The Chinese have an operational breeder reactor that converts thorium into fisible uranium. It has been operational since 2023 and the Chinese recently published data about its performance. The concept for the reactor and early experiments with its design were done by the United States, but the nuclear regulatory commission NRC is packed with Jane Fonda anti-nuclear activists who are doing everything they can to impede progress in building nuclear power plants.
China’s Molten Salt Reactor Reaches Thorium-Uranium Conversion Milestone
China’s Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in November reported it had achieved thorium-to-uranium fuel conversion inside an operating molten salt reactor (MSR). The milestone provides the first experimental data from thorium fuel loading in a liquid-fuel MSR and advances validation of the thorium-uranium fuel cycle, the institute said.
SINAP, a leading Chinese national nuclear research institute operating under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said the milestone was achieved at the 2-MWth thermal experimental thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR-LF1) in Wuwei, Gansu Province, a facility built by SINAP in collaboration with other Chinese institutions. While the institute has not released detailed technical data about the conversion process, according to CAS, the experimental TMSR “is currently the only operational molten-salt reactor in the world loaded with thorium fuel” and has “obtained valid experimental data following thorium fuel loading,” confirming “the technical feasibility of thorium utilization in a molten-salt reactor nuclear energy system.”
Possibly positive analysis: Fuentes’ podcast audience numbers may be largely fraudulent.
The Left is excited that a Democrat was elected mayor of Miami. On the face of it, it’s not good, but does anyone here have insight into the race?
Instapundit reports that with a population of over 400,000 only 38,000 turned out for the election.
How ’bout. that! Pete Alonso, no less. (5 yrs, $155 million)
With already 3 potential 1st basemen on the roster — Mountcastle, Mayo and Basallo. Humnph . . . guess a trade is in the offing pretty soon here then.
Like I said the Left will have their surges, but they are dying!
Speaking of prank videos…
My latest fave channel guy is Anatoly Powerlifter, who started as a Ukrainian teenager obsessed with weight lifting. He didn’t have access to a gym so he created a personal gym out of junkyard scrap.
He did well enough that he won some powerlifting titles in his early 20s. He started developing his prank videos in which he plays a gym cleaner in a blue jumpsuit who shyly interrupts macho body builders to tell them their technique is wrong or that they are using fake weights.
Anatoly weighs about 170# so he looks like a weakling against the gym rat behemoths. They are annoyed, then laugh at Anatoly and challenge him to try the weight. Anatoly apologizes and says he wants more weight, adds it, then nails the lift, walks around with it a bit and asks if he can put the weight down. 🙂
Of course, when you see Anatoly sans jump suit — he’s shredded with a T-build, batwings and an eight-pack.
Taliban punishes 4 men for cosplaying as characters from British show ‘Peaky Blinders’
Four Afghan men were summoned by the Taliban and made to enter a reform program after they walked around in public dressed as characters from the BBC’s “Peaky Blinders.”
[snip]
“Until today, no one had published this content of classic dressing style in Afghanistan. We have had the same monotonous dressing style for the past many decades and wanted to show variety,” Mr. Akbari said in the YouTube video, according to The Telegraph.
[snip]
Having been put into the reform program, one of the men appeared in a video posted by [a Taliban spokesman] on X to recant their cosplay.
“I’m on Instagram and have 5 million followers. Without realizing it, I used to publish and spread things that were against Sharia. I was summoned and advised, and from today onward I will no longer engage in such sinful activities — and I have stopped,” one of the men, whose name was not specified, said, according to CBS News.
After Eva zu Back’s video, try out this 6m Mea Culpa by a German.
He opposes Euro media reputation, and answers well. The longer he’s in the US, the more he sees advantages.
As more and more anomalies and “coincidences” pile up—the more these coincidences are pointing to 3I/Atlas as being some sort of alien technology—a spaceship, a probe, a Von Neumann machine, etc.–and not a comet.
Here is my understanding of how things currently stand, via Dr. Avi Loeb.
In it’s first major coincidence–out of all the possible random paths/trajectories through our Solar System it could have taken–it just “happened” that 3I/Atlas’ basic initial path through our Solar System was within 5% of the same plane as the planets in our Solar System–the “chance” of this happening calculated as being around one in 200.
Moreover, this trajectory took 3I/Atlas quite near to Mars, and will take it on to Jupiter—ideal, if you wanted to closely observe these planets
Incidentally, at one point it’s trajectory also took 3I/Atlas behind the Sun—making it unable to be observed by us on Earth, which was on the opposite side of the Sun from it, this, at a time when—if it were a piece of technology—it could have made some critical maneuvers unobserved.
Since it’s discovery, there have been close to 15 different “anomalies” related to it’s behavior, one of these anomalies being the mysterious “non-gravitational acceleration” which changed 3I/Atlas’ trajectory.
Jupiter has what is known as it’s “Hill Radius,” the point at which an object would be captured by Jupiter’s gravity, not the Sun’s, and potentially going into orbit around Jupiter.
However, if an object is further out from Jupiter than it’s Hill Radius, Dr. Loeb says that the Sun’s “tidal forces” would tear such an object apart.
According to Dr. Loeb’s calculations, the “non-gravitational acceleration” 3I/Atlas underwent changed it’s trajectory–just enough–so that it will arrive just exactly at Jupiter’s Hill radius—a perfect place if it were a technological object which wanted to make observations, or to release various probes.
I believe that Dr. Loeb also said that where 3I/Atlas will arrive at is also at one of Jupiter’s four “Lagrange points”–a location at which gravitation is balanced, and an object sitting there would need almost no energy to maintain it’s position.
Quite a bunch of “coincidences,” don’t you think?
Make that 5 degrees, not 5 percent.
Quite a bunch of “coincidences,” don’t you think?
Snow on Pine:
Nope. I’ll wait for the Lagrange point and then maybe I’ll think about it. Loeb has done some good work in the past, but now he strikes me as a scientist playing for publicity and funding.
As indicated by its name, 3I / Atlas is only the third interstellar object entering the solar system we’ve observed. It acts a lot like a comet, but not exactly like the comets we’re used to
But why should we expect it to? The possibility for chunks of matter coming from far outer space not being like our comets seems like a more than reasonable possibility.
Furthermore, why would an alien interstellar spacecraft look like a comet? If the aliens have the tech to handle interstellar space travel, why would they bother with comet camouflage?
This whole business reminds me of the Face on Mars plus the D&M Pyramid nothingburger.
Thanks for that link, TJ. It was nice to hear that.
Here are some animations of pictures taken of the uniforms worn by some of Napoleon’s troops.*
What stuck me about these images was how much crap they had stuck on top of and also hanging from their hats, and how tall and–I would think–how unwieldy these hats would be in combat (perhaps these were just dress uniforms, used in parades, but not in combat?).
I noted, too, just how shaggy and unkempt looking those tall, Napoleonic apparently real bear fur hats were vs. the ones used by the Brits these days.
huxley–I agree that Dr. Loeb is all over the Internet these days but, to his credit, when he does appear on some show or the other, he does present his science based evidence leading to his observations/conclusions, rather than just declaring something to be so.
As for him getting a whole lot of air time and, thus, more publicity and recognizability, that would appear to be the name of the game, if–as he has–you want to get serious donations/funding for your scientific research/projects.
Moreover, while Loeb has written a whole lot of papers, I expect that they have all survived peer review, so they aren’t just crap.
Snow on Pine:
I don’t have a lot of faith in peer review these days. See climate change, Covid, reproducibility.
So what do you think? It’s easy to find coincidences which look like patterns. That’s the way human perception works. Loeb sees anomalies if one expects a normal comet. So what?
Do you really think 3I is an alien spacecraft? Why would it look like a strange comet?
There’s data and there’s speculating beyond the data.
Regarding the friendliness of Americans. I gave this a lot of thought after attending a dinner party and hearing an upper crust British woman complain (!) about the friendliness of Americans. All the other guests were American, BTW. Tactless.
My theory is that it’s rooted in our ‘Frontier’ culture. Friendliness was a survival mechanism. You couldn’t afford to be snobby to someone who might save your a– when a mountain lion got in the cabin.
And even though we’re not a frontier culture anymore – at least not physically – we have kept it up. People – new Americans and old – like it.
Like the chicken and balloon the other day, I think these are AI.
I enjoyed In the Days of the Comet by H. G. Wells many years ago. I had a thick hardcover collection of Wells’ sci-fi from the public library; lots of entertainment there!
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
huxley,
I didn’t understand “batwings,” but DuckDuckGo indicates they are flabby/flappy arms. Not desirable for a bodybuilder.
Molly Brown,
My assumption has always been that every generation of Americans has a fair amount of new Americans. Most of us either need help assimilating, or are not long removed from our parents or grandparents needing that help.
At one my point my career relocated our family to a city in the south that was in the midst of a boom. Our neighborhood was full of young families and no one was originally from that area. Everyone was very outgoing and friendly. We became one another’s families for holidays and help. Cared for one another when sick. Watched each others children…
Also, America is made up of the people who were adventurous and bold enough to travel great distances, often at tremendous risk, and leave their ancestral lands behind. Maybe there is literally something in American DNA that makes most of us more outgoing?
Rufus,
‘Maybe there is literally something in American DNA that makes most of us more outgoing?’
Yes.
huxley—More and more, many of us are looking up, and out, at the Stars, and into our Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe.
I am not an Astronomer, and do not have a comprehensive knowledge about every aspect of our Solar System, and the nature and trajectories of the objects passing through it.
But, from what I understand, we have only just gotten to the point, technologically, where we can really identify and see some fraction of all of the things which are in, and which travel through our Solar System.
And those extra-solar objects traveling through our Solar System apparently normally come into our Solar System from random directions, and have random trajectories–some above our planet’s orbital plane, some below, many trajectories taking them far from the inner planets, some very near the inner planets.
Then, we detect one particular comet like object whose remarkable trajectory puts it within five degrees of the orbital plane of our planets, this trajectory also puts it within good observational distance of Mars and Jupiter, and this object has all sorts of coincidences and anomalies associated with it; according to what astronomers generally believe to be the normal composition and behavior of comets, this object does not at all behave like one.
In an atmosphere crammed with many decade’s worth of stories/entertainment about Aliens and Alien invasions, with reports from very trained and competent people of an increasing number of UAPs/UFOs in our skies, in our oceans, and in near Earth orbit, and testimony from authoritative figures that we on this planet are not alone, wouldn’t you take note of this particular “comet,” and be suspicious?
An Alien intelligence is, well, Alien, and thus an entity whose thinking processes, whose viewpoint, priorities, and values we really have no clue about, and we cannot just assume that such an entity might think, value, and operate as we humans do.
A human would likely not disguise a probe as a comet, unless there was some good tactical reason to do so.
But, an Alien.
Who knows?
Perhaps it’s more convenient, and used less of what might be very scarce resources?
Perhaps it is a way to confuse us onlookers–and they certainly have been very successful at this–who would be much more alarmed if their instruments picked up an object which was obviously technological, and coming within good observational distance of several of our planets?
From my perspective, given all of the “coincidences” and “anomalies” associated with 3I/Atlas, I think that the possibility that 3I/Atlas is some sort of NHI recon vessel should be given serious consideration.
As a refutation of the possibility that NHI’s might be interested in us humans, or in our planet, I often see the argument made that we here on Earth are quite average, and of no possible interest, given the vastness of the Galaxy, and the presumed myriad of resources to be found in any one of a billion other Solar Systems.
This, of course, only referring to the physical, and not what might be the additional mental or spiritual aspects of our planet, and it’s inhabitants.
However, we are just guessing, we really don’t know whats “out there,” or how rare, say, an entire ecological system like ours, here on Earth, and its chemicals, plants, and animals might be, or what particular minerals, substances, or other items—perhaps of great interest to, or even absolutely necessary for some Alien civilization–might actually be in very short supply, and only available here, in our Solar System or here, on Earth.
I didn’t understand “batwings,”…
Rufus:
In the early 2000s a best friend, who had been earnest bodybuilder since the 79s, used batwings for the lat muscles.
Since the minds of NHIs—beings who might be the products of a post scarcity society, possibly functionally immortal, and possibly in the grips of ennui–are very likely unknowable, perhaps what they’re really interested in on our Earth are things which might not make much sense to us humans as being of supreme importance–Banjos, Hillbillies, licorice, Samurai films, smelly cheeses, or baseball or Tarot cards; things which might not make sense to us.
Snow on Pine:
You’re not talking with someone who hasn’t considered aliens and UFOs deeply. FWIW I saw a bona fide UFO in the sixth grade (1964), which was reported the next day in the “Daytona Beach News Journal.” It was a minor turning point in my life.
I have followed the UFO debate and similar issues since then. I’m not saying there are no aliens nor that they wouldn’t be interested in humans on planet Earth.
I am saying that much of that discussion has been wasted on the Face on Mars, 1I/Oumuamua, now 3I/Atlas kinds of things with breathless wonder and if it doesn’t make sense, well, Aliens are Alien.
I’m not a rube, nor are most readers here. I’m looking for information more solid than “It could be Aliens!”
Why do some invest so much mental energy on a question whose answer is unknowable? This goes beyond trying to understand the mind of God.
Thank you! our Mock’s Brother Rufus T. Firefly.
About American friendliness, Molly Brown surmises “My theory is that it’s rooted in our ‘Frontier’ culture. [Friendliness was a survival mechanism for cooperating in founding new homes and towns. We needed high social trust.] You couldn’t afford to be snobby to someone who might save your a– when a mountain lion got in the cabin.”
Yes, something alone these lines, I think, too.
Back in the 1980s, a Marxist influenced school of US West historians dubbed “The New Western history” tried to explain it without reference to “The Frontier.” That is, an area of freer land, in place of the traditional equivalent in Europe to mean “border” of the nation.
One leading historian, Patricia Nelson Limerick ultimately decided that doing so doesn’t work. The West without the Frontier concept is inaccurate. Unworkable in describing us Americans.
The founder of scholarly American history was Frederick Jackson Turner. In 1893, he argued that our frontier experience deeply shaped American character, as seen by Alexis De Tocqueville onward. But he also warned, citing the newest 1890 census bureau data, that the frontier was now closed — no more wide open lands because population density was now greater than one person per square mile. Where would American restlessness find a new creative outlet?
Enter the post-WWII world of the Space Race, or “The final frontier” as Star Trek put it.! Thus, it’s powerfully reassuring Elon Musk and SpaceX are all fired up about space exploration! Making this frontier exploration project Groat Again.
But back to Molly Brown, the rapid settling of an area of open lands from the mid-19th century onwards helped define American Exceptionalism. And without grasping this, who can understand what makes America different from every other nation?
Let me share what I think is related to the high trust character required in settling an open and wild frontier.
The US has the world’s greatest number of surnames used as first names (eg, “Jackson Brown” instead of “Andrew Jackson”) — but no one knows why!
My surmize is that part of fulfilling the American Dream is making open space for self-reinvention. Thus, a uniquely American habit of using surnames as first names by people assuming new or different identities.
Therefore, it is an extension of American frontier individualism. In effect, “Judge me by what I do, NOT by who I was (originally named)!”
To my mind, “Top Gun” director Tony Scott (late brother of director Ridley Scott) did the last great self-reinvention movie in 1993, “True Romance.” It’s a film noir themed tale, escaping Detroit for SoCal for a new life by reaching out to find new opportunities.
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The Chinese have an operational breeder reactor that converts thorium into fisible uranium. It has been operational since 2023 and the Chinese recently published data about its performance. The concept for the reactor and early experiments with its design were done by the United States, but the nuclear regulatory commission NRC is packed with Jane Fonda anti-nuclear activists who are doing everything they can to impede progress in building nuclear power plants.
https://www.powermag.com/chinas-molten-salt-reactor-reaches-thorium-uranium-conversion-milestone/
China’s Molten Salt Reactor Reaches Thorium-Uranium Conversion Milestone
China’s Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in November reported it had achieved thorium-to-uranium fuel conversion inside an operating molten salt reactor (MSR). The milestone provides the first experimental data from thorium fuel loading in a liquid-fuel MSR and advances validation of the thorium-uranium fuel cycle, the institute said.
SINAP, a leading Chinese national nuclear research institute operating under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said the milestone was achieved at the 2-MWth thermal experimental thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR-LF1) in Wuwei, Gansu Province, a facility built by SINAP in collaboration with other Chinese institutions. While the institute has not released detailed technical data about the conversion process, according to CAS, the experimental TMSR “is currently the only operational molten-salt reactor in the world loaded with thorium fuel” and has “obtained valid experimental data following thorium fuel loading,” confirming “the technical feasibility of thorium utilization in a molten-salt reactor nuclear energy system.”
Possibly positive analysis: Fuentes’ podcast audience numbers may be largely fraudulent.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/12/the-fuentes-fraud.php
The Left is excited that a Democrat was elected mayor of Miami. On the face of it, it’s not good, but does anyone here have insight into the race?
Instapundit reports that with a population of over 400,000 only 38,000 turned out for the election.
Bob,
Good analysis here:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/12/don_t_freak_out_about_the_miami_mayoral_election_and_here_s_why.html
How ’bout. that! Pete Alonso, no less. (5 yrs, $155 million)
With already 3 potential 1st basemen on the roster — Mountcastle, Mayo and Basallo. Humnph . . . guess a trade is in the offing pretty soon here then.
Like I said the Left will have their surges, but they are dying!
Speaking of prank videos…
My latest fave channel guy is Anatoly Powerlifter, who started as a Ukrainian teenager obsessed with weight lifting. He didn’t have access to a gym so he created a personal gym out of junkyard scrap.
He did well enough that he won some powerlifting titles in his early 20s. He started developing his prank videos in which he plays a gym cleaner in a blue jumpsuit who shyly interrupts macho body builders to tell them their technique is wrong or that they are using fake weights.
Anatoly weighs about 170# so he looks like a weakling against the gym rat behemoths. They are annoyed, then laugh at Anatoly and challenge him to try the weight. Anatoly apologizes and says he wants more weight, adds it, then nails the lift, walks around with it a bit and asks if he can put the weight down. 🙂
Of course, when you see Anatoly sans jump suit — he’s shredded with a T-build, batwings and an eight-pack.
–Anatoly Powerlifter , “ELITE Powerlifter ANATOLY Pretends to be CLEANER in GYM” (53 secs)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uD3-TTjjwCw
Fun stuff. Even Arnold says so:
–“Anatoly Shocking Arnold”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq8JYzSCufQ
Taliban punishes 4 men for cosplaying as characters from British show ‘Peaky Blinders’
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/10/taliban-punishes-4-men-cosplaying-characters-british-show-peaky/
This is good!
I thought this was cool.
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-einstein-theory-astronomers-star-black.html
After Eva zu Back’s video, try out this 6m Mea Culpa by a German.
He opposes Euro media reputation, and answers well. The longer he’s in the US, the more he sees advantages.
He says he’s freer here — except for HOAs!
“I Was Wrong About America ?? | What I Misunderstood as a German“
By Toni Harms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IuyzNSuLjg
3I/Atlas as potential Alien technology–
As more and more anomalies and “coincidences” pile up—the more these coincidences are pointing to 3I/Atlas as being some sort of alien technology—a spaceship, a probe, a Von Neumann machine, etc.–and not a comet.
Here is my understanding of how things currently stand, via Dr. Avi Loeb.
In it’s first major coincidence–out of all the possible random paths/trajectories through our Solar System it could have taken–it just “happened” that 3I/Atlas’ basic initial path through our Solar System was within 5% of the same plane as the planets in our Solar System–the “chance” of this happening calculated as being around one in 200.
Moreover, this trajectory took 3I/Atlas quite near to Mars, and will take it on to Jupiter—ideal, if you wanted to closely observe these planets
Incidentally, at one point it’s trajectory also took 3I/Atlas behind the Sun—making it unable to be observed by us on Earth, which was on the opposite side of the Sun from it, this, at a time when—if it were a piece of technology—it could have made some critical maneuvers unobserved.
Since it’s discovery, there have been close to 15 different “anomalies” related to it’s behavior, one of these anomalies being the mysterious “non-gravitational acceleration” which changed 3I/Atlas’ trajectory.
Jupiter has what is known as it’s “Hill Radius,” the point at which an object would be captured by Jupiter’s gravity, not the Sun’s, and potentially going into orbit around Jupiter.
However, if an object is further out from Jupiter than it’s Hill Radius, Dr. Loeb says that the Sun’s “tidal forces” would tear such an object apart.
According to Dr. Loeb’s calculations, the “non-gravitational acceleration” 3I/Atlas underwent changed it’s trajectory–just enough–so that it will arrive just exactly at Jupiter’s Hill radius—a perfect place if it were a technological object which wanted to make observations, or to release various probes.
I believe that Dr. Loeb also said that where 3I/Atlas will arrive at is also at one of Jupiter’s four “Lagrange points”–a location at which gravitation is balanced, and an object sitting there would need almost no energy to maintain it’s position.
Quite a bunch of “coincidences,” don’t you think?
Make that 5 degrees, not 5 percent.
Quite a bunch of “coincidences,” don’t you think?
Snow on Pine:
Nope. I’ll wait for the Lagrange point and then maybe I’ll think about it. Loeb has done some good work in the past, but now he strikes me as a scientist playing for publicity and funding.
As indicated by its name, 3I / Atlas is only the third interstellar object entering the solar system we’ve observed. It acts a lot like a comet, but not exactly like the comets we’re used to
But why should we expect it to? The possibility for chunks of matter coming from far outer space not being like our comets seems like a more than reasonable possibility.
Furthermore, why would an alien interstellar spacecraft look like a comet? If the aliens have the tech to handle interstellar space travel, why would they bother with comet camouflage?
This whole business reminds me of the Face on Mars plus the D&M Pyramid nothingburger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_(Mars)
Thanks for that link, TJ. It was nice to hear that.
Here are some animations of pictures taken of the uniforms worn by some of Napoleon’s troops.*
What stuck me about these images was how much crap they had stuck on top of and also hanging from their hats, and how tall and–I would think–how unwieldy these hats would be in combat (perhaps these were just dress uniforms, used in parades, but not in combat?).
I noted, too, just how shaggy and unkempt looking those tall, Napoleonic apparently real bear fur hats were vs. the ones used by the Brits these days.
* See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Pq3B7uGjw
huxley–I agree that Dr. Loeb is all over the Internet these days but, to his credit, when he does appear on some show or the other, he does present his science based evidence leading to his observations/conclusions, rather than just declaring something to be so.
As for him getting a whole lot of air time and, thus, more publicity and recognizability, that would appear to be the name of the game, if–as he has–you want to get serious donations/funding for your scientific research/projects.
Moreover, while Loeb has written a whole lot of papers, I expect that they have all survived peer review, so they aren’t just crap.
Snow on Pine:
I don’t have a lot of faith in peer review these days. See climate change, Covid, reproducibility.
So what do you think? It’s easy to find coincidences which look like patterns. That’s the way human perception works. Loeb sees anomalies if one expects a normal comet. So what?
Do you really think 3I is an alien spacecraft? Why would it look like a strange comet?
There’s data and there’s speculating beyond the data.
Regarding the friendliness of Americans. I gave this a lot of thought after attending a dinner party and hearing an upper crust British woman complain (!) about the friendliness of Americans. All the other guests were American, BTW. Tactless.
My theory is that it’s rooted in our ‘Frontier’ culture. Friendliness was a survival mechanism. You couldn’t afford to be snobby to someone who might save your a– when a mountain lion got in the cabin.
And even though we’re not a frontier culture anymore – at least not physically – we have kept it up. People – new Americans and old – like it.
Like the chicken and balloon the other day, I think these are AI.
I enjoyed In the Days of the Comet by H. G. Wells many years ago. I had a thick hardcover collection of Wells’ sci-fi from the public library; lots of entertainment there!
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
huxley,
I didn’t understand “batwings,” but DuckDuckGo indicates they are flabby/flappy arms. Not desirable for a bodybuilder.
Molly Brown,
My assumption has always been that every generation of Americans has a fair amount of new Americans. Most of us either need help assimilating, or are not long removed from our parents or grandparents needing that help.
At one my point my career relocated our family to a city in the south that was in the midst of a boom. Our neighborhood was full of young families and no one was originally from that area. Everyone was very outgoing and friendly. We became one another’s families for holidays and help. Cared for one another when sick. Watched each others children…
Also, America is made up of the people who were adventurous and bold enough to travel great distances, often at tremendous risk, and leave their ancestral lands behind. Maybe there is literally something in American DNA that makes most of us more outgoing?
Rufus,
‘Maybe there is literally something in American DNA that makes most of us more outgoing?’
Yes.
huxley—More and more, many of us are looking up, and out, at the Stars, and into our Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe.
I am not an Astronomer, and do not have a comprehensive knowledge about every aspect of our Solar System, and the nature and trajectories of the objects passing through it.
But, from what I understand, we have only just gotten to the point, technologically, where we can really identify and see some fraction of all of the things which are in, and which travel through our Solar System.
And those extra-solar objects traveling through our Solar System apparently normally come into our Solar System from random directions, and have random trajectories–some above our planet’s orbital plane, some below, many trajectories taking them far from the inner planets, some very near the inner planets.
Then, we detect one particular comet like object whose remarkable trajectory puts it within five degrees of the orbital plane of our planets, this trajectory also puts it within good observational distance of Mars and Jupiter, and this object has all sorts of coincidences and anomalies associated with it; according to what astronomers generally believe to be the normal composition and behavior of comets, this object does not at all behave like one.
In an atmosphere crammed with many decade’s worth of stories/entertainment about Aliens and Alien invasions, with reports from very trained and competent people of an increasing number of UAPs/UFOs in our skies, in our oceans, and in near Earth orbit, and testimony from authoritative figures that we on this planet are not alone, wouldn’t you take note of this particular “comet,” and be suspicious?
An Alien intelligence is, well, Alien, and thus an entity whose thinking processes, whose viewpoint, priorities, and values we really have no clue about, and we cannot just assume that such an entity might think, value, and operate as we humans do.
A human would likely not disguise a probe as a comet, unless there was some good tactical reason to do so.
But, an Alien.
Who knows?
Perhaps it’s more convenient, and used less of what might be very scarce resources?
Perhaps it is a way to confuse us onlookers–and they certainly have been very successful at this–who would be much more alarmed if their instruments picked up an object which was obviously technological, and coming within good observational distance of several of our planets?
From my perspective, given all of the “coincidences” and “anomalies” associated with 3I/Atlas, I think that the possibility that 3I/Atlas is some sort of NHI recon vessel should be given serious consideration.
As a refutation of the possibility that NHI’s might be interested in us humans, or in our planet, I often see the argument made that we here on Earth are quite average, and of no possible interest, given the vastness of the Galaxy, and the presumed myriad of resources to be found in any one of a billion other Solar Systems.
This, of course, only referring to the physical, and not what might be the additional mental or spiritual aspects of our planet, and it’s inhabitants.
However, we are just guessing, we really don’t know whats “out there,” or how rare, say, an entire ecological system like ours, here on Earth, and its chemicals, plants, and animals might be, or what particular minerals, substances, or other items—perhaps of great interest to, or even absolutely necessary for some Alien civilization–might actually be in very short supply, and only available here, in our Solar System or here, on Earth.
I didn’t understand “batwings,”…
Rufus:
In the early 2000s a best friend, who had been earnest bodybuilder since the 79s, used batwings for the lat muscles.
Since the minds of NHIs—beings who might be the products of a post scarcity society, possibly functionally immortal, and possibly in the grips of ennui–are very likely unknowable, perhaps what they’re really interested in on our Earth are things which might not make much sense to us humans as being of supreme importance–Banjos, Hillbillies, licorice, Samurai films, smelly cheeses, or baseball or Tarot cards; things which might not make sense to us.
Snow on Pine:
You’re not talking with someone who hasn’t considered aliens and UFOs deeply. FWIW I saw a bona fide UFO in the sixth grade (1964), which was reported the next day in the “Daytona Beach News Journal.” It was a minor turning point in my life.
I have followed the UFO debate and similar issues since then. I’m not saying there are no aliens nor that they wouldn’t be interested in humans on planet Earth.
I am saying that much of that discussion has been wasted on the Face on Mars, 1I/Oumuamua, now 3I/Atlas kinds of things with breathless wonder and if it doesn’t make sense, well, Aliens are Alien.
I’m not a rube, nor are most readers here. I’m looking for information more solid than “It could be Aliens!”
Why do some invest so much mental energy on a question whose answer is unknowable? This goes beyond trying to understand the mind of God.
Thank you! our Mock’s Brother Rufus T. Firefly.
About American friendliness, Molly Brown surmises “My theory is that it’s rooted in our ‘Frontier’ culture. [Friendliness was a survival mechanism for cooperating in founding new homes and towns. We needed high social trust.] You couldn’t afford to be snobby to someone who might save your a– when a mountain lion got in the cabin.”
Yes, something alone these lines, I think, too.
Back in the 1980s, a Marxist influenced school of US West historians dubbed “The New Western history” tried to explain it without reference to “The Frontier.” That is, an area of freer land, in place of the traditional equivalent in Europe to mean “border” of the nation.
One leading historian, Patricia Nelson Limerick ultimately decided that doing so doesn’t work. The West without the Frontier concept is inaccurate. Unworkable in describing us Americans.
The founder of scholarly American history was Frederick Jackson Turner. In 1893, he argued that our frontier experience deeply shaped American character, as seen by Alexis De Tocqueville onward. But he also warned, citing the newest 1890 census bureau data, that the frontier was now closed — no more wide open lands because population density was now greater than one person per square mile. Where would American restlessness find a new creative outlet?
Enter the post-WWII world of the Space Race, or “The final frontier” as Star Trek put it.! Thus, it’s powerfully reassuring Elon Musk and SpaceX are all fired up about space exploration! Making this frontier exploration project Groat Again.
But back to Molly Brown, the rapid settling of an area of open lands from the mid-19th century onwards helped define American Exceptionalism. And without grasping this, who can understand what makes America different from every other nation?
Let me share what I think is related to the high trust character required in settling an open and wild frontier.
The US has the world’s greatest number of surnames used as first names (eg, “Jackson Brown” instead of “Andrew Jackson”) — but no one knows why!
My surmize is that part of fulfilling the American Dream is making open space for self-reinvention. Thus, a uniquely American habit of using surnames as first names by people assuming new or different identities.
Therefore, it is an extension of American frontier individualism. In effect, “Judge me by what I do, NOT by who I was (originally named)!”
To my mind, “Top Gun” director Tony Scott (late brother of director Ridley Scott) did the last great self-reinvention movie in 1993, “True Romance.” It’s a film noir themed tale, escaping Detroit for SoCal for a new life by reaching out to find new opportunities.