Source: https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/world/wi...04-153623/

Quote:CAIRO — A joint team of Japanese and Egyptian researchers have started an excavation in an area known as the Western Cemetery, located close to the Great Pyramid of Giza in the suburbs of the Egyptian capital Cairo. The pyramid is said to belong to the Ancient Egyptian King Khufu.
Preliminary research using a ground-penetrating radar captured images that appeared to be remains of an ancient structure, giving researchers hope that the excavation will lead to a new discovery.
The team is led by Sakuji Yoshimura, 80, Japan’s prominent Egyptian archaeologist and the president of Higashi Nippon International University in the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.

Hello, Let's Deny Ignorance.

It appears that 6 more countries have been invited to join the BRICS; BRICS is an acronym which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.  Now we have more countries which have been invited to join this grouping of nations which seek to challenge Western dominance on the World Stage.  The new nations slated to join are:  Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Quote:PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA: We have decided to invite the Argentine Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
BARTLETT: These six countries can now join the emerging block of nations, BRICS - the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - on January 1, next year. Together, the five current members already comprise about 40% of the global population and a quarter of global gross domestic product. But it's hardly a homogenous grouping, and these additions will make it less so.

 

I think this belongs in the Propaganda Mill due to the nature of how these public HOAXes are used to both create an atmosphere that propaganda is being done, or is just blatant propaganda in the first place. This story might be a HOAX to push propaganda or it might be laying the ground works for later. I'll let you decide for yourselves. 

So, we have this issue that seems to have started in India.
Poonam Pandey death: Controversial Bollywood actor dies after cervical cancer diagnosis aged 32 | The Independent

Quote: Bollywood actor and model Poonam Pandey has died from cervical cancer at the age of 32, according to a statement shared on social media that has shocked her fans.
Her team shared a post on Pandey’s Instagram account, which has over 1.3 million followers, on Friday (2 February), which read: “This morning is a tough one for us.
 
“Deeply saddened to inform you that we have lost our beloved Poonam to cervical cancer. Every living form that ever came in contact with her was met with pure love and kindness.”
The news was later confirmed by Pandey’s manager Nikita Sharma, in a statement to NDTV.

Quote: A day after Poonam Pandey’s official social media handle and her manager said that she had passed away, the actor shared a video on Instagram announcing that she is alive. She said, “I feel compelled to share something significant with you all – I am here, alive. Cervical Cancer didn’t claim me, but tragically, it has claimed the lives of thousands of women who stemmed from a lack of knowledge on how to tackle this.”

 
Poonam Pandey, whose manager has said that the actor died on Thursday, has been trending on social media since Friday.
 Meanwhile, a video of a purported recent interview has now surfaced online featuring Pandey teasing her fans about an upcoming surprise news, but without further details. In the clip, shared by Instant Bollywood, she can be seen telling the reporter, “Aapke saamne ek itna bada news aane wala hai. Mujhe bahut accha lagta hai logo ko surprise karna. Jab voh samajhte hai yeh sudhar rahe hai, tab mujhe surprise karna aur bhi accha lagta hai. Toh ek bahut hi bada news aapke saamne aane wala hai (A big news is set to arrive before you soon. I like to surprise people. When people think that I have changed, I like to surprise them even more. So, a really big news is coming your way).”

Evening all!
I want a bit of advice regarding a change in my eating habits I've made for the new year. Basically, I'm trying to avoid all ultra processed foods, and mainly eating fruit, veg, meats, eggs and a bit of fish. I've cut out white bread, which I loved, and now make my own wholemeal bread in my breadmaker, and I eat 2 sandwiches a week, so four slices a week (I only make a small loaf). I've also swapped white rice for brown, and normal pasta for wholewheat pasta. Still have milk (Skimmed)

Now, so far it's been going okay. I've lost 11 pounds since January 1st, although I can't see it in the mirror yet. But...I downloaded an app called 'Weight Loss' by the NHS. This recommends I eat 1700 calories a day, and I am finding this impossible!! I am lucky to be touching 1000 a day, and 250 of that is drinks! I really do log everything down in the app, even to a sneaky strawberry Quality Street. So does anyone know if by NOT reaching this calorie target I'm stressing my body out?

I know I'm deficient in Vitamin D and Folic Acid as shown in recent blood work done in December 2023, and my Dr has put me on supplements for them, but apart from that I'm hoping this new diet will boost those again through a correct diet.

My usual day is a banana for breakfast (At my desk at work), grapes for mid break, a sandwich or jacket potato for lunch, and then meat/fish and veg for my evening meal. I just can't see how to eat more calories!

Anyone got any tips for me??

Clickbait.  Ya gotta have clickbait these days.  So how's this for a title: "Humans will soon be worshipping AI chatbots as gods, experts warn!"

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-...source=nba

There's a lot less there than the headline implies.  But don't forget to tremble in fear, because the article continues "Experts believe people might ditch traditional religion for tech-based beliefs. They warned the responses by bots, such as ChatGPT, were luring people to seek higher meaning from them."

I can see people with certain medical conditions buying into this (the guys who stand on the street corners, shouting garbled Bible verses, for instance.)  I've seen people argue with chatbots (not knowing that they were arguing with a chatbot) -- but I'm having a hard time seeing how an AI could present itself as a deity in any credible way.  "Worship me or I'll turn off your lights?"  (oh sweetie, let me introduce you to my candles.)  

And as a former programmer, I can't see putting that much reliance on something like an algorithm trained on who knows what database.

I would use it to explore medical conditions, I would use it for a lot of things... but I don't think there's that many who would worship it and I think the "expert" is simply doing a lot of personal speculating and the reporter is running with something that will grab eyeballs.



I'll get into the robot Zen priest(s) in another post.

True confession:  I really like cats and reptiles.  Love snakes (they're such escape artists, though) and lizards of all kinds.  I did have a lovely bearded dragon, but he died a few weeks ago, and the gap in my life was just disturbing (kept looking for Tad when I walked by the spot where his tank was, kept thinking that it's great weather to take him outside, etc.)

So... yesterday I got little Cinnamon.

Cinnamon's a hatchling (he'll grow to about 18 inches in length and weigh about half a pound or a bit more).  I estimate that he's no more than two weeks old... so he and his clutch-mates are still very new at living in the world.  I'd have preferred one that was a month old, but the fancy colored ones tend to be the first ones bought and I worry about such a tiny thing falling into the hands of a well meaning but inexperienced owner.   

This is a chill little creature.  He didn't freak out when he was put in the container at PetSmart and he didn't panic when I put him in his new home.  Today he had a nice meal of a bug (just one) and is now sitting in his food dish, contemplating life. 

Because he's so young and hadn't been in the sales cage for long, he apparently hasn't learned to fear human hands.  I'll be getting him used to a leash so I can give him a chance to roam more freely in the sunshine.

Anyway, this is my lil' dragon!  

I'm glad to be here and hoping we can have meaningful discussions and crack open some truths and realities of existence.

Let's see where deny ignorance takes us.

So... this is old news, but it was new to me:  a gorilla suit was smuggled onto the International Space Station.

(quoted from NASA)
To surprise astronaut Scott J. Kelly for his Feb. 21, 2016, birthday during his one-year mission aboard ISS, his twin brother astronaut Mark E. Kelly arranged for the delivery of a life-size gorilla costume to the station. In addition to some mild-mannered shenanigans while wearing the gorilla costume that he posted to social media, such as chasing fellow Expedition 46 crewmember Timothy N. Peake through the Destiny module, Kelly also recorded some educational videos dressed in the non-standard garb.

Fact Check: Did an Astronaut Smuggle a Gorilla Suit Onto the International Space Station? (newsweek.com)

The astronauts do some fun things for birthdays (including dressing as pirates! https://www.nasa.gov/history/space-stati...ys-on-iss/) 

The video of the gorilla chase (one minute in length) is hilarious: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=585409658282626

the Why Files

Has anyone heard of the Why Files?  I've been checking this show out as of late andf I'm excited to see this show as it covers a lot of the conspiracy type subjects that ATS( Now Deny Ignorance) is known for.  It covers topics like: Remote Viewing, Crop Circles, Neanderthals and early humans, Aliens, Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, UFO's in the Grand Canyon, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/thewhyfiles

Check it out!

Full article title: "Men may gamble more money after a positive fortunetelling -- even when they don't believe it."

Heck of a title, right?  (Here's the article: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-sc...-rcna46549  -- and here's the paper in question: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/articl...ne.0273233)  

So what they're claiming is that if you put a fortuneteller in a casino and offered free fortunes, men would be more likely to gamble more money after you give them a positive reading.  If they actually believed in fortunetelling they would gamble even more money (probably no surprise there.)

Women, on the other hand, seem to be unaffected (as far as gambling goes) by fortunetelling.  The sample size was 266 people; so a relatively small sample, though adequate for an initial investigation.  At this point it's hard to tell how culturally bound this is.  In China, there's certainly a bias for some numbers (eight is very lucky, four is very unlucky).

However, as the original paper says, there may actually be some benefits from superstition, particularly when things are tough.   

An interesting quote: He also noted that fortunetelling is somewhat different than some other types of superstition because it occurs before the event it supposedly foretells — the gambling, in this case — whereas other superstitions are often applied at the same time as the events they supposedly influence, like throwing spilled salt over your shoulder.

I tend to analyze (over-analyze, sometimes, as I'm sure nobody here would be surprised to find out) situations and get uncomfortable when I have to do a "best guess" type of response, particularly if the results involve loads of money (which is why I dithered for years about getting solar for the house.)  But when I get into one of "those" moods or get stuck with something, I do admit to pulling out a few charms to see if I can boost my brain into being more productive.

Do you ever make use of superstitions?

I like me a good hardcore zombie mod -- I do the ultra-hardcore bit of "one lifetime and that's it" type of gameplay.  Sometimes it takes me over 100 tries to be able to survive three days in a modded world.  I'm currently playing 'From the Fog' -- hooooboy.  

I like them really hard but not impossibly hard.

So... anyone do modded Minecraft?  Got a recommendation?

(source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...-maps.html)
 The US army has many bases around the world, but the locations of some of these bases are classified for national security reasons.  There's a number of famous ones that almost everyone has heard of -- Area 51, Dugway, Kirtland, Cheyenne Mountain, Dulce...

Inspired by a book about "blank spots on the map" (which is where these bases are hiding), Josh Begley decided to look up those areas on Google Earth (and satellite data) and published a book and website about those mysterious military bases.

I'm not into this kind of thing, but I have to admit that I was surprised that there are so darn many of them!

Here's the website:  http://empire.is/

The Google Earth overlay doesn't work but you can scroll down to look at the bases and their names.

Oh...and Popular Mechanics has a neat article on the strangest military bases: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technol...s-gallery/

Now there's an interesting name, eh?  Not one that you usually see connected with prophecy, yet he made a series of prophecies (in the Ladies Home Journal Magazine, of all places) in 1900 that have in large part come true.

He was an engineer, and the prophecies he made were technology.  And he's better at prophecy than almost all the religious prophets are... and he's a lot more specific.  No more "the metal thingy will collapse and launch mankind to the unknown" vague handwavium.  He got pretty darn specific. (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16444966)

Here's one: "Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence, snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later.... photographs will reproduce all of nature's colours."

So... color photography and although he couldn't predict the Internet, Instant Uploaded Cat Pictures are everywhere.

"Americans will be taller by from one to two inches."

Kind of mundane, but really very interesting and indeed true.

"Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago. We will be able to telephone to China quite as readily as we now talk from New York to Brooklyn."

So -- mobile phones.  There was no such thing as wireless telephone and wireless telegraph back then.

Check the (short) article for other prophecies that he got right.

He did get two of them wrong, though:  "There will be no C, X or Q in our everyday alphabet. They will be abandoned because unnecessary."  and " Everybody will walk 10 miles a day"

Yah, that didn't age well.

And one that sadly didn't come true: "Mosquitoes, house-flies and roaches will have been exterminated."

But we can hope, eh?

I think that non-religious prophecies do a lot better than the religious ones.

The "covid gap in education" refers to the learning loss and widening achievement gaps that students experienced because of the disruption caused by the pandemic. According to some studies, students are on average four to five months behind in math and reading, and students of color and low-income students are the most affected

(article on conservative website The Hill: https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4...hool-year/)

While I see concerns on the national basis, I'm not seeing a lot of conversation about it here in Dallas.  In fact, what I see is "well, they're catching up" and I'm not entirely sure I believe that since Texas has a habit of "teaching to the test" rather than actually focusing on the issue. https://texas2036.org/posts/tracking-cov...ning-loss/

There's some interesting talk on Reddit, though, including one about the pandemic even having an impact on college students: https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comm...ing_worse/

So is it a concern where you live?  Is anyone doing anything other than hand-wringing about it?

I thought I'd share this book with you all.  (this book is one that a lot of conservative/traditional Catholics have in their homes).  Please feel free to add Christian deliverance prayers to this thread as you wish.

In the Catholic Church there are deliverance prayers that can be prayed against the demonic.  Some prayers are restricted only to exorcist priests and it is forbidden for laity and parish priests to use them.  Apparently there can be spiritual backlash if the wrong people use them.  Some prayers can only be prayed by priests.  Again, if prayed by the laity there can be spiritual backlash.  However, there are some that can be prayed by the laity. 

Father Chad Ripperger is a well known Catholic priest.  He is an exorcist and works in deliverance ministries.  He wrote two books with deliverance prayers.  One for the laity.  One for the priests.  I'm sharing from his book 'Deliverance Prayers' *for use by the laity.  These are deliverance prayers that the laity can use to take command, break curses, break hexes, cut links, close portals, bind, make acts of rejection, break occult ties, remove generational spirits, set up perimeter protections, be reconciled to God, etc etc.

We have used these prayers when we have felt evil or suspected demonic or negative spiritual activity.  I can't see the spiritual realm so I don't know what the prayers did or didn't do.  But these are the go-to prayers for conservative/traditional Catholics so I'm sharing.

Never actually thought about this one, but it came up on a Discord channel and I was really unsatisfied with the answers -- which were:

* seeds of the plant Silphium, so popular with the Romans that they drove the plant to extinction
* stylized (female) breasts
* stylized buttocks (gender of your choice)
* testes (this after a look at the Pink Reese's Candy) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GEnbENkXYAAU...ame=medium  (yes, that's safe for work but ... maybe you should make sure you're not observed anyway)
* various plant leaves (ivy, for example)
* eye of a wild boar (this is Japanese, for reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_symbol)

The actual human heart looks nothing like the heart emoji... so how come we use it to symbolize a heart and love?  It's an interesting little mystery.

The first actual depiction of a "heart shape" as a heart/love symbol is actually pretty recent -- one site traces it to around 1250 AD: https://www.artandobject.com/news/history-heart-shape 

And that angle ties it into the idea of courtly love (something that was invented around that time.)

So there's a little history-mystery.  Given its appearance so early, I'm going to go with "ivy leaf", myself... for no real reason except that I like the idea.

https://www.wwiidogtags.com/ww2-history/...y-soldier/

“Look, you chaps only have to do this once. But I’ll have to do it all over again in Hollywood with Errol Flynn!” 

So today I learned that David Niven has a pretty wild history.  He was always cool and suave in his roles, so I would have suspected that he came from minor aristocracy.  As it turns out, he was from an upper class family and his father and grandfather died as war heroes... but that's not the end of the tale by any means.

The "Dogtags" website has some interesting tidbits, including the bit where he was arrested for mouthing off and then shared some whiskey in jail with his guard, leading to his doing a jailbreak.  He left for America and resigned his commission enroute.

In spite of this mark, when WWII came around, he went back to England to serve, got commando training, and ended up in a Special Forces unit called "Phantom."  He was awarded the Legion of Merit.

Wikipedia also has some juicy tidbits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Niven

A number of fairly famous people were in Phantom: https://www.phantomghq.co.uk/famous-phantom

https://www.wwiidogtags.com/ww2-history/...y-soldier/

“Look, you chaps only have to do this once. But I’ll have to do it all over again in Hollywood with Errol Flynn!” 

So today I learned that David Niven has a pretty wild history.  He was always cool and suave in his roles, so I would have suspected that he came from minor aristocracy.  As it turns out, he was from an upper class family and his father and grandfather died as war heroes... but that's not the end of the tale by any means.

The "Dogtags" website has some interesting tidbits, including the bit where he was arrested for mouthing off and then shared some whiskey in jail with his guard, leading to his doing a jailbreak: https://www.wwiidogtags.com/ww2-history/...y-soldier/  He left for America and resigned his commission enroute.

In spite of this mark, when WWII came around, he went back to England to serve, got commando training, and ended up in a Special Forces unit called "Phantom."  He was awarded the Legion of Merit.

Wikipedia also has some juicy tidbits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Niven

Joe Biden is expected to make one of the most Important Decisions of his Presidency tonight, thats not something anybody wants to hear. Of course, they could just be propping him up and making him look like a decisive President. 

NGL Ive got so many reservations there needs to be a heavy response here. Also not going to lie, it bothered me that it seemed this eventuality and what to do once it happens, wasn't exactly planned for. How do you not be able to track your drones and distinguish them from enemy drones? Could they have transponders and once they get within a certain range of the base have them turn on so they could be identified on radar? 

But beyond that here we are on the brink, Blinken saying the Middle East is in worse shape since 73, and it just seems like we are being drugged into this, whereas most times in my lifetime atleast America has been cautious AF and overly prepared when we finally do commit. I suspect Biden will have a small measured response, upon small measured response till our troops get hit again. Which is likely worse than no response at all


https://x.com/sentdefender/status/175209...24739?s=20

Quote:The President of the United States, Joe Biden is expected to make one of the most Important Decisions of his Presidency tonight, as he Orders a Response for the One-Way “Suicide” Drone Attack by Iranian-Backed Forces against the Tower 22 Patrol Base in Northeastern Jordan this weekend which resulted in the Death of 3 American Soldiers; the Response will likely come in upwards of 3 Stages which will Target the Capabilities of Iranian-Backed Militias in Syria and Iraq with Kinetic Strikes, alongside Cyberattacks on Facilities used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran followed by Kinetic Strikes against Strategic Locations in Iran related to their Nuclear, Ballistic Missile, and Drone Capabilities. The Strikes will more than likely come from U.S. Air Force Combat Aircraft across the Middle East as well as Tomahawk Land-Attack Cruise Missiles launched by U.S. Navy Vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

My wife and I currenty live among a neigborhood of one percenters. We didnt pick the nighborhood to move here as back in 2017 we didnt have many choices in lieu of my wifes job. We left the Atlanta region to move here. Our 1st choice was to move to Greenville, SC  but we had to settle on the Columbia region. The neighborhood is lilly white and is a blend of native born South Carolina and the rest are out of state born in the USA citizens. 

We are also done with living here and will sell the home this year and move 17 miles towards the center of the state before the 2024 election. That location will be 100's of miles away from the larger cities including Charlotte, Columbia, Greenville and others. The lot is on a dead end cul de sac and is surrounded by water, Lake Murray. The neighbors are friendly and watch each others back. Assumming a civil war begins in this country that neighborhood would be my choice for protection and distance from large population centers. We own over an acre so we can grow food and have water access for irrigation and fishing. We arent what I would consider as preppers but we do make our moves based on strategic surroundings. In this neighborhood all are either hunters or fisherman. They also work hard and many are former US military. All own boats. 

Our current neighboorhood isnt like the above. IMO many traffic Fentanyl and much worse. The HOA is useless and scared. Assumming all hell breaks loose I would not feel comfortable living among them as I can see them turning on and eating each other as social elites are social elites. Plus they have kids in the twenty year old age group. 

So in brief I am not sayng all is well as all I am trying to do is the best for our safety without total disruption of our lives. We are closer to her employer, the people are nicer and many raise their own food. We will enjoy our life better. Many of our contractors are in the area and I have a source for range fed chickens and beef as a result. We have hunting and fishing gear, boom booms, bikes, a canoe and other non electric equipment. Toilets can be filled with buckets of water by hand if the city water ever shuts off. We can also boil water. We do have several solar panels and a portable Inverter with battery for a small chest frezzer. The home will have two fireplaces, one wood burning the other wood with a natural gas insert. Outside we have two grills. One gas and the other is a Belson Park Grill for charcoal or wood. Like our current home the new one will have a walk out ground floor. The temperature in the current home never drops below 60 degrees nor above 75 on the ground floor so if no power we can live there with minimal disruption.  We have never turned the HVAC on for that entire floor since 2017. Dirt is an  excellent insulator. 

I consider ourselves as lucky to the extreme as I can only pray for those in the cities as a resultbof the administrations policies. 

Were just bidening our time

So I just walked into a restaurant for a carryout! I noticed a girl wearing Moon Boots!

I think 40 years ago when I was 10 my mom bought me Moon Boots. They were my best friends until they got wet.

I am sure now they are waterproof!

Does anyone remember Moon Boots?

Are they back?

I've never been on a subway.  There just aren't any in my area.  
And when I took buses, there just weren't as many unique riders as there are today.

Ravens, peacocks, costumes, tattoo artists at work, people doing workouts, nappers, Darth Vader and Batman......
Even better theatre than the shoppers of Walmart.....
40 Hilarious Subway Fails That Are Impossible To Ignore

Ok so I didn't want to toss my opinion in on this YouTube issue, but now I think it's showing something more than is being realized. 
First the story:
Chinese tourists hit back at London St Pancras pianist as they accuse musician of hogging the piano then trying to provoke the group before they asked him to stop filming them | Daily Mail Online

Quote: A group of flag-waving Chinese tourists at the centre of a row with a boogie-woogie pianist have hit back today.
Brendan Kavanagh, who goes by the name Dr K, sparked a row after he shared video showing the moment the Chinese tourists told him to stop filming them during a livestream from London St Pancras station.
After the musician was accused of touching one of the women - an allegation he strongly denies - British Transport Police officers trundled over to the bust-up and told Dr K not to upload the clip to YouTube.

Disclosure has happed. Period. 

It’s real.  

Adjust your worldview. 

We do not know what they are. 

We do not know it if is one thing, or many things. If they are breakaway human, alien, other intelligences from future, past, or under the oceans… or something else we can’t even understand.  

We do know it’s real.

First off domt order a pizza. Dietary laws mean their pizza is some of the worlds worst pizza.

But thats nowhere near the worst.

My half sister grew up there and had to do national service. IDF indoctrination is real, my half sister would be seen as someone with a compassionate approach to the world. Not until you ask her about Palestinians, and then IDF indoctrination comes out. 

She is not a Zionist tho, just someone "programmed" to their perspective. The zionists dont joun the army, because they are the ones EXEMPT from national service. Hassidics and other orthodox jews dont even pay tax!. And they are the ones calling for genocide.

We were taken in an IDF vehicle to a Palestinian "bakery" in the west bank, it was an open fire wit a hotplate and some tents around, and by custom they serve us first, before their own people who only had a short lunchbreak before they had to go to work. Kids collected stones. That lunch was deliberately planned unbeknownst to us before it happened. and that kind of antagonization has been still happening 30 years later.

Those kids collectind stones, mow many do you think might be still alive?.

The genocide is real.

Also dont drive in the bus lanes.