What was the poll results earlyer , like 10-20 years ago ? Is the trend that more people want secession now than earlyer ? 
 

Quote:Around one in four Americans say they would support their state seceding — ranging from 9% in Connecticut to 36% in Alaska, among 46 states analyzed.
From California to Texas to New Hampshire, calls for state secession have made headlines recently, sparking debates over whether states have a right to secede. We asked over 35,000 U.S. adults to tell us their views on secession.
Besides the overall finding of significant support for secession, the poll found that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to support their state seceding, regardless of whether they live in a primarily Republican or Democratic state. Larger and more populated states — including California, Texas, and New York — are more likely than smaller and less populous states to have a higher share of residents who favor secession. Most Americans who are in favor of their state seceding believe that doing so is a constitutional right, while most who oppose it believe this right does not exist.

If you want to help someone in distress, offer affirmation of your bond, enhance your connection to them, or even just show good will... touch them.  You will likely both benefit from the contact.

I came across an excellent article published in the Washington Post, which had particular meaning to me (but I'll get to that later.)  The article was in the "Advice" category, authored by Trisha Pasricha, MD entitled:

The remarkable power of holding hands with someone you love

[excerpts]
 

Regrettably, it appears that a considerable segment of the populace remains ensconced in a state of intellectual delusion, buoyed by the illusion of erudition bestowed upon them by facile access to information, contingent upon the functionality of certain systems. This facile access to knowledge does not beget wisdom. Furthermore, it is disheartening to witness the lamentable lack of focus pervasive among many individuals. Rather than engaging in the profound contemplation afforded by literature, they prefer the fleeting gratification of 30 second video clips. It is plausible that this predilection stems from an inability to sustain attention for the duration required to peruse even a solitary page. 

Moreover, an acute self-absorption pervades contemporary society, wherein concerns for the collective welfare and the preservation of the future are eclipsed by the relentless pursuit of transient amusement. The pernicious ramifications of this societal trend upon humanity are grave indeed, yet regrettably, the majority remains oblivious to its deleterious effects. Those who discern the encroaching peril seem woefully indifferent, bereft of the requisite fortitude to effect meaningful change. 

In light of these observations, I find myself consumed by an ineffable sense of frustration. This is not the world I once knew; it has undergone a lamentable metamorphosis, leaving me disheartened and profoundly unsettled.

Quote:

According to History Daily, a local tribe known as the Paiute has been repeating legends of an underground city in Death Valley "for centuries." The city is called Shin-Au-Av, or something approximating "Ghost Land" in English, and supposedly it's a portal to the underworld. Further, the tribe even has an origin story for how the city was founded.

Legend is one thing, reality is another, and at various points in the 20th century, if secondhand accounts of various settlers and explorers are to be believed, more than one person found evidence of tunnels and other human activity underneath Death Valley. For example, according to History Daily, in 1931 Dr. F. Bruce Russell and his friend, Dr. Daniel S. Bovee, found underground catacombs while trying to dig a mine shaft. The men purportedly found the mummified remains of 8-foot-tall men wearing leather not from any known animal, as well as strange carvings on the rocks.

It always worries me when I hear about students being subjected to "embrace" something 'commercial.'

And while this alleged "indoctrination" is taking place in Europe, I can't imagine we won't see the same thing here in the States eventually.

My source is an article entitled: The CBDC Indoctrination Has Begun

In summary it describes something interesting happening in high schools, at least in Spain thus far.

Excerpted:

UFOTwitter is full of fake UFO videos. But it’s pretty easy to tell.

Sora will change all that.

With a few words of text anyone can create videos almost indistinguishable from real life.

This is only a couple years of training AI. Imagine in 10 years. 20.

[Here something I ran across earlier... I hesitated because I recalled an old haunt where I would have categorized this as an "education" topic.
But since it was originally reported in as a psychology topic I will place it here]

This is about the act of handwriting... as in, writing by hand.

The original source of this is a research paper entitled: 
Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity

(Although it spawned an article in the Epoch Times and was also "aggregated" by Zero Hedge.)
 

Quote:A documentary film currently in use for training soldiers against possible nuclear warfare. Part of this training is to familiarize soldiers with actual atomic detonations, showing them the damage such weapons can inflict, and teaching them the most effective methods of defense against atomic attack. There is no minimizing the potency of the nuclear weapon. But today's soldier, well informed and well trained in test blasts over the last few years, has a better chance of survival on the nuclear battlefield. Many of the methods employed by the Army in the training of its soldiers are equally applicable to the citizens of this nation in the event of atomic attack. Although the battleground of the future may well be a nuclear one and the nuclear weapon is perhaps the greatest challenge to the foot soldier in military history, the United States Army believes it is a challenge that can be met, and that today's soldier has a chance of surviving this new weapon just as the soldier of the past was able to survive the weapons of his day.

Having an empty forum is not really what you want for a new site...

I have no survival skills to post here, but, we really cant "conspiracy" website without acknowledging us idiots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cetl8N_lEo

I recently came across a few articles regarding what was called, by the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, a "serious national security threat."

Mind you, I am generally uninterested in "political theater," and this might well be just that.  However, on the off chance that the alarm is sincere and not another "tool" to promote "appearances," I wonder if anyone might feel compelled to comment and expand my understanding about some of this potential "news."

The reporting tells us that:

I recently came across a few articles regarding what was called, by the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, a "serious national security threat."

Mind you, I am generally uninterested in "political theater," and this might well be just that.  However, on the off chance that the alarm is sincere and not another "tool" to promote "appearances," I wonder if anyone might feel compelled to comment and expand my understanding about some of this potential "news."

The reporting tells us that:

Howdy all!

Just thought I'd drop in and let everyone know that the reports of my demise have been somewhat exaggerated. TheRedneck is still alive.

I've got several threads in the old noggin, so look for some input in the coming days. Been a cold winter without ATS, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle again. To whoever decided to start this place up, thank you!

TheRedneck

(not sure where to put this, so I did my 'best guess'.  Mods, move it if needed)

Okay... a bit of fun for you guys:  With AI becoming increasingly common, we're also starting to see the real limits of it... so I thought I'd start a threadwo explore "what egregious errors have you seen AI making?"

I'll go first.  I read and answer questions on Quora.com, where they also have something called the "Quora Prompt Generator" creating (or trying to) interesting questions for people to answer.   What it's really done is expose some of the limitations of so called artificial intelligence.

So we get questions like:

• What is the purpose of cows?  Why did God create them?
  
• Has the pandemic made you more aware of germs and influenced your behavior regarding shoes?
  
• How can someone move from Canada to Quebec?
  

I clicked on DTOM's signature link over on ATS and it brought me here. I have not been as active in recent years, mainly due to ill health.My interest lies in the Paranormal, UFOs, Close Encounters, Reincarnation, Near-Death Experiences and Past Life Regression.

Glad to see some familiar faces over here.

Hey Y'all...

Glad to see this is growing!!!

Great job peeps!!!

Don't take any wooden nickels, k?

 

I loved this as a kid, but watching it as an adult it has a bit more depth.

Basic plot is that the UK government wants to close down a whole Caribbean island.

It should give you a good lauvh if not seen it

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090297/

He almost stumbled into the little alcove of the emergency room, trying not to 'shine' his deep concern to his wife.  She had been very unwell for months, and had announced to him two weeks ago, holding his hand, saying "You know that I'm dying right?"  He seemed to have slapped this back into the place in his memories reserved for things said upon which not to dwell.  He had argued, feebly, that she should not take for granted thing doctors can't account for.  Reiterating his love for her.

That memory refused to be denied and she said to him as he approached, "Oh, I'm ready to go.  I just can't do this anymore.  I'm too tired."  He felt a shattering within him.  "I'm so sorry you're feeling so badly," he responded, "but I really need you. I love you." He instantly regretted the adding of a burden to this marvel of a woman; he didn't intend to place in a position to infer that he meant she had to 'suffer through it.'  

"I haven't slept all night, I'm just so tired," She apologized, unwittingly contributing to his guilt and recrimination about the last utterance.  He held her hand and told her that her oldest daughter and youngest son were waiting to see her, but the ER policies discouraged multiple people in the room.  He intended to let her see them, perhaps because of a foreshadowing of what was to come, but he would have denied that possibility vehemently at the time.  He actually thought that seeing her children would 'normalize' the moment, in hopes that it would diminish any anxiety that she might be experiencing.  But she didn't seem frightened at all.  He had seen her frightened... this was not it.

He ran his hands through her tussled hair.  She had been thrashing about, and he did what he could to straighten it for her.  He though how desperately he loved her, aching to have her healed, her life restored... though the doctors thoroughly quashed that notion in her.  He held her face, then kissed her cheek.

"I'll go get one of the kids," he announced, and glanced back at her as he walked out of the little room, "I'll be back after."  Those were the last words he ever got to say to her.

Her son went into see her, and her daughter thereafter.  He waited impatiently, pacing around a tiny 'waiting room' separated from the common waiting area.  When the word came, it was from the daughter, "Mom is having trouble breathing," she said, "they were moving in the crash cart, so I thought you should come."

It couldn't have been more than a minute by the time he reached her room.  He was suddenly enveloped in a scene from a nightmare.  His wife was lying on her emergency room bed which had been flattened to facilitate CPR.  Her eyes were open but evidently unseeing... and her body was flailing impotently against the violence of the CPR thrusts.  Again and again, they continued the effort...  It was not anything at all like the endless theatrical productions... this was terribly ugly, it hurt his heart to see it. 

He heard nearly every word spoken between the medical staff.  They noted the tenuous monitor reports of her implanted pacemaker-defibrillator, vainly trying to get her heart to pump, they chattered about intubation... and then amidst all that chaos, someone reported that they were unable to detect any brain activity...

He turned to his daughter, looking at her panicked expression, and noticed the face of his son, standing just behind them... and witnessed the expression on his face... devastation.

He calmly and firmly announced to her, "Let her go."

She echoed him without hesitation... "Let her go."

"Really?" one of the staff asked loudly.  "Yes, let her go," she repeated.  

The staff expertly ushered us from the room.  A fact which he appreciated, knowing that the final twitches and gasps of life can be emotionally damaging to almost anyone untrained or unexperienced, let alone loved ones.

He walked away in a desperate internal struggle to deny that he was feeling the child within him letting out a long moan of grief-stricken sorrow.

...as in "a real robot."

Specifically this one (called Mindar)


What's fascinating about this is the division between the West and the East on this matter -- fear and hysteria on the one side, viewed as a tool (like Wikipedia or a book) on the other side.  Accused of being an object of worship (which it isn't) and viewed as a more sophisticated device to guide a standard set of actions on the other side.

This particular robot has been set up in a temple as a priest who gives a set of sermons and acts as a guide to Buddhist teachings.   It does have people who visit it regularly ("her", technically, since it is a "living statue" of the Boddhisatva Kwan Yin (spirit of mercy)

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14861909

(a very good and reasonably balanced article about Mindar and the limits of a robot priest and about how robots can be useful but lack the ability to be credible) https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...t-workers/

The Japanese do not view it as a god... in fact, they don't view it as having life (any more than a book has life.)  It's a tool; like a video (on request) of their religious practices.

In the West (sigh) however, the Fear Is Strong (note... this is a REALLY bad op ed article) : https://www.zdnet.com/article/robot-prie...professor/

I'm a fan of robots, actually, and can see things like this (and robot coaches for exercise, etc) as very useful.  However, I'm not in the majority here in the West.  

small anecdote:  I was walking through the San Francisco airport and came across an area where people were demonstrating a child robot that could be used to interact with autistic children (who sometimes have trouble interacting with humans).  I trotted over and asked questions and talked to the robot... while all around me, most of my fellow passengers were actually changing the path of their walk to avoid this little robot...by as much distance as I could manage.  I asked the "minders" about the response and they said that generally Americans reacted with disgust or fear but foreign visitors seemed charmed and intrigued and some felt that it would help someone they knew.

I was sad that Americans would fear a child-sized interactive toy like this.  I suspect that if someone set up a robot priest somewhere in America, there'd be violence done (and some whacky politician would put up a video of them flame-throwering all sorts of robots.)

Anyway... robot priests.  An idea that much of the rest of the world might embrace someday.

This is a posting of Sheriff Jones of Butler County, Ohio.  He attended the National Sheriff Conference in DC with Director Wray (FBI).
The content is about info re: expected attacks in our nation.  It seems training of civilians is recommended by Jones to make up for lack of federal support and security.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvNukzNQawo

From: Fox News

Quote:Hawaii's highest court ruled Wednesday that Second Amendment rights as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court do not extend to Hawaii citizens, citing the "spirit of Aloha."

In the ruling, which was penned by Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Todd Eddins, the court determined that states "retain the authority to require" individuals to hold proper permits before carrying firearms in public. The decision also concluded that the Hawaii Constitution broadly "does not afford a right to carry firearms in public places for self defense," further pointing to the "spirit of Aloha" and even quoting HBO's TV drama "The Wire."

"Article I, section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution mirrors the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution," the Hawaii Supreme Court decision states. "We read those words differently than the current United States Supreme Court. We hold that in Hawaii there is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public."

Quote:"The spirit of Aloha clashes with a federally-mandated lifestyle that lets citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities," it adds. "The history of the Hawaiian Islands does not include a society where armed people move about the community to possibly combat the deadly aims of others."

Quote:In addition, the Hawaii Supreme Court notes a quote from HBO's "The Wire," that "the thing about the old days, they the old days." The court's opinion states that it "makes no sense" for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to "the founding era’s culture, realities, laws, and understanding of the Constitution."

The case dates to December 2017, when Hawaii citizen Christopher Wilson was arrested and charged with improperly holding a firearm and ammunition in West Maui. The firearm Wilson was arrested carrying was unregistered in Hawaii, and he never obtained or applied for a permit to own the gun. He told police officers that the firearm was purchased in 2013 in Florida.

Wilson argued in court that the charges brought against him violated the Second Amendment. But, according to The Reload, the Hawaii high court explicitly rejected the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment in 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller and 2022’s New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which both held that there is a constitutionally protected right to carry firearms.

So, if you are in the UK and ever go up round the Crewe area, you may see signs for the secret nuclear bunker.
It's an old, cold war command and control thing that is now a museum, and a bloody good one it is too.


There is tons to see and do there, though it might get a bit scary for the young ones. If you are an old cold war era specimen though you will love it!
There are even displays of de-activated W177 nukes you can stare at and try and figure out how you get nearly half a megaton of explosive power in such a small package.
pricing and how to get there


There is also an audio tour you can download free off the website foir a taste of whats to come.

Much has been written about Luciano and hic organizations, but other than portrayed in gangsta movies, and its especially muddied with so-called mafia romanticizing. His wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luciano

While we know so much about Lansky taking the money and funding the Zionists in the 1948 "show", we ddont acknowledge the work Luciano did to get the Italian people to unite against fascism.

Its like two polar opposite. Luciano fought fascism, Lansky embraced it. Ok, not exactly, but they let Castro win, Batista was too expensive.

Thats currently my fave "flavour" of Sci Fi.
here's a series of 3 youtube vids that can explain it all to the unitiated and expand on what you already know if you are familiar with the subject.

youtube

Kind of strange to be offering free adverts for a games company, but I LOVE this game, I have played it through dozens of times, got the updates and even downloaded the audio book...The stories just grab me, possibly something to do with my thread in the comics section. 
If you like RPG, FPS and open world stuff, grab it, you wont be disappointed, you can get it on steam and a few other places. I have put hundreds of hours into this now, honestly, you wont be disappointed if you get it, you just wont want to stop playing it.

So my fave comics arent superhero things, I have always been into dystopia. I guess that all started when I was a kid and started reading 2000AD full of stories about Judge Dredd MegaCity1 and the cursed earth, Flesh...about futuristic cowboys who went back to wrangle dinosaurs for food production. Invasion about a race called the Volgons, who wore russian helmets and sounded russian, invading the UK and Nuking the big cities. Rogue trooper about a genetically modified super soldier fighting through a planetary wasteland in some never ending apocalyptic war  and tons of others.

Recently trhough I stumbled across something newer that reminded me so much of the best of the old Dredd stories. Transmetropolitan its about a sort of gonzo journalist trying to fight back against the corrupt elites keeping the people down in this futuristic, cyberpunky sort of city. Its free now if you have kindle unlimited, give it a go.