowledge that sort of thing.
Sure the Beatles were commercial, but I don’t recall them being absurd. Springsteen concert tix are now going for as much as $4-5K per seat.
Marmots carry plague bacilli. Just sayin’. If I lived near a plague locus (and I do), I wouldn’t have any rodent as a pet, no matter how cute.
Le Mot Juste—Several decades ago, back when I was doing heavy duty research on all sorts of subjects at a government think tank, one of my assignments happened to be to gather some information about flying saucers and, back then, the couple of unclassified military cases I gathered—which featured things like a number of trained observers, multiple points of view, radar confirmation, signs on the ground, and, as I recently found out, human effects, etc., etc.–made a pretty good case that this wasn’t just a case of “swamp gas, “mass hallucination,” a “practical joke,” “ball lightning,” or “mis-identifications of one of the planets”; it seemed to me that there was something there.*
Add to the mix the fact that from the age of say, 10 or 11, I have been a constant reader of Science Fiction, so, I was admittedly primed to believe in the possibility of UFOs being real.
I don’t claim to be an expert in this area, but a decade or so into my retirement, when things UFO became more prominent in the news and our society, I started to pay more attention to the subject, and since then—as more and more new information has become public–I have been following this subject rather closely.
Moreover, two plus decades since I put together that original file, we have recently gotten an admission by the DOD that UFOs are real, a few admittedly blurry, officially confirmed films of UFOs, and some actual measurements and calculations/estimates about UFO flight characteristics—the speeds attained, the G-forces involved, the amount of energy likely needed to accomplish the maneuvers that UFOs do, the harmful biological effects of getting too close to a UFO–and, given these hints, some preliminary scientific guesses as to how the technology being used to accomplish some of those maneuvers might work.
Do I have any real answers. Hell no!
But, I have some somewhat informed guesses and/or speculations.
Thus, I am firmly convinced that there is something extremely anomalous flying about our skies, diving into our oceans, hovering over our houses, our cities, our highways, our military and nuclear installations and forces, orbiting the Earth (and perhaps zipping around our Solar System as well—funny how NORAD hasn’t apparently added any data to AARO’s tabulation of world-wide UFO activities) all the while, over the last 80 years, appearing to cumulatively millions (or, perhaps, even tens of millions or more) of people around the globe.
I am also quite aware that the “UFO Community” is a hot mess. (See, for instance, Lou Elizondo’s comment to the effect that he would like to see the current “UFO Community” disappear.)
My current thinking is that long time French scientist and UFO researcher Jacques Vallee—who has spent several decades researching this subject, and is a very educated, canny, and subtle thinker–is closest to the truth, and that UFOs are both in some sense—and at some times–physical objects, but that they also have a psychic component and that, as an overall explanation for the UFO phenomenon, the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) is far too simple.
Moreover, that all “high strangeness phenomena”–including UFOs—may be part of the same overarching phenomenon, and that these phenomena—which may have always been with us, appearing to us in a different guise at each stage of human development and understanding, and as ancient as the human race–point to a multi-layered Reality which is much stranger and much larger—contains too much “woo”–for many of us to accept, or that our current consensus Reality will allow.
* See, for instance, Gary Haseltine’s very deeply researched new book, “Non-Human: The Rendlesham Forest Incidents: 42 years of Denial.”
huxley,
I don’t begrudge the Beatles the money they’ve made. They truly earned it. Those four men worked extremely hard for years. It’s just that somehow a lot of people missed the part where they were extremely commercial and capitalist.
I’ve never been a Springsteen fan.
…somehow a lot of people missed the part where [the Beatles] were extremely commercial and capitalist.
Rufus T. Firefly:
Though one might wonder, then, how they backed Apple Records, a fantastically terrible business which hemorrhaged money for years.
John Guilfoyle on November 8, 2023 at 1:40 pm said:
pkudude99
Marmotini…shaken or stirred?
Per the video it appears to be “scrub, rinse, repeat … “
Snow on Pine,
So interesting it was your own research that ignited your quest.
You may, if you haven’t, find the work of Rice University prof Jeffrey Kripal pertinent. Specifically, “Authors of the Impossible”, wherein he limns the thought of Vallee and a few other pioneers in the field of psy, broadly construed.
Unsurprisingly, he has been a guest of Jeffrey Mishlove (another pioneer!):
We have lots of these monster voles called Townsend’s vole. They look like a little kids fuzzy slippers (about 8 inches or so). Saw an Eagle swoop down and snatch one out of the yard and on another occasion saw a weasel carrying one it had killed across the yard. Had to remove one that had trapped itself in the garage. Mobile slippers.
@ LeMotJuste to Snow on PIne:
“I assume you know the abduction-related research”
}}} When there are discussions of a “two-state solution,”
They already HAD a “two-state solution”, and the rhetoric that followed exemplified exactly what happened 10/7.
Israel essentially owned and controlled Gaza. They had turned it into a spectacular model for the Middle East — a place where Muslims and Israelis worked in cooperation to the benefit of each other. Gaza was the second most prosperous (excluding oil revenue) zone in the entire ME (after Israel).
The Israelis ceded control of the area to Palestine, ca. 20y ago, and withdrew their military, etc., from it. The Palestinians held elections, and promptly elected Hamas to be in control.
Within less than a decade, the area was a total basket case, going from highly productive to an ME hell hole in that time. And the subsequent decade did not improve things.
The Palestinians insist on their right to commit atrocities and, in the long run, genocide. We need to take them at their word. Let Israel do whatever it has to do to survive and protect itself from these insane Mo*** Fu***s.
Stop trying to get Israel to stay their hand.
With 10/7, the Palestinians have earned whatever form that may take.
Sad? Yes.
Right, and just? Damn Tootin’.
}}} Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.
Well, when your “government” is an actual, official terrorist organization, it’s not very hard to do.
You may not have meant it that way, but your comment comes off as apologetic.
miguel: “Hamas to NYT: War of Annihilation Is Exactly What We Wanted”
No problem, the NYT wants it too.
}}} can we address the issue of African and European swallows?
HEY HEY HEY. Everybody swallows. Why so regionalist? 😛
On their boxes of cartridges in ” varmint ” calibers, Winchester has an illustration of a woodchuck. Since .223/5.56 NATO is considered a ” varmint ” round, I find it somewhat vexing to be considered a varmint.
OBloodyHell:
BrainE was probablly not intentionally apologizing for the terrorists. Just being pragmatic.
Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.
From the river to the sea … is the Palistinian chant for their final solution for the Jews. The PLA, PLO, Hamas, Hizbolla are all terrorists, and will pragmatically do whatever the situation requires to reach their solution.
two gangs one more ruthless than the next, with other like the pij, prc, et al,
the fundamental reality was that Oslo was a death trap, because Rabin got tired, in time Sharon did as well, and now Bob’s your uncle,
Le Mot Juste—RE: Abductions
Am familiar with Mishlove—recent winner of the top $500,000 prize offered by Robert Bigelow’s Institute for Consciousness Studies (Bigelow the Billionaire owner of Bigelow Aerospace, former owner of Skinwalker Ranch, whose research team had a DIA/AAWSAP contract to study Skinwalker, and had a reported 50 personnel studying it for several years) for the best essay showing the evidence for survival after death.
Familiar also with Kripal.
Not all that familiar with the literature on the Abduction phenomenon, but a little confused by, for instance, the attitude of Whitley Strieber–author of the best selling book “Communion” and several subsequent books on his experiences with UFOs and Aliens–who says that on first encountering Aliens he was subjected to the cliche’d anal probe, “raped,” yet who now apparently has a favorable view of Aliens (mystical Alien guides?), and has what for me is a rather strange “affect.”
In fact, it appears that any “Experiencer”– especially one who has a close encounter with an Alien–is forever changed in many profound ways, and his or her mind and life are radically redirected.
Given all of the different sizes, shapes, colors, and flight characteristics/behaviors of reported UFOs, and the different descriptions of Aliens people seem to have genuinely encountered, the fact that we have teasing, neutral, and occasionally hostile Alien actions, leads me to the conclusion that we are being visited/surveilled, and occasionally being interfered with by a number of different species of Aliens—some perhaps just ETs in nuts and bolts spaceships, some perhaps from another dimension or time, some perhaps Earthly entities which have always been here—mix and match, take your pick–and each with it’s own agenda and preferred mode of action.
P.S. I sometimes see the dismissive arguments that any advanced space faring species–being so wise and advanced—would not want to expend the time and resources, or make the effort to travel the presumably vast distances from their Solar System to ours, and/or would have little reason to be interested in the Earth, in what to them must be us relatively primitive humans, or in any potential resources we might have here on Earth, or in our Solar system, which could presumably be found much more easily anywhere else in the Galaxy.
Yet, here they very obviously, and increasingly, are.
As UFO researcher Richard Dolan says, right now we here on Earth appear to be the most interesting thing in this quadrant of the Galaxy.
Rabin got a bit more than “tired”…
to trust Arafat, because he was better than the other scorpion Yassin,
now Yigal Amir, came from Yemen, they mounted a farhud in 1947, in the time of his grandparents time, he feared this type of result,
RE: “Alien” mummies in Mexico
The Mexican Congress has now had a second panel presentation of research results on the tiny “Alien” mummies which were presented in the first panel several weeks ago, in which, again, additional medical, anthropological, evolution, and forensic experts from Peruvian and other South American universities presented their research, giving their views that these mummies were not–as has been charged–Frankenstein type objects pieced together from animal parts, but were, in fact, legitimate, whole, unmodified ancient entities of some unknown species–perhaps some sort of hybrid.
Moreover, on presenter admitted that, as less advanced countries, they did not have the most up to date or sophisticated analytical instruments, and requested that researchers from more advanced countries with better equipment come join in their research.
I note that, for instance, someone like noted Stanford Pathologist Dr. Garry Nolan–who is interested in the UFO phenomenon, has done some research in this area–and who would have access to such equipment and expertise–is not interested in joining in research on these mummies, which I believe a lot of people view as a hoax.*
Nothing of substance to add to your surmises and speculations on sightings and encounters; you pretty much cover it.
Long since dispensed with anthropocentric doubters stumped by why advanced folk would bother with us knuckle-draggers, or the prohibitive distances involved in getting here, etc. Not a speck of wonder or humility before the vastness of all we don’t know or can even imagine.
Strieber — odd affect, odder life. Far from stupid. Not dishonest. But also a tiresome purveyor of climate scarytales. In sum: sui generis.
Re. Nolan’s ‘no thanks’: Unsurpising, considering Jaime Mausson’s past missteps. Watched and enjoyed the Mexico City presentation, naturally withholding any conclusion.
“Well, when your “government” is an actual, official terrorist organization, it’s not very hard to do.
You may not have meant it that way, but your comment comes off as apologetic.” – OBloodyHell
Did you actually open the link that I provided? This is the opening paragraph.
“On September 9, 1993, Arafat sent a letter to Prime Minister Rabin, in which he stated unequivocally that the PLO:
Recognizes the right of Israel to exist in peace and security.
Accepts UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
Commits itself to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence.
Assumes responsibility over all PLO elements to ensure their compliance, prevent violations, and discipline violators.
Affirms that those articles of the PLO Covenant which deny Israel’s right to exist are now inoperative and no longer valid.
Undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes to the Covenant.
In reply, Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians in the peace negotiations.”
So it’s not obvious, going back to the negotiations leading to a two-state solution, that the PA/PLO was still a terrorist organization. If you believed Arafat.
Now he proved that it was all a lie– much later, for which Ehud Barak called everything a lie after the Clinton era negotiations.
Do I think a lasting peace is possible? No, because Islamist terrorists will prevent it. It seems very likely the Oct. 7 attack was to cripple/kill the negotiations between the Saudis and Israelis for recognition. The Saudis, one of the chief exporters of Islamist extremism, making peace with Israel?
I’m just trying to separate the bad guys from the slightly less bad guys.
Israel-Palestinian Negotiations: History & Overview
I will give credit to om for defending me and for only slightly impugning me. 🙂
According to this review, the PLO indicated they were willing to recognize the right of Israel to exist in 1993 and the charter of the PA was to be changed to reflect that.
==
No, they weren’t. The bottom line for the middle 30% of the Arab population on the West Bank and Gaza was that a fuzzily defined 7-digit population of Arabs would have a franchise to settle in Israel at their discretion. That’s just the slow boat. (Shy of 40% insists that Israel be dissolved as part of any settlement).
==
Now, consider that. That’s the sort of stance you adopt if you’re in a position to dictate terms to your enemy. From 1897 to the present, local Arabs have never been in such a position, but maintaining the fiction is more important for them than actual improvements in mundane life. Providing any succor to these malicious fantasists does not do any party in the Near East any good.
==
They had turned it into a spectacular model for the Middle East
==
They hadn’t. It’s always been a dump.
yes that was made clear in 2000, when fatah was the junior partner to Hamas in the Intifada
Years ago I was standing in someone’s yard on a summer day waiting for them. There was a nearby berm covered with thick vegetation. I had the feeling that something was watching me, and peering in, could see just an eye, and then the whole animal. It was an immature groundhog, also known as a woodchuck in this area. I think it was the cutest non-human animal I ever saw.
I heard the “new” Beatles song on the radio and was underwhelmed. It seemed the attempt to create synthetic lightning in a bottle failed.
SCOTTtheBADGER: … I find it somewhat vexing to be considered a varmint.
But if you are a virtuous and valorous varmint, then that is ok.
[But if you overdo alliterations, it is not a virtue.]
AD: … maintaining the fiction is more important for them than actual improvements in mundane life.
I gather that is a common characteristic of “honor-shame” cultures. And perhaps that type of culture is more common among group oriented or “collectivist” tribal societies than the more individualistic ones evolved from the Judeo-Christian; Greco-Roman; Enlightenment traditions. Admitting to substandard performance or failure brings dishonor to your whole family/clan/tribe, etc.
I heard the “new” Beatles song on the radio and was underwhelmed. It seemed the attempt to create synthetic lightning in a bottle failed.
Jordan Rivers:
It was underwhelming. The original Lennon composition was underwhelming.
I don’t believe Paul and Ringo et al. were trying to capture lightning in a bottle. There was still fan demand, they were still nostalgic, there was new, interesting tech, so what the heck?
Had you been Sir Paul, would you have done differently?
Le Mot Juste—RE: The second Mexican panel on “Alien” mummies
Nice von Daniken-like touch of finding a suggestive, apparently ancient/old South American weaving, showing a figure with three fingered hands and feet, large eyes, and an apparent egg in its abdomen which emerges out of it’s body as what appears to be a live infant–somewhat similar petroglyphs in the background, plus a similarly ancient fragment of a stone carving with two hands crossed, one on top of the other–the one on top with three fingers, the one on the bottom with five.
I hate to give that guy with the very wild hair and his compadres on TV credit, but, Ya know, the more I learn about the breadth and high strangeness of the UFO Phenomenon, the more I have the sneaking suspicion that it may just turn out to be that the apparently wild speculations and intellectual trapeze work of von Daniken–making a giant leap from one piece of information to the other and trying to connect them, and this “Ancient Alien” crap may actually have some truth to it.
One of the many issues left to resolve from Oslo in 1993 was the issue of “displaced persons.”
Here is what and how a committee working as a subset of the overall peace process was charged with:
“As agreed by the Ministerial Committee in Cairo on February 6, 2000, the Continuing Technical Committee on Displaced Persons from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 met in Tel-Aviv on 20-21 February 2000, and discussed the four topics decided upon. Representatives of the four delegations held a separate discussion on the form for admission.”
—-
“The Palestinian delegation raised its concerns regarding the displaced persons who have applied for family reunification, and those already present in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and who have overstayed their visitors’ permits.”
The issues in the Declaration of Principles (DOP)that were agreed to be settled at a later time included Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements and security arrangements. Hmm. Pretty much all the contentious issues.
It sounds like both sides were just going through the motions, hoping public opinion/government strong arming was going to force one side or the other to capitulate.
I’m assuming, though it doesn’t state it, that some of these displaced persons would have been re-settled in the state of Israel.
The Jewish Virtual Library is maintained by The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and was established in 1993 as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship by emphasizing the fundamentals of the alliance — the values our nations share.
Snow on Pine,
Indeed. “There are more things in heaven and earth…”
Hell, that TV dude’s hair alone screams nothing’s impossible.
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Where I live, marmots are known as groundhogs and they are a plague on our farming community, devouring crops and digging burrows that are often the cause of horrible tractor roll-overs resulting in injury and death. So there is no bag limit nor closed season (except for deer season). They are considered pests to be eradicated, not cute little fuzzy-wuzzies to be kept as pets.
What is the back-story on that marmot? Why is s/he not flipping out and clawing the human whose hands we see? Is s/he a long-time pet? On drugs? Idiosyncratically gentle?
Inquiring minds want to know!
PS: nice pet shampoo there!
Praire dogs (the much more sociable cousins of the marmot/groundhog) will yell out a “WAHOO!” as a greating to known acquaintances.
Marmot? Great company!
Looks like the off year elections were not good for the GOP…Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio. Both sides of the media saying abortion drove the results. I guess the country is good with killing babies. May have to face it…the Ds strategy is brilliant and the country is turning blue and not much we can do to stop it. Politics downstream from the culture.
Mixed bag on the elections. Biden is already saying that voters approve of his policies.
Here in CO an Amendment that would have gutted what we call the Tabor Amendment failed, biggly. Touted as relief on Property Tax (which will soar because of the higher assessments) but would reduce refunds of Income Taxes, it was no such thing. Have to see how the School Board races came yet.
Hmmm. Here’s a “curious” one…
“Hamas accuses UNRWA of aiding civilians fleeing warzone;
“Terror organization furious at civilians relocating from northern Gaza to southern Gaza where they cannot be used as human shields.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379959
To be compared with this “curious” one, wherein the Secretary General of the UN and Hamas seem to be on the same page…(actually, not so curious, in fact not curious at all…):
“Guterres: Civilian deaths show something ‘clearly wrong’ with Israel response;
“UN Secretary-General continues his criticism of Israel’s self-defense against Hamas, ignores Hamas use of human shields.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379961
Steve: what you said, I guess. We used to live in Colorado and there was a huge problem with prairie dogs –carriers of plague and diggers of leg-breaking holes– which I consider to be very close relatives of marmots. They’re cute in the abstract but guess what, in the real world they literally carve out their niche for survival, and too bad for everybody else.
Steve:
They’re also good eating. But… that was a damn cute sink plug.
My farm had ravines that were thick with copperheads. I also had two as pets.
The UN Secretary-General was recruited out of the Eurotrash left. (He was prime minister of Portugal at one point).
Blinken says “[it’s] clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza”. Why is that clear?
Oh, you mean he was “recycled”…?
Related…
“Gaza resident: ‘The IDF fired, but not at us’ ;
“Rare testimony of a Palestinian woman tells of her escape from Gaza City under the protection of IDF forces.”—
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379869?ssr=1
Wow! I’m not sure which post neo wrote to make Vivek Ramaswamy so mad: https://notoneocons.com/
He’s requiring every member of his administration take a “No to Neocon” pledge.
🙂
And from the “Heh” File (cross-indexed with the “Jokers’ Wild” Dossier)…
“Biden announces $100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza and West Bank
Biden cautioned Hamas against attempting to divert the aid.”—
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/18/biden-humanitarian-aid-gaza-west-bank-00122212
“Rep. Ralph Norman on $100M Gaza aid: Biden ‘tone deaf’ to reports of rampant misuse of US aid helping Taliban, Hamas”—
https://justthenews.com/podcasts/john-solomon-reports/rep-ralph-norman-100m-gaza-aid-biden-tone-deaf-reports-rampant-misuse
Meanwhile, Canadians are told to “take things in perspective” (or should that be “in proportion”? “Disproportion”?)
‘ Trudeau Condemns Rise Of Hate Speech In Canada As His Hamasophobia Tzar Shares Petition Calling To “Re-Contextualize” Slaughter Of Babies By Her Co-Cultists ‘—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2023/11/08/trudeau-condemns-rise-of-hate-speech-in-canada-as-his-hamasophobia-tzar-shares-petition-calling-to-re-contextualize-slaughter-of-babies-by-her-co-cultists/
+ Bonus:
“Pennsylvania county voting machines flipping votes for superior court retention races;
“The flipped votes will be corrected during tabulation.”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/pennsylvania-county-voting-machines-flipping-votes-superior-court
That’s right! Of course they’ll be corrected!!
Perhaps of interest to some here: Prairie Dog Town (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EVWxOMI6q4)
Nonapod – The sad part is that Bliken is right that Iraeli occupation of Gaza is not a good idea. Thanks to Obama and Biden, though, it may be the least bad idea.
I hate to be “that guy” but…
Marmots are a genus, and there are 15 species of marmots. Groundhogs are one of the 15, so while all groundhogs are indeed marmots, not all marmots are groundhogs 😉 FWIW, most of the critters that Americans would simply call “marmots” are either hoary marmots or yellow-bellied marmots.
Prairie dogs are in the same tribe of “marmotini” but are a separate genus “cynomys” with 5 identified species. Related, but not the same.
Related (not to marmots…um, wait a sec…actually…):
“Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer”—
https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/
Barry Meislin, I’m shocked, SHOCKED that the terrorist leaders would do this!
RE: UFOs, AARO, and Dr. Shaun Kirkpatrick
I understand that many in the UFO Community—including some potential whistle blowers with first hand knowledge of the programs Grusch testified exist–do not trust AARO and Dr. Kirkpatrick believing, it appears, that he is working for the Pentagon’s Secrecy faction, appointed to his position to forestall any actual Disclosure.
In fact, I have seen a statement by at least one whistle blower who says that, while he has first hand knowledge of the concealed crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs, and he took his information to AARO and to Dr. Kirkpatrick, but that AARO never did anything with it.
Given this, I see mentions—here and there–that some people in the UFO community have heard that Dr. Kirkpatrick will soon be resigning his position.
Hmmm via Wikipedia
“In North America, on the basis of mean linear dimensions and body masses through the year, the smallest species appears to be the Alaska marmot and the largest is the Olympic marmot.
…
Marmota olympus – Olympic marmot, endemic to the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, United States”
Bauxite: duh. Obviously the last thing Israel intended to do on October 6 was reoccupy Gaza. But when you have to protect your people from being massacred by depraved barbarians you do what you have to do. Apparently the Biden administration is not all that keen on Israelis getting that protection.
RE: UFOs and AARO
If you read the legislation which created AARO you would think that it was intended to be, was set up to be a very activist organization—collecting and analyzing information on UFO sightings, investigating all of the various programs and actions of DOD regarding UFOs going all the way back to 1945 and compiling a list of them, making policy recommendations, setting up a website where government and contractor employees could send in their information about any government or contractor UFO programs they worked on or had knowledge of, even setting up rapid reaction teams to go out into the field to investigate incidents.
All this, yet, outside of a couple of minimal reports to Congress, after a year plus of existence they have just managed to stand up the mandated website.
I remember that, early on, there was talk that they only had a few employees and were very understaffed. Is this still the case?
Initially AARO was to be directed by and reported to Undersecretary for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie–the same apparently clueless high level civil servant who briefed members of Congress in the first UFO hearing.
Then, it appears that, because nothing was actually getting done by AARO, AARO was switched to reporting to and being directed by the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and, soon afterward, the mandated website miraculously came into being.
However, outside of the so far minimal Reports and the new website, I have no idea of what AARO might have been doing, or has accomplished.
It may be that AARO is the place where information about actual UFOs–the top 5% which are truly “anomalous”–goes to die or, at least, that may have been the original plan of some within DOD.
pkudude99
Marmotini…shaken or stirred?
I’ll show myself out.
FOAF – The ideal scenario for post-war Gaza would be some kind of international conservatorship. I don’t think Israel trusts anyone to lead that sort of arrangement though, including us. They probably shouldn’t.
https://twitter.com/NoahPollak/status/1722307821159735644
RE: UFOs and the supposed lack of good “data”
If a lot of serious researchers in the UFO Community are right, and that various parts of the government/DOD—using a number of publicly set up and also secret research programs–have been intently gathering information on (sometimes interacting with), and studying UFOs for almost 80 yeas now, they should have accumulated a veritable mountain of information.
If it hasn’t already been accomplished (and I suspect that—to one extent or the other–it might already have been), the task is now to gather this information together, to winnow it down, and to actually analyze it with the much more powerful analytical tools which we now have, as opposed to what was available in, say, 1947.
And while any analysts are about it–as Jacques Vallee and some others have suggested–attention should not only be paid to the nuts and bolts—to the technical aspects of UFOs and their performance–but also to the psychological and socio-cultural aspects as well i.e. what has the impact been on individual “experiencers,” their families, and their communities, and what has been the impact of the UFO phenomenon on our mind-sets, on the direction of our societies, and on our ideas about consensus Reality?
Have UFOs and the images, and ideas surrounding them had a growing impact on many of us as individuals, and also on our societies, moving them–as Vallee suggests—in a particular direction?
What, for instance, might be the impact on individual citizens who have seen a UFO but who were too intimidated to report it,or who did report it, as a consequence, were ridiculed for it or even had some repercussions at the work?
How might that have effected their view of their view of society and of their government?
Sorry. Change to “How might that have affected…”
Any ideas on how I can get rid of groundhogs, other than shooting them? They become very wily once you start that if you happen to miss.
I’ve tried live traps but often end up with skunks instead of groundhogs.
I’m so fed up with them.
So Rashida Tlaib got censored by Congress, so what?
In a bygone day and age–when personal reputation was much more important than it apparently is today, and when “shame” was also a much more important factor as well–such censure might have actually meant something, and had a personal impact on the person censored.
But today?
I doubt it.
Marmots vs UFOs (Uffing Furry Objects)? Which are more interesting?
Marmots.
Don’t ask Bill Murray.
Sorry. I am apparently off today.
It should have been “censured,” not censored, although she should have been censored as well.
Do Marmots have any natural enemies, the importation of which might end up being worse than the Marmots themselves?
Do Marmots have any natural enemies, the importation of which might end up being worse than the Marmots themselves?
Naturally that would depend on the Marmot species in question and its habitat. But generally the predators of most Marmots are things like coyotes, wolves, foxes, and larger eagles.
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/11/08/hamas-to-nyt-war-of-annhilation-is-exactly-what-we-wanted-n590864
This video is the clearest description of the background leading up to the present situation in Israel that I’ve found. At around 19:25, a point is made that I haven’t seen elsewhere. When there are discussions of a “two-state solution,” consideration must be given as to what type of “state” would the palestinian people produce. If the last 65 years haven’t proven that a palestinian state would not rise above a medieval regime, certainly the events of October 7 are conclusive.
CapnRusty:
One thing is crystal clear: the Palestinians will not accept any 2-state solution. They have been pretending to want it, for propaganda purposes. The reason they have always refused it is that it’s not their goal. Israel itself – Jews in charge of ANY land that was once ruled by Muslims (in the case of Palestine that would be the Ottoman Empire) – is unconscionable to them. The Jews must go. A side-by-side 2-state solution will never be acceptable to them, unless perhaps generations from now if there’s some sort of major re-education project in Gaza and the West Bank. I don’t see that happening.
Robert Frost, “A Drumlin Woodchuck” (Marmota monax)
One thing has a shelving bank,
Another a rotting plank,
To give it cozier skies
And make up for its lack of size.
My own strategic retreat
Is where two rocks almost meet,
And still more secure and snug,
A two-door burrow I dug.
With those in mind at my back
I can sit forth exposed to attack
As one who shrewdly pretends
That he and the world are friends.
All we who prefer to live
Have a little whistle we give,
And flash, at the least alarm
We dive down under the farm.
We allow some time for guile
And don’t come out for a while
Either to eat or drink.
We take occasion to think.
And if after the hunt goes past
And the double-barreled blast
(Like war and pestilence
And the loss of common sense),
If I can with confidence say
That still for another day,
Or even another year,
I will be there for you, my dear,
It will be because, though small
As measured against the All,
I have been so instinctively thorough
About my crevice and burrow.
From my observations, a Marmot’s first line of defense is to remain completely still.
Does washing it really do it any good?
@ Rufus T. Firefly
• Quick Note: Caught up on my correspondence, posted a reply to your ‘Nov 1: Euthanasia in Canada’ comment.
Again, thank you for sharing.
We just love our little groundhogs! Last summer’s bachelor returned this year with a wife and child. They spent their days rooting around in our backyard. And coming up to the patio twice a day for cat food, carrots, Cheerios, and shortbread cookies. They eat a LOT! We never tried to bathe one!
Mom and Dad would eventually deposit their little one with us to babysit while they went off to do groundhog things. In our suburban neighborhood, nobody gardens. And there’s a nearby forest, so I like to think they didn’t cause the damage y’all are describing.
They’ve gone away to their winter dens now, but they livened up our lives this summer…we actually miss them. What does it say about your life if a groundhog can make it more interesting???
Neo,
The sticking point, AFAIR, was the right of return. That had always been one of the demands of the PA/PLO. But reviewing the history of the negotiations over the years, I don’t see anything about it other than the displaced persons committee.
According to this review, the PLO indicated they were willing to recognize the right of Israel to exist in 1993 and the charter of the PA was to be changed to reflect that.
Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.
Israel-Palestinian Negotiations: History & Overview
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-israel-palestinian-negotiations
Now that we’ve covered the marmot issue, can we address the issue of African and European swallows?
“Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.”
Except that wasn’t Arafat, the head of the PA, the one who prepared for and decided to launch the second Intifada after the breakdown of the Camp David negotiations (or “negotiations”, actually) in the year 2000?
And wasn’t Arafat the one who coined the phrase “Peace of the Brave” to describe and rationalize that deadly intifada?
And wasn’t Arafat the one who planned and laid out the strategy of the “Phased Destruction” (in Arabic, to be sure, not English) of the Zionist Entity as his rationale for seeming to accept the existence—and legitimacy—of that Zionist Entity? (Which seeming acceptance is the reason why Edward Said, naive academic that he was—oh he of so little faith—severely criticized Arafat and ultimately broke with him…)?
Snow on PIne:
I assume you know the abduction-related research of historian Dr. David Jacobs? And I wonder whether you’ve caught “Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton.” It was produced by Jennifer Stein, head of our local MUFON chapter. It’s serious and well-done. I was able to get it on my TV (Comcast) via Xumo.
I’ve heard both Jacobs and Walton in person at MUFON sessions. Even , some years back, the late pioneer/nuclear physicist Stan Friedman!
Love that facial expression. It’s a strange world full of strange experiences.
IrishOtter49:
Air speed, or how they carry the coconuts?
Barry Meislin,
You’re right, according to Elliott Abrams.
“there should be no doubt about the origin of the second intifada: it happened when Yasir Arafat decided that more violence was useful to him. That case is closed.”
https://www.cfr.org/blog/arafat-and-second-intifada
Explains why Ehud Barak said Arafat was lying throughout the entire Camp David process.
that guy,
It’s not a topic I know much about, but, for what it’s worth I’ve left a reply to your questions.
Well, the Beatles have a new single out:
–“The Beatles – Now And Then (Official Music Video)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg
It’s based on that old 1977 Lennon cassette which also contained “Free as a Bird.” With new AI tech they were able to separate John’s voice from the piano, add new piano and instrumentation, plus some new lyrics by McCartney.
Voila!
The video uses AI tech to composite all of the Beatles from different eras (including Pete Best) playing together and clowning around.
It’s not a bad song. I found Lennon’s later output kinda thin, lacking that satisfying, crunchy, complexity from the Four Lads pitching in during their ascent to “the toppermost of the poppermost,” as Lennon put it when trying to cheer up the Boys during their hard climb upward.
But it was the video which did me in and not entirely in a good way. It looked like the aging Sir Paul surrounded by the Ghosts of Beatles Past.
To a lesser extent, they are my ghosts too and I don’t like to think of them that way.
Thanks for that link, Brian E. That review helps understand what has happened and who the players were.
https://therightscoop.com/breaking-pentagon-confirms-mq-9-drone-was-shot-down-off-coast-of-yemen-video/
Just as the USS Eisenhower and group are reaching passage through the Bab al-Mandab. Things may get hairy in a hurry in Yemen. Again, we’ll see.
And meanwhile in Syria: https://therightscoop.com/breaking-us-military-carries-out-airstrikes-against-iranian-proxies-in-eastern-syria/
huxley,
I watched about 1 minute total looking and listening to the Beatles “new” video, including fast forwarding to see if it got any better.
It seemed very formulaic to me. The film techniques are great! It really looks like all those different aged Beatles are in the room together. I’m probably too young to really understand the Beatles, but it was all too obvious, or predictable.
Some friends dragged me to the Cirque de Soliel Beatles show in Vegas years ago. I like Cirque de Soliel so I appreciated some of the artistry and all the acrobatics, but, just like the new video, it seemed too commercial and cloying. My friends really liked it though. So they wanted to buy a remembrance from the gift shop. Yes, you exit through a giftshop.
They were shocked by the prices and ended up not buying anything. When we got outside and they commented at their surprise at the costs of the Chinese made, Beatles approved merchandise I laughed and said, “When have you ever known the Beatles to do anything for free? They are the most commercial band in the history of pop music.” I don’t think they appreciated my saying it, but no one had a reasonable argument to dispute my point.
I assume you’ve heard the Yoko Ono – praying mantis joke?
I assume you’ve heard the Yoko Ono – praying mantis joke?
Rufus T. Firefly:
Actually, I’ve not. I asked my good friend, ChatGPT:
_________________________________________
I’m not aware of a specific joke involving Yoko Ono and a praying mantis. Yoko Ono is a well-known artist and musician, and jokes about her are not uncommon, but I don’t have information about a specific joke involving her and a praying mantis. If you have more context or details about the joke, I’d be happy to try to provide more information.
_________________________________________
I can guess the mantis joke, but I suspect Chat can’t acknowledge that sort of thing.
Sure the Beatles were commercial, but I don’t recall them being absurd. Springsteen concert tix are now going for as much as $4-5K per seat.
Marmots carry plague bacilli. Just sayin’. If I lived near a plague locus (and I do), I wouldn’t have any rodent as a pet, no matter how cute.
well then,
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjvjjqkma
Le Mot Juste—Several decades ago, back when I was doing heavy duty research on all sorts of subjects at a government think tank, one of my assignments happened to be to gather some information about flying saucers and, back then, the couple of unclassified military cases I gathered—which featured things like a number of trained observers, multiple points of view, radar confirmation, signs on the ground, and, as I recently found out, human effects, etc., etc.–made a pretty good case that this wasn’t just a case of “swamp gas, “mass hallucination,” a “practical joke,” “ball lightning,” or “mis-identifications of one of the planets”; it seemed to me that there was something there.*
Add to the mix the fact that from the age of say, 10 or 11, I have been a constant reader of Science Fiction, so, I was admittedly primed to believe in the possibility of UFOs being real.
I don’t claim to be an expert in this area, but a decade or so into my retirement, when things UFO became more prominent in the news and our society, I started to pay more attention to the subject, and since then—as more and more new information has become public–I have been following this subject rather closely.
Moreover, two plus decades since I put together that original file, we have recently gotten an admission by the DOD that UFOs are real, a few admittedly blurry, officially confirmed films of UFOs, and some actual measurements and calculations/estimates about UFO flight characteristics—the speeds attained, the G-forces involved, the amount of energy likely needed to accomplish the maneuvers that UFOs do, the harmful biological effects of getting too close to a UFO–and, given these hints, some preliminary scientific guesses as to how the technology being used to accomplish some of those maneuvers might work.
Do I have any real answers. Hell no!
But, I have some somewhat informed guesses and/or speculations.
Thus, I am firmly convinced that there is something extremely anomalous flying about our skies, diving into our oceans, hovering over our houses, our cities, our highways, our military and nuclear installations and forces, orbiting the Earth (and perhaps zipping around our Solar System as well—funny how NORAD hasn’t apparently added any data to AARO’s tabulation of world-wide UFO activities) all the while, over the last 80 years, appearing to cumulatively millions (or, perhaps, even tens of millions or more) of people around the globe.
I am also quite aware that the “UFO Community” is a hot mess. (See, for instance, Lou Elizondo’s comment to the effect that he would like to see the current “UFO Community” disappear.)
My current thinking is that long time French scientist and UFO researcher Jacques Vallee—who has spent several decades researching this subject, and is a very educated, canny, and subtle thinker–is closest to the truth, and that UFOs are both in some sense—and at some times–physical objects, but that they also have a psychic component and that, as an overall explanation for the UFO phenomenon, the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) is far too simple.
Moreover, that all “high strangeness phenomena”–including UFOs—may be part of the same overarching phenomenon, and that these phenomena—which may have always been with us, appearing to us in a different guise at each stage of human development and understanding, and as ancient as the human race–point to a multi-layered Reality which is much stranger and much larger—contains too much “woo”–for many of us to accept, or that our current consensus Reality will allow.
* See, for instance, Gary Haseltine’s very deeply researched new book, “Non-Human: The Rendlesham Forest Incidents: 42 years of Denial.”
huxley,
I don’t begrudge the Beatles the money they’ve made. They truly earned it. Those four men worked extremely hard for years. It’s just that somehow a lot of people missed the part where they were extremely commercial and capitalist.
I’ve never been a Springsteen fan.
…somehow a lot of people missed the part where [the Beatles] were extremely commercial and capitalist.
Rufus T. Firefly:
Though one might wonder, then, how they backed Apple Records, a fantastically terrible business which hemorrhaged money for years.
John Guilfoyle on November 8, 2023 at 1:40 pm said:
pkudude99
Marmotini…shaken or stirred?
Per the video it appears to be “scrub, rinse, repeat … “
Snow on Pine,
So interesting it was your own research that ignited your quest.
You may, if you haven’t, find the work of Rice University prof Jeffrey Kripal pertinent. Specifically, “Authors of the Impossible”, wherein he limns the thought of Vallee and a few other pioneers in the field of psy, broadly construed.
Unsurprisingly, he has been a guest of Jeffrey Mishlove (another pioneer!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVBfACshw6Y
We have lots of these monster voles called Townsend’s vole. They look like a little kids fuzzy slippers (about 8 inches or so). Saw an Eagle swoop down and snatch one out of the yard and on another occasion saw a weasel carrying one it had killed across the yard. Had to remove one that had trapped itself in the garage. Mobile slippers.
@ LeMotJuste to Snow on PIne:
“I assume you know the abduction-related research”
The moment of revelation comes to a family.
(Also posted in another thread but you might have missed it)
https://accordingtohoyt.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/adopted.png
Roberts Barnes talks about “The Corruption of The FBI” for 14 minutes.
J6 and election fraud issues loom large. We have a malicious and unaccountable government Ruling Above us.
Apparently, this is from late April, last Spring, at Hillsdale College.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9km96cZtKBY
}}} When there are discussions of a “two-state solution,”
They already HAD a “two-state solution”, and the rhetoric that followed exemplified exactly what happened 10/7.
Israel essentially owned and controlled Gaza. They had turned it into a spectacular model for the Middle East — a place where Muslims and Israelis worked in cooperation to the benefit of each other. Gaza was the second most prosperous (excluding oil revenue) zone in the entire ME (after Israel).
The Israelis ceded control of the area to Palestine, ca. 20y ago, and withdrew their military, etc., from it. The Palestinians held elections, and promptly elected Hamas to be in control.
Within less than a decade, the area was a total basket case, going from highly productive to an ME hell hole in that time. And the subsequent decade did not improve things.
The Palestinians insist on their right to commit atrocities and, in the long run, genocide. We need to take them at their word. Let Israel do whatever it has to do to survive and protect itself from these insane Mo*** Fu***s.
Stop trying to get Israel to stay their hand.
With 10/7, the Palestinians have earned whatever form that may take.
Sad? Yes.
Right, and just? Damn Tootin’.
}}} Muslim terrorists have managed to scuttle the process whenever it seemed the two sides were working toward a solution.
Well, when your “government” is an actual, official terrorist organization, it’s not very hard to do.
You may not have meant it that way, but your comment comes off as apologetic.
miguel: “Hamas to NYT: War of Annihilation Is Exactly What We Wanted”
No problem, the NYT wants it too.
}}} can we address the issue of African and European swallows?
HEY HEY HEY. Everybody swallows. Why so regionalist? 😛
On their boxes of cartridges in ” varmint ” calibers, Winchester has an illustration of a woodchuck. Since .223/5.56 NATO is considered a ” varmint ” round, I find it somewhat vexing to be considered a varmint.
OBloodyHell:
BrainE was probablly not intentionally apologizing for the terrorists. Just being pragmatic.
From the river to the sea … is the Palistinian chant for their final solution for the Jews. The PLA, PLO, Hamas, Hizbolla are all terrorists, and will pragmatically do whatever the situation requires to reach their solution.
two gangs one more ruthless than the next, with other like the pij, prc, et al,
well then, here’s some more pantomine
https://twitter.com/MHowellTweets/status/1722452242412773400
the fundamental reality was that Oslo was a death trap, because Rabin got tired, in time Sharon did as well, and now Bob’s your uncle,
Le Mot Juste—RE: Abductions
Am familiar with Mishlove—recent winner of the top $500,000 prize offered by Robert Bigelow’s Institute for Consciousness Studies (Bigelow the Billionaire owner of Bigelow Aerospace, former owner of Skinwalker Ranch, whose research team had a DIA/AAWSAP contract to study Skinwalker, and had a reported 50 personnel studying it for several years) for the best essay showing the evidence for survival after death.
Familiar also with Kripal.
Not all that familiar with the literature on the Abduction phenomenon, but a little confused by, for instance, the attitude of Whitley Strieber–author of the best selling book “Communion” and several subsequent books on his experiences with UFOs and Aliens–who says that on first encountering Aliens he was subjected to the cliche’d anal probe, “raped,” yet who now apparently has a favorable view of Aliens (mystical Alien guides?), and has what for me is a rather strange “affect.”
In fact, it appears that any “Experiencer”– especially one who has a close encounter with an Alien–is forever changed in many profound ways, and his or her mind and life are radically redirected.
Given all of the different sizes, shapes, colors, and flight characteristics/behaviors of reported UFOs, and the different descriptions of Aliens people seem to have genuinely encountered, the fact that we have teasing, neutral, and occasionally hostile Alien actions, leads me to the conclusion that we are being visited/surveilled, and occasionally being interfered with by a number of different species of Aliens—some perhaps just ETs in nuts and bolts spaceships, some perhaps from another dimension or time, some perhaps Earthly entities which have always been here—mix and match, take your pick–and each with it’s own agenda and preferred mode of action.
P.S. I sometimes see the dismissive arguments that any advanced space faring species–being so wise and advanced—would not want to expend the time and resources, or make the effort to travel the presumably vast distances from their Solar System to ours, and/or would have little reason to be interested in the Earth, in what to them must be us relatively primitive humans, or in any potential resources we might have here on Earth, or in our Solar system, which could presumably be found much more easily anywhere else in the Galaxy.
Yet, here they very obviously, and increasingly, are.
As UFO researcher Richard Dolan says, right now we here on Earth appear to be the most interesting thing in this quadrant of the Galaxy.
Rabin got a bit more than “tired”…
to trust Arafat, because he was better than the other scorpion Yassin,
now Yigal Amir, came from Yemen, they mounted a farhud in 1947, in the time of his grandparents time, he feared this type of result,
RE: “Alien” mummies in Mexico
The Mexican Congress has now had a second panel presentation of research results on the tiny “Alien” mummies which were presented in the first panel several weeks ago, in which, again, additional medical, anthropological, evolution, and forensic experts from Peruvian and other South American universities presented their research, giving their views that these mummies were not–as has been charged–Frankenstein type objects pieced together from animal parts, but were, in fact, legitimate, whole, unmodified ancient entities of some unknown species–perhaps some sort of hybrid.
Moreover, on presenter admitted that, as less advanced countries, they did not have the most up to date or sophisticated analytical instruments, and requested that researchers from more advanced countries with better equipment come join in their research.
I note that, for instance, someone like noted Stanford Pathologist Dr. Garry Nolan–who is interested in the UFO phenomenon, has done some research in this area–and who would have access to such equipment and expertise–is not interested in joining in research on these mummies, which I believe a lot of people view as a hoax.*
* See Nolan’s take on this at https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/comments/16hy2zd/update_on_the_mexican_aliens_chair_of_pathology/
https://nypost.com/2023/11/09/news/brawls-erupt-outside-screening-of-gal-gadots-hamas-film/
AesopFan,
Poignant interspecies moment! Danke for sharing.
Snow on Pine,
Nothing of substance to add to your surmises and speculations on sightings and encounters; you pretty much cover it.
Long since dispensed with anthropocentric doubters stumped by why advanced folk would bother with us knuckle-draggers, or the prohibitive distances involved in getting here, etc. Not a speck of wonder or humility before the vastness of all we don’t know or can even imagine.
Strieber — odd affect, odder life. Far from stupid. Not dishonest. But also a tiresome purveyor of climate scarytales. In sum: sui generis.
Re. Nolan’s ‘no thanks’: Unsurpising, considering Jaime Mausson’s past missteps. Watched and enjoyed the Mexico City presentation, naturally withholding any conclusion.
“Well, when your “government” is an actual, official terrorist organization, it’s not very hard to do.
You may not have meant it that way, but your comment comes off as apologetic.” – OBloodyHell
Did you actually open the link that I provided? This is the opening paragraph.
“On September 9, 1993, Arafat sent a letter to Prime Minister Rabin, in which he stated unequivocally that the PLO:
Recognizes the right of Israel to exist in peace and security.
Accepts UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
Commits itself to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence.
Assumes responsibility over all PLO elements to ensure their compliance, prevent violations, and discipline violators.
Affirms that those articles of the PLO Covenant which deny Israel’s right to exist are now inoperative and no longer valid.
Undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes to the Covenant.
In reply, Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians in the peace negotiations.”
So it’s not obvious, going back to the negotiations leading to a two-state solution, that the PA/PLO was still a terrorist organization. If you believed Arafat.
Now he proved that it was all a lie– much later, for which Ehud Barak called everything a lie after the Clinton era negotiations.
Do I think a lasting peace is possible? No, because Islamist terrorists will prevent it. It seems very likely the Oct. 7 attack was to cripple/kill the negotiations between the Saudis and Israelis for recognition. The Saudis, one of the chief exporters of Islamist extremism, making peace with Israel?
I’m just trying to separate the bad guys from the slightly less bad guys.
Israel-Palestinian Negotiations: History & Overview
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-israel-palestinian-negotiations
I will give credit to om for defending me and for only slightly impugning me. 🙂
According to this review, the PLO indicated they were willing to recognize the right of Israel to exist in 1993 and the charter of the PA was to be changed to reflect that.
==
No, they weren’t. The bottom line for the middle 30% of the Arab population on the West Bank and Gaza was that a fuzzily defined 7-digit population of Arabs would have a franchise to settle in Israel at their discretion. That’s just the slow boat. (Shy of 40% insists that Israel be dissolved as part of any settlement).
==
Now, consider that. That’s the sort of stance you adopt if you’re in a position to dictate terms to your enemy. From 1897 to the present, local Arabs have never been in such a position, but maintaining the fiction is more important for them than actual improvements in mundane life. Providing any succor to these malicious fantasists does not do any party in the Near East any good.
==
They had turned it into a spectacular model for the Middle East
==
They hadn’t. It’s always been a dump.
yes that was made clear in 2000, when fatah was the junior partner to Hamas in the Intifada
Years ago I was standing in someone’s yard on a summer day waiting for them. There was a nearby berm covered with thick vegetation. I had the feeling that something was watching me, and peering in, could see just an eye, and then the whole animal. It was an immature groundhog, also known as a woodchuck in this area. I think it was the cutest non-human animal I ever saw.
======================================================
I heard the “new” Beatles song on the radio and was underwhelmed. It seemed the attempt to create synthetic lightning in a bottle failed.
SCOTTtheBADGER: … I find it somewhat vexing to be considered a varmint.
But if you are a virtuous and valorous varmint, then that is ok.
[But if you overdo alliterations, it is not a virtue.]
AD: … maintaining the fiction is more important for them than actual improvements in mundane life.
I gather that is a common characteristic of “honor-shame” cultures. And perhaps that type of culture is more common among group oriented or “collectivist” tribal societies than the more individualistic ones evolved from the Judeo-Christian; Greco-Roman; Enlightenment traditions. Admitting to substandard performance or failure brings dishonor to your whole family/clan/tribe, etc.
I heard the “new” Beatles song on the radio and was underwhelmed. It seemed the attempt to create synthetic lightning in a bottle failed.
Jordan Rivers:
It was underwhelming. The original Lennon composition was underwhelming.
I don’t believe Paul and Ringo et al. were trying to capture lightning in a bottle. There was still fan demand, they were still nostalgic, there was new, interesting tech, so what the heck?
Had you been Sir Paul, would you have done differently?
Le Mot Juste—RE: The second Mexican panel on “Alien” mummies
Nice von Daniken-like touch of finding a suggestive, apparently ancient/old South American weaving, showing a figure with three fingered hands and feet, large eyes, and an apparent egg in its abdomen which emerges out of it’s body as what appears to be a live infant–somewhat similar petroglyphs in the background, plus a similarly ancient fragment of a stone carving with two hands crossed, one on top of the other–the one on top with three fingers, the one on the bottom with five.
I hate to give that guy with the very wild hair and his compadres on TV credit, but, Ya know, the more I learn about the breadth and high strangeness of the UFO Phenomenon, the more I have the sneaking suspicion that it may just turn out to be that the apparently wild speculations and intellectual trapeze work of von Daniken–making a giant leap from one piece of information to the other and trying to connect them, and this “Ancient Alien” crap may actually have some truth to it.
One of the many issues left to resolve from Oslo in 1993 was the issue of “displaced persons.”
Here is what and how a committee working as a subset of the overall peace process was charged with:
“As agreed by the Ministerial Committee in Cairo on February 6, 2000, the Continuing Technical Committee on Displaced Persons from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 met in Tel-Aviv on 20-21 February 2000, and discussed the four topics decided upon. Representatives of the four delegations held a separate discussion on the form for admission.”
—-
“The Palestinian delegation raised its concerns regarding the displaced persons who have applied for family reunification, and those already present in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and who have overstayed their visitors’ permits.”
The issues in the Declaration of Principles (DOP)that were agreed to be settled at a later time included Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements and security arrangements. Hmm. Pretty much all the contentious issues.
It sounds like both sides were just going through the motions, hoping public opinion/government strong arming was going to force one side or the other to capitulate.
I’m assuming, though it doesn’t state it, that some of these displaced persons would have been re-settled in the state of Israel.
“Displaced Persons – 1967”
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/displaced-persons-1967
The Jewish Virtual Library is maintained by The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and was established in 1993 as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship by emphasizing the fundamentals of the alliance — the values our nations share.
Snow on Pine,
Indeed. “There are more things in heaven and earth…”
Hell, that TV dude’s hair alone screams nothing’s impossible.