Deep Blue Aerospace carried out the test at 1:40 a.m. Eastern (0540 UTC) Sept. 22 at the firm’s Ejin Banner Spaceport in Inner Mongolia using a Nebula-1 rocket first stage.

Keeping this short as the video speaks for itself, but you can read more about what happened here: 

Spacenews.com



**Edit to add**

To some, the video looks AI generated, and it looked that way to me, too.

As it was meant to be used to showcase the event, I guess the drone video was slightly beautified.

In any case, I found another video that's taken from a different perspective... it begins with the same video as above, but switches to the different angle, starting at 00:02:15.

I found this to be an interesting factoid...

From ArsTechnica: Car software patches are over 20% of recalls, study finds
Subtitled: How automotive recalls are handled has shifted over time.

It turns out that I am so very old that I remember someone once fixing a stranded car with a retractable pen spring and a screwdriver... Those days are long gone...

Software fixes are now responsible for more than 1 in 5 automotive recalls. That's the key finding from a decade's worth of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall data, according to an analysis from the law firm DeMayo Law. While that's a sign of growing inconvenience for drivers, the silver lining is that a software patch is usually a much quicker fix than something requiring hardware replacement.

...

In 2014, 34 of 277 automotive recalls were software fixes. The percentage of software recalls floated around 12–13 percent (apart from a spike in 2015) before growing steadily from 2020. In 2021, 16 percent of automotive recalls (61 out of 380) were for software. In 2022, almost 22 percent of recalls were software fixes (76 out of 348), and last year topped 23 percent (82 out of 356).

Leading the way was Chrysler, with 82 different software recalls since 2014. Ford (66 recalls) and Mercedes-Benz (60) are the two runner-ups. Meanwhile, Tesla ranks only eighth, with 26 software recalls since 2014, which puts it on par with Hyundai (25) and Kia (25).

What amazes me is that car repair has only gotten more expensive, as technology has improved.

Just offering it up as a trivial note....

I won't belabor the political celebrity to whom this 'decision' is attributed, nor the fact that it concerns California state law.

But It kind of disappoints me (in an idealistic sense) that the justification offered for the veto isn't being truly challenged by our media... at all.

From ArsTechnica: Calif. Governor vetoes bill requiring opt-out signals for sale of user data
Subtitled: Gavin Newsom said he opposes mandate on mobile operating system developers.

This is a tale of the California legislature producing a new mandate for those designing websites and mobile operating systems.  The mandate would not incur any direct "cost" to those affected... but it would make their "name-selling" revenue shrink - probably by a lot.

The bill approved by the State Legislature last month would have required an opt-out signal "that communicates the consumer's choice to opt out of the sale and sharing of the consumer's personal information or to limit the use of the consumer's sensitive personal information." It would have made it illegal for a business to offer a web browser or mobile operating system without a setting that lets consumers "send an opt-out preference signal to businesses with which the consumer interacts."

I'm hearing "No 'opting out' for us users... their names should be for sale..."

But why?  Why can't users exercise their own agency over the disposition of data they provide?  Why is any users identity a "commodity of trade" despite it being "their" identity?

But Newsom said he is opposed to the new bill's mandate on operating systems. "I am concerned, however, about placing a mandate on operating system (OS) developers at this time," the governor wrote. "No major mobile OS incorporates an option for an opt-out signal. By contrast, most Internet browsers either include such an option or, if users choose, they can download a plug-in with the same functionality. To ensure the ongoing usability of mobile devices, it's best if design questions are first addressed by developers, rather than by regulators. For this reason, I cannot sign this bill."

Vetoes can be overridden with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The bill was approved 59–12 in the Assembly and 31–7 in the Senate. But the State Legislature hasn't overridden a veto in decades.

Since no major mobile OS has incorporated that option... it would be "wrong?"

It's such a non-answer that it begs the question... exactly which lobbyists got to him, or his party leadership?  Shall we guess?

"It's troubling the power that companies such as Google appear to have over the governor's office," said Justin Kloczko, tech and privacy advocate for Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit group in California. "What the governor didn't mention is that Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Microsoft Edge don't offer a global opt-out and they make up for nearly 90 percent of the browser market share. That's what matters. And people don't want to install plug-ins. Safari, which is the default browsers on iPhones, doesn't even accept a plug-in."

Consumer Reports Policy Analyst Matt Schwartz said that "industry worked overtime to squash this bill, as it empowered Californians to better protect their privacy, undermining the commercial surveillance business model of these tech companies. We strongly disagree with the idea expressed in the governor's veto statement that it should be left to operating systems to provide privacy choices for consumers. They've shown time and again they won't meaningfully do so until forced."

Consumer Reports is one of the groups behind Global Privacy Control (GPC), an opt-out signal that creators hope will become legally binding under the CCPA or other privacy laws. Makers of Global Privacy Control say it is superior to the older Do Not Track (DNT) signal because the California attorney general "determined that the AG could not require businesses to comply with DNT requests because the requests do not clearly convey users' intent to opt out of the sale of their data."

Thanks for reading...  Privacy was never dead... it was only buried under political grime.

I found this development somewhat noteworthy...

The world of "commercial broadcast radio" has been exponentially crystalized by fewer and fewer owners...  this is a snapshot of how that happens...

A radio station "chain" goes into bankruptcy, a billionaire buys the whole lot, and suddenly... the number of owners gets smaller still...

From FoxNews: House Oversight probes FCC's expedited approval of Soros purchase of 200+ radio stations ahead of election
Subtitled: The FCC seemingly approved a deal that would 'fast-track' the left-wing billionaire's acquisition of more than 200 radio stations

I have some concerns about the whole "fast tracking" thing...  as it stood the FCC approval process doesn't allow for the 200 radio stations with a reach of millions of people to be 'useful' for political reasons... now that's suddenly no longer a problem... how did that happen?

According to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., the FCC expedited a required review of broadcast licenses by bypassing its standard procedures and processes. 

Comer and Langworthy penned a letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel requesting documents and communications to understand the FCC’s actions. 

Audacy Inc. owns more than 200 radio stations. Soros is attempting to purchase $415 million in debt in a chapter 11 reorganization of the company. 

Comer and Langworthy warned that Soros is a financier of organizations "advocating for speech restriction and censorship of conservatives online." 

"He will ultimately become a ‘major’ shareholder when the bankruptcy deal concludes," they wrote. 

Comer and Langworthy also warned that Soros has "sought to consolidate control over the airwaves." 

Bear in mind that ideology is woven into the report framework... there actually might be a reason for the FFC's unusual 'acceleration' of this process... but I'm sure the public will not be "too concerned" at this point... at least that's what most media will report.

Sorry Soros, not a fan of your work... but this just smells bad.

The lawmakers reminded that during a hearing before their committee, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr noted FCC rules pertaining to foreign ownership of radio stations, and how the FCC, in this case, "is not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction."

"Commissioner Carr further noted that ‘the full commission itself has never signed off on a shortcut like this. What we usually do is we require people to file a petition with us. We bring in national security agencies, they can review the foreign ownership… Here, they’re trying to do something that’s never been done before at the commission level,’" they wrote, adding that Carr "noted that the national security review could take ‘3 to 4 to 5 to 6 months’ saying further that ‘[i]t looks like we got the cart before the horse this time.’"

Comer and Langworthy said that "despite the unprecedented nature of this action, the FCC majority has apparently decided to approve licenses on an accelerated timeframe for a company in which George Soros has a major ownership stake, and with stations in 40 media markets reaching ‘more than 165 million Americans.’" 

"By all appearances, the FCC majority isn’t just expediting, but is bypassing an established process to do a favor for George Soros and facilitate his influence over hundreds of radio stations before the November election," they wrote. 

The title and the video pretty much says it all, and I don't usually post videos (unless it's music), but this is just insane off the charts. This jab was in the context of an ultimatum just like countless others.

Of course the source of this fiasco refused to comment or answer calls, I mean, what are they going to say anyway? Oops, our bad. Nah, they going to need a little time to gather and organize all of their rhetoric.

I dont know why, but I have not seen anything on any news outlet about this, Ive only seen video on tiktok and youtube, some of them claiming its an "alien armada". But, its interesting and some say it will be here in 3 weeks and has to do with an event in 2027. I havent seen anything posted here or on ATS, and this seems like a perfect story for us.
Anyone have any more info? I havent really done a deep dive into it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolog...i-AA1rbGsF

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8RmPmdR/

I posted this last night on ATS and was supremely disappointed in the lack of responses, 2-3 good insights and links but overall meh. I was looking forward to a deeper more thoughtful discussion ATS from years gone by would have produced automatically. It's over a year later and one says it's a balloon but another says they still don't know it means for propulsion and I assume "control". The point being ATS used to cover this topic and leave no stone unturned, no tidbit of information was left out, and no theory was too bizarre. LOL I still have questions and nowhere to ask them

https://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1351839/pg1

other pertinent links from the thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1...currently/
JUST IN - First image released of 'cylindrical' UFO shot down by US fighter jet over Alaska in 2023 - Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...-2023.html

Quote:Canada has released a first-ever image of the UFO shot down during the chase over Alaska and the Yukon territory that followed the now infamous Chinese spy balloon drama of February 2023.

The unusual, grainy and apparently xeroxed or printed photo depicts a seemingly circular white object with ill-defined edges — shot down by a US Air Force F-22 stealth fighter on a joint mission with the Canadian Armed Forces.

One unusual feature of the newly released UFO photo is that it had already been designated as 'unclassified' within just days of the now 19-month-old incident.

A possible reason, as one public affairs official with Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) warned colleagues, was internal fears that releasing this unclassified UFO image 'may create more questions/confusion.'

The emails, obtained along with the eerie new UFO photo by CTVNews.ca reporter Daniel Otis via an open records law request, also included efforts by members of Canada's armed forces to better understand the craft that had been shot down.

One email from Canadian Brigadier-General Eric Laforest described the UFO as a 'cylindrical object.'

'Top quarter is metallic, remainder white. 20-foot wire hanging below with a package of some sort suspended,' Brig. Gen. Laforest wrote. 'Best description that we have.'

And if that was not bad enough 27 shots by the age of 2 !
A very short video from Rumble ...  ask yourself are all those shots necessary ? 

https://rumble.com/v5g5djp-70-jabs-in-re...src_v1_upp

A thread for any new writing ideas, proposals, and projects for feedback or to be discussed.

Her Golden Ticket

When she learned
That the factory was hers
And she got into the great
Glass elevator
There were only buttons
Buttons and glass
As clear as molten sugar
And the only one to press
Was
"Up and out"

This subject has entered my conversations before.

After 43 years of marriage, my wife died.  It happened last November.  And it has never once, left my mind.

The memory has been as intrusive as a sudden sneeze, as stifling as a tangled blanket, as oppressive as summer heat, as penetrating as winter cold.  It is entirely at once both defining my every moment, and yet as comforting as one of her warm embraces.  Grief has become my new companion...

She is silent, but insistent...
"Never forget," she somehow wordlessly demands,
"But always remember the love first."

Yeah, recently I've been torturing myself with blessed memories.

While carousing among the offerings of what the algorithms 'decide' to show me on popular "short attention-span theater" I became frustrated about messages about grief and loss.  

I however, have come to appreciate its presence now... and no longer seek to 'snuff it out.' 
Or to 'move on' past this new thing that seems as much a part of me, as the very memory of her.

Yes, it hurts me... suddenly starved of her, and the light her very presence brought me.
It's a horrible thing... I find myself fantasizing about a different world where she is not gone.
It's getting tiresome to explain that I lost half of myself, I start to imagine that no one could ever truly care to empathize with such a thing.  And why should they? I'm not offended.

But I think with the first anniversary coming up... will I find a new depth of loss?  Will the time between the day before and the day after the anniversary bring any true change?  Still, it means something to some part of me... and I don't want to slip back into my memories.  Her absence is like a blinding light still... despite the time that has passed.  It hurts me that I appreciate her more, it seems, than when she was my one daily constant... that seems shameful to me; although I know when we look at the past we are often only speaking to ourselves; in our voice, with our own script.

I visited her every single day in the hospital for almost 6 months (she died there)... never missed one (wait - maybe one) ... It was weird to me that rather than feel any sense of relief ... I felt frustrated to not have that continue...

...


Forgive my rambling.  And forgive my self-indulgence please... when there are no real places to express myself, I come here... I seek neither pity nor condolences, I only intended to 'vent.'  I know that to some, actually discussing this is deplorable... I feel sorry for them.

I don't think I can talk about grief and also dispassionately exclude my own experience...  My grief is pervasive that way. 

And I don't feel like I actually want it to go away.

Shouldn't I want this to go away?

From NewScientist: Evidence points to Wuhan market as source of covid-19 outbreak
Subtitled: Genetic testing on samples collected during the earliest days of the covid-19 outbreak suggests it is likely that the virus spread from animals to humans at the Huanan seafood market

This is a tale of a narrative revisited by 'journalists.'

They make no claims of 'proof' (in fact, the idea that this isn't proof is mentioned by the author.)  But the chief source of the information for the article seems to come from Australian Professor Eddie Holmes who apparently specializes in evolution and emergence of infectious diseases, focusing on the mechanisms of RNA viruses jumping species boundaries to emerge in humans and other animals.

This article recounts the "early evidence" collected as the COVID event began to develop back in January 2020... when 'investigators' swabbed the area of the Wuhan Seafood Market.  The market is a source of live "food" animals as well as seafood... animals westerners would consider 'exotic' such as raccoon dogs, masked palm civets and hoary bamboo rats, etc.
 

Is literally everyone full of shit these days?



Including 'science'?






Vid






Examinations Of Utter Corruption In Science:

Quote:Here’s a dirty little science secret: If you measure a large number of things about a small number of people, you are almost guaranteed to get a ‘statistically significant’ result. Our study included 18 different measurements—weight, cholesterol, sodium, blood protein levels, sleep quality, well-being, etc.—from 15 people. (One subject was dropped.) That study design is a recipe for false positives.”

Johannes Bohannon



Most science funding comes from governments or corporations with vested interests
: “p-hacking” or “data dredging.”


false results, fake data, bias, manipulation and fraud in science that continues to this day.

John Ioannidis, a physician, researcher and writer at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, rocked the scientific community with his landmark paper “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” The 2005



LINK



Myth of reproducibility in science
Apparemtly another aspect of crisis is the widespread inability to reproduce experimental results

More than 70% of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce another scientist’s experiments, and more than half have failed to reproduce their own experiments


In the opening years of this decade, the Center for Open Science led a team of 240 volunteer researchers in a quest to reproduce the results of 100 psychological experiments. These experiments had all been published in three of the most prestigious psychology journals. The results of this attempt to replicate these experiments, published in 2015 in a paper on “Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science,” were abysmal. Only 39 of the experimental results could be reproduced.

Link



In 2011, Nature published a paper showing that researchers were only able to reproduce between 20 and 25 per cent of 67 published preclinical drug studies. They published another paper the next year with an even worse result: researchers could only reproduce six of a total of 53 “landmark” cancer studies. That’s a reproducibility rate of 11%

These studies alone are persuasive, but the cherry on top came in May 2016 when Nature published the results of a survey of over 1,500 scientists finding fully 70% of them had tried and failed to reproduce published experimental results at some point. The poll covered researchers from a range of disciplines, from physicists and chemists to earth and environmental scientists to medical researchers and assorted others.

Apparently fraud, fabrication and 'wilful distortion of results' is also off the charts (paper) and there's a good article below from the FT

Manipulation of research remains widespread.


Link





Even if all [Tessier-Lavigne’s papers] were retracted, it would be a spit in the ocean of the amount of actual misconduct taking place,”

This literally happens every day. We track 5,000 retractions a year,” he added said Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, which flags research papers withdrawn from academic publications.



Link




A study published in 2012 found that fraud or suspected fraud was responsible for 43% of scientific paper retractions, by far the single leading cause of retraction.

Link

Quote:So, in short: Yes, there is a Replication Crisis in science. And yes, it is caused by a Crisis of Fraud. And yes, the fraud is motivated by a Crisis of Publication. And yes, thyes.ose crises are further compounded by a Crisis of Peer Review.

The simplest answer is the one that most fundamentally shakes the widespread belief that scientists are disinterested truthseekers who would never dream of publishing a false result or deliberately mislead others.

Incidentally there's some pretty daming info at the link World Health Organization

influencing the decisions of the WHO and what is the role of pharmaceutical industry there. 

'Simpsonwood” was the transcripts of a secret meeting that was held between CDC and 75 representatives of the vaccine industry in which they reviewed a report that CDC had

vaccine industry to gin up these four phony European studies that are done by vaccine industry employees, funded by the vaccine industry and published in the American Academy of Pediatrics magazine, which receives 80% of its revenue from the vaccine industry

Video

Her time on the ocean was consistent,
His life facing destiny oddly persistent,

She always found his mistakes at night,
He was always searching for a fight,

The waters always kept her calm,
He lost himself yelling on the intercom,

Manic was her mood on the run,
Panic his thoughts, he was done,

As time sailed away she dearfully missed him…


   

week of Sept 15 2024

Pengiun (on MAX)
First episode was baically a mini-movie and corresponds to the universe/timeline established in The Batman, Matt Reeves' reboot.  It features Colin Ferell as Oswald, same amazing makeup and even driving the same Maserati.
Now, I watched The Batman last year and enjoyed it and penned it to hopefully a turnaround of DC utter disasters at trying to make a viable series like Marvel's MCU.  This new show is a solid companion and I'm really looking forward to more episides (no spoilers).

Agatha All Along (Disney+)
Marvel comics has another hit show it seems.  Agatha Harkenss known from the Wandavision universe follows a powerless witch (Kathryn Hahn) as she goes on a mission to reclaim her power and escape the world of Westview.
It's funny, witty but as with all things Disney, a bit woke (my opinion).  Hahn has been one of my favorite actors for awhile and she nails this role.  There's a bit of sharp humor aka Deadpool (without the profanity) that has me wanting to watch more. 
I don't know what role this plays in any MCU timeline so hopefully someone who's familiar with the comics can elaborate but again, this one seems like a winner.

Seasons in the Sun


He appeared so happy and full of life
Reciting bad news like a vibrant television anchor woman
even though something inside was very dark, growing and spreading

These are the times when the cure may be worse than the cause
A curse oblivious any context regarding the lesser of two evils;
neither any path of least resistance

All is only a matter of time anyway, of varying duration
with an added dimension of location

This was the time of descent to unknown,
the feeling, and the experience, to just let it all go

Although maybe not so much going as returning,
from a place absent time, only to be sprung back, anew

Forgotten was all of the muck that he had to crawl through,
and it really won't be so bad, not knowing

Joe Biden is Making the Taliban Great Again

Three are foreign, Pakistani, Iranian, Ukrainian.  They are traveling in the US freely..The last time the assassin Routh entered the US,  the Customs and Border Patrol [CBP] thought his story was so suspicious (that he was recruiting freedom fighters all over the world to go fight in Ukraine), and when they asked him how he was financing this, he said, ‘Oh, well, my wife is paying for it.’ And that seemed odd, and, so, the CBP officials referred Ryan Routh to the Department of Homeland Security’s investigations unit to determine what was going on, and they declined to even proceed with an investigation,” Gaetz said. “They just stopped and let the guy in the country. We’ve got a lot of questions about that.” 

"We’ve seen a few times where resources have been pulled off of the Trump detail for the Jill Biden detail or for the John Bolton detail. And we’re going to question whether or not that was sound, given what we knew about the efforts to kill Trump,”


https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/...ms-in-u-s/ "

My guess is that the Deep State wants Trump dead before November 6.

One book that's been a favorite read and I think would make an amazing movie is Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky"

Orphans of the Sky (Wikipedia)

Hopefully it's only a matter of time as Hollywood is slowly running out of ideas and many of his other works have been scripted for the big screen.

What say you?

P.S.  - my second choice would be Swan Song by Robert R MacCammon

The Lady Who Bought Eternity


A lady was once asked: "Would you like to purchase an eternity of everything, or would you like to purchase an eternity of nothing?" And the lady replied: "Well of course I would LOVE to purchase an eternity of EVERYTHING!!" So she did...

And then a few billion years later she became quite bored with it and tried to return it.

Inverse Reality ( Dreamscape )


While the body rests the mind flees
never to be idle for all it sees
Illusions of real distorting time
spatial measurements out of rhyme

Natural laws do not apply
sickled reason logic nie
The vivid high and the lucid nigh
with forgotten limits they'll fly

To wake within this scape
where two worlds collide
is quite a different ride

For the thrill of it all
he was God there

That is actually a very good question.. https://x.com/HealthRanger/status/1835486014107730018

Quote:A source tells me the leak of Trump's whereabouts is coming from Homeland Security, not USSS. Homeland Security is leaking location details to FBI, and FBI is running the assassins. The entire top leadership of the FBI is desperately trying to figure out how to eliminate Trump, while the loyal elements of US Secret Service are trying to stop it. Homeland Security and US State Dept are full-on treasonous criminal ops at this point. If Homeland can't eliminate Trump soon, State Dept will make sure a war begins with Russia. If they fail, hundreds of top people within FBI and Homeland are going to either flee the country or be criminally prosecuted under a Trump presidency. This is what's at stake.

https://x.com/lookner/status/1835514990029050070
CNN: "Former President Donald Trump’s golf game on Sunday was a last-minute addition to his schedule, two sources familiar with the matter said. Trump had no public events on his schedule for Sunday."

Don't think anyone is any closer to identifying UFO origin but do think a pretty strong case can be made for official government UFO investigations attempting to deceive the general public and initiate a 'cover up' of information.

Regarding official historical government deception we've got major manipulation over the actual numbers of 'actual unknowns'; reams of missing 'hot reports' which never even reached Bluebook (and completely ridiculous explanations for many that did) and unscientific 'scientific' investigations abused by intel agencies to 'debunk' the phenomena.. with the popular 'debunkers' of the time also having known ties to said agencies.

Probably boring for some but this is an ongoing research thread dealing with highly dubious (or blatantly bullshit) USAF UFO explanations - a lot of the source material has gone for good these days but the updated info is posted below and please share if you know of any other examples.






• Spurious, contrived or just plain ridiculous 'official' government UFO explanations:














Granted many folks not really into UFO research just unquestioningly accept these USAF debunks without a second look but if a person examines the case histories then many of the explanations simply fail to stand up - here's what American physicist Dr James E. Mcdonald had to say about it:








From 10:00

Quote:• "As a result of several trips to Project Bluebook, Ive had an opportunity to examine quite carefully and in detail the types of reports that are made by Bluebook personnel. In most cases, I have found that there's almost no correlation between so-called "evaluations and explanations" that are made by Bluebook and the facts of the case.. There are hundreds of good cases in the Air Force files that should have led to top-level scientific scrutiny of this problem, years ago, yet these cases have been swept under the rug in a most disturbing way by Project Bluebook investigators and their consultants."

Dr James McDonald -Senior Physicist at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics and Professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Arizona.


Archive:

'UFO Symposium Casefiles'

Quote:• "When Major Quintanilla came in, the flag of the utter nonsense school was flying at its highest on the mast. Now he had a certain Sgt. Moody assisting him...Moody epitomized the conviction-before-trial method. Anything that he didn't understand or didn't like was immediately put into the psychological category, which meant "crackpot." He would not ever say that the person who reported a case was a fairly respectable person, maybe we should look into it, or maybe we should find out. He was also the master of the possible: possible balloon, possible aircraft, possible birds, which then became, by his own hand (and I argued with him violently at times), the probable; he said, well, we have no category "possible" aircraft. It is therefore either unidentified or aircraft. Well, it is more likely aircraft; therefore it is aircraft.... An "unidentified" to Moody was not a challenge for further research. To have it remain unidentified was a blot... and he did everything to remove it. He went back to cases from Captain Gregory's days and way back in Ruppelt's days and redid the files. A lot that were unidentified in those days he "identified" years and years later".

Dr J Allen Hynek, chief scientific consultant for Air Force investigations of UFOs from 1948 until 1969 (Projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book).


E-book:

'The UFO Experience : A Scientific Inquiry'