Memes that made me laugh 329

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

The Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal claims yet more victims

 

Thanks to the damage wrought to its finances, the Fresno Diocese of the Catholic Church has just told its pensioners that they're screwed - financially, this time.

Retired Fresno Diocese employees will no longer receive retirement benefits starting next year.

Hundreds of former employees are now left scrambling over what to do with their financial future now up in the air.

In a letter to retirees last month, the diocese said the retirement plan was frozen at the end of June.

The church says they contributed the agreed-upon amount negotiated in employee contracts,

But the diocese says Christian Brothers Services, the company responsible for managing the money, is the reason there isn’t enough to continue payments.

The diocese says it explored legal options to transfer the money into a retirement plan of their own. But said that plan would not be possible with the church filing for bankruptcy.

The church is facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving more than 150 claims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

There's more at the link.

I don't have to tell you how sick to my stomach this news makes me feel.  I've written extensively about how I experienced the clergy sex abuse scandal, and how it's almost destroyed the faith of countless good people (see the partial list of my articles on that subject in the sidebar, particularly this one).  This is just the latest episode in a very sordid story.  However, the fact that the Fresno diocese is willing to throw their pensioners to the wolves - people who devoted years of their lives, if not their entire working career. to the service of the Church - is the clearest possible indication that many of the hierarchy are still protecting their own backside(s) (collectively and individually).  They don't appear to really, truly care who else suffers, just as long as their positions are protected.  The Fresno diocese's attitude - and remember, actions speak louder than words - appears to be, "Are our retirees going to starve, or be unable to pay their medical bills, because we've stopped paying their pensions?  Well, let them!  We have more important uses for that money!"

Analyzing the overall situation, the National Catholic Reporter didn't mince its words.

The legal processes accomplish what they are designed to do, exact a bit of retribution on behalf of victims. They do not, however, restore or transform survivors. They don't erase haunting, debilitating memories. And they do little to address the most searing questions for which the faithful still await an answer: How did this happen? How could the chief shepherds allow the most vulnerable in the flock to be preyed upon?

As Charles Nadeau, a court-appointed representative of survivors, explained: "Bankruptcy is not inherently unjust ... But when applied to clergy sexual abuse, it risks becoming something else — a substitute for moral accountability."

The San Francisco Archdiocese, faced with a $359 million settlement to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse by clergy, explained that its distribution of financial pain among its parishes was essential to "enabling our local church to emerge from bankruptcy and move beyond this difficult chapter in our history."

The wish to "move beyond this difficult chapter," entirely dependent on heavily taxing those who had nothing to do with creating the problem, is a telling sentiment.

. . .

... it wasn't "the church collectively" that did this. It was the clerical/hierarchical culture. That culture has yet to collectively square up with the reality that the abuse crisis in the church was a betrayal of the community at a sacramental level. It is a level of betrayal that can't occur in any other circumstance.

. . .

The cold reality is that the laity are left to foot the bill, financially and otherwise, for the depraved behavior of their bishops. They are left with struggling parishes, diminished resources for ministry, and the church's loss of credibility in the wider culture.

We know now that the coverup was not the work of an isolated bishop; it was not the province of liberals or conservatives. It was the result of a hierarchical culture that had developed in a way that allowed its members to think they were above reproach or accountability for even the most egregious behavior.

. . .

The bishops need ... a full-on, uncompromising, unadorned examination of the sinful and criminal activity of their predecessors, of the culture they've inherited that allowed such sin and crime to fester for so long.

Again, more at the link.

I get very angry when I hear anyone claiming to speak with or from the "moral authority of the Church".  Christ has all the moral authority there is, in this world and the next.  However, his Church on earth has, through the actions (and inactions) of its leaders, effectively so betrayed his moral authority, been so derelict in its duty to the people of God, that for many of the faithful, it has abrogated any claim to represent him.  Millions (literally) have left the Church over this crisis, and millions more will doubtless follow suit, unless and until its leaders "clean house".  So far, they've signally failed to do so.

May Almighty God have mercy on all our souls . . .

Peter

A new book from someone you already know well

 

My wife Dorothy has published several books as "Dorothy Grant".  They've been well received by her reading audience (which, of course, includes most of you . . . right?)

She's decided to tackle some books that are more adult-oriented than most of our previous output.  However, she doesn't want to put off those who are used to her previous style of writing.  They might object to the new, more "robust" tone of this book, so she's publishing it under a pseudonym, Summer Grayling.  There'll probably be more to follow under that pen-name.

Her first novel under this pseudonym, "True Colours", has just been published.  I think of it as a magical-fantasy tactically-correct quasi-romance, and I really like it!

The blurb reads:

Jan Van Der Vaart is a legend. The focus of his magical Talent is pain, and he's spent years in the military, then as a mercenary, making terrorists, cartels, and governments fear him. Finally, he carved out a safe haven for other Talents, and tried to retire... until one last job, cracking a black lab snatching Talents off the streets, went sideways. He's left staggering down a rainy coastal highway, thumb out and hoping he'll catch a lift before the kill team realizes they missed...

Aurelia Brinati is on the run. Having escaped five years of hell as an unwilling lab rat, she has a stolen car and a plan to hide from pursuers by taking passage on a cargo ship headed anywhere else in the world. When she picks up a stray sailor headed the same way, she rapidly discovers she's out of her depths... and safe in the heart of the storm.

The entire world fears him... except her. Powers are gathering to recapture Aurelia, but they'd best beware. Jan and his friends will do whatever it takes to keep her safe... whether it's murder, mayhem, or last-minute shopping runs to find something called cream of tartar for her snickerdoodle cookies.

I happen to think my wife is a better writer than I am.  I've really enjoyed all her books, and I'm very proud of her for achieving such success.  She was, I think, a bit nervous that I might be offended by some of the so-called "adult" bits in this book, but no, not at all.  She handles them with what I might call "enthusiastic restraint";  nothing excessively anatomical, if you will, but nevertheless real.  I'm already re-reading "True Colours" for the second time, and enjoying it all over again.

I hope you'll give this book a try.  I think you'll like it.  There are more coming from her in similar vein, so watch this space for details!

Peter

(P.S.:  Yes, I know she's chosen the name of a fish for her pseudonym.  It made us both giggle!  It's highly appropriate for this book, being set so much at sea.)

Yet another reason to update your emergency supplies

 

Yesterday the Dutch railway network was brought to its knees by coordinated sabotage attacks across the country.

There have been no trains at all across swathes of the northern and central Netherlands after objects were attached to the rails in at least 30 known locations. Remarkably, the national railway operator says that in some places where the obstacles had been cleared, new ones were quickly placed in the same location again once engineers and police had left the scene.

The nationwide coordinated sabotage campaign has used the railway’s own safety systems against it, with metal objects “deliberately placed” across the two tracks. Modern railways use electrical circuits between the two rails to detect where trains are and are not, the presence of a train’s wheels and axle spanning the two tracks closes the circuit and alerts the signalling system to its location.

By manually shorting the circuit, the saboteurs were able to trick the automatic system into turning the signals across the network red to prevent phantom trains from crashing into each other, which in turn forced the real trains to halt as well.

. . .

Because of the nature of the sabotage, which introduced phantom trains to the network, in several locations, level crossings were automatically activated to protect drivers from approaching trains that didn’t exist, spreading the network chaos onto the roads too.

. . .

As well as railway networks, climate extremists have targeted power infrastructure. The decentralised nature of both networks and the widespread disruption possible makes them apparently attractive targets for would-be extremists and left-wing terrorists, given that the widely spread infrastructure is difficult to closely watch, harden, or fortify.

In at least one case, European railways have been sabotaged by state actors, with Russia blamed for a bombing of a Polish railway in a “false flag” attack last year.

Germany’s power networks have also been repeatedly sabotaged by the hard left in recent months. Just last week, it is believed an extremist used dozens of homemade rockets to knock out high-voltage power substations to sabotage coal power plants nationwide, and Berlin’s power network is sometimes subjected to acts of arson with considerable knock-on effects.

There's more at the link.

Americans tend to forget (or ignore) the fact that we've had precisely the same sort of sabotage in this country for a long time now.  That may be because the US is so much bigger than most other countries that we don't notice (or take notice of) what's happening in areas other than our own.  The methods may differ, but the results are the same - disruption of vital infrastructure.  For example:

• Attacks on the US electrical grid;
• Cyberattacks on water systems;
• Vulnerability of US mass transport and passenger rail systems;
• Terrorist threat to U.S. highway system.

Follow those links for more information.  There's no need to mention the vulnerability of airline transport, so close to the anniversary of 9/11.  Things have improved since then, but they're far from foolproof.

The thing is, so far we've experienced relatively uncoordinated attacks against the infrastructure on which our entire society and economy depend.  Electricity may be cut in one area, water in another, rail traffic in a third, but until now they've been relative pinpricks from the perspective of the nation as a whole.  That won't necessarily remain the case;  in fact, it's very unlikely to stay that way.  Terrorist nations such as Iran and enemies such as North Korea have had all the time in the world to infiltrate operatives across our southern border, and I've no doubt that several thousand such people are already here.  If they were "activated" or "mobilized" by their source nations, they could do immense damage to our society by striking in a coordinated fashion across multiple critical systems.

• How could a fire department rush to extinguish a blaze caused by a terrorist bomb when the traffic management system has been disrupted, and the rail system sabotaged to cause all level crossings to shut down, and the water supply to a city to be interrupted by a cyberattack on the main pumping stations?
• How could emergency services cope with such a rash of issues all arising at once, particularly if the roads were further disrupted by spreading caltrops (which can easily be produced in mass quantities at negligible cost, using backyard garages and workshops) in strategic locations on the city's road network, disabling enough vehicles to block the road almost completely?  They can be dumped out of the back of pickups or rented vans using buckets.

We don't know whether the attacks on Holland's railways were state-sponsored (probably by Russian agents trying to disrupt support for Ukraine) or arose from domestic political terrorism, but it doesn't really matter to those affected by them.  Much of the country was brought to a halt at once, without warning.

That could happen to any major city in this country, and even to whole states, if enough people struck at enough critical infrastructure nodes.  It would take weeks, if not months, to restore everything to normal operations.  During that period, if you rely on critical supplies such as medication, special foods for kids or invalids, or enough gasoline or diesel to get from a remote location (e.g. a farm) to the nearest source of supply, you'd be S.O.L.  That's why I make sure that my wife and myself maintain a year's supply of all critical prescription medication, including basic antibiotics in case they should be needed.  That practice has come in very useful in the past, for ourselves (being able to take an antibiotic for repeated infections) and to supply friends with medication (for example, during the COVID emergency).  Oh - and don't forget critical OTC supplies like painkillers and allergy medications.  How miserable would you be if an emergency arose that forced you to spend many hours outside, or without air conditioning or filtration, during peak allergy season?  Since both my wife and I have allergy problems, you can bet we stash enough of those meds to see us through a couple of months.

For that matter, it's worth keeping at least one month's worth of food and water on hand, in case of an emergency.  Forget the commercial "72-hour" kits (like these, for example);  they're better than nothing, but don't hold all you'll need, even for so short a period.  They're designed to make you feel like you're prepared, while enriching those who make and supply them.  Get the foods you normally eat, particularly canned or dry foods, and put an extra supply away for a rainy day.  Also, keep on hand a way to prepare that food if your electric or gas stove suddenly stops working;  and have a way to dispose of garbage and human waste.  (Yes, that does mean a reserve supply of toilet paper and paper towels, plus a spade to bury everything critical, because it's unlikely regular garbage collection will happen.)  Think of all the little things we take for granted in our everyday lives, and ask yourself:  "What would I do if I could no longer get this?  What would I no longer be able to do?  Can I live with that?  What about alternatives or substitutes?"

I want to re-emphasize the importance of water supply.  We've just seen, in recent weeks, multiple attempted cyberattacks on water supply systems in several states.  I'm sure we'll see more.  Plan on needing at least two gallons per person per day for all purposes (double the "official" recommendation, which is a minimum to preserve life, and doesn't include luxuries such as washing yourself, laundry, etc.).  Unless using sealed containers, empty and refill your water supply every six months or so.  Water containers are freely available;  some (such as two-liter soda bottles) are free, once you've used up their original contents and cleaned them thoroughly.  A very economical solution is to buy 5-gallon buckets with lids (preferably made from food-grade plastic) and reserve them for water storage only.  They're not ideal, but they'll do the job.  (A full bucket of water weighs over 40 pounds, so if lifting heavy weights is a problem, buy 2-gallon or 3.5-gallon buckets instead.)  Finally (and particularly if you can't keep more than a few days' worth of water on hand), have a good-quality water filtration system in case purified water runs out.  They range from a few dollars to several hundred.  Buy the best your budget can afford, and then buy another one (or a less expensive backup system), because you simply cannot afford to be without drinking water.  For almost all of us, it's our single most critical emergency resource - and one of the most neglected.

It's not just natural disasters we have to worry about:  it's all the others that can catch us unawares.  The Netherlands is finding that out right now.

Peter

Drone technology is moving from tactical to strategic use

 

Most of those interested in military and aviation history know how bombing forces developed.  At first bombs (very small ones) were dropped on front lines and support positions behind those lines - because the aircraft of the day couldn't reach any further.  As aircraft grew bigger, faster and more powerful, strategic bombing - attacking the enemy's population centers, factories, ports, etc. - became the new paradigm.  It mattered not whether your bombs actually hit a military target, because every target was now considered to be supporting the enemy's war effort.  Destroy an orphanage because it was built right next door to an industrial estate?  No problem.  Those orphans became "collateral damage" - unintended victims of the war.  Those who killed them bore no moral responsibility for their deaths.  They were simply "taking the war to the enemy", and that was a justifiable action.

Nuclear weapons didn't alter that scenario, except for the fact that one bomb could now destroy an entire city.  Air forces didn't need to send hundreds of aircraft to drop thousands of bombs (and be attacked as they did so, losing many aircraft and their crews to enemy defenses).  Instead, aircraft need not be sent at all.  A missile could drop a warhead accurately enough to spare the bomber crews from the losses they would otherwise incur.

However, drone technology is evolving so fast that it's changing the nature of technology in war.  It's not so much new as evolved . . . but that evolution is happening so quickly that it seems nobody can keep up with it.  Take Ukraine, for example.  When Russia invaded, Ukraine had effectively no air superiority to speak of, and few modern, high-technology weapons.  In their absence, Ukrainians had to develop new technologies as quickly as they could - and they did so very effectively.  We all know how Ukrainian drones stalemated the Russian advance in the Donbas area, and have led to a World War I-style trench warfare where neither side dares to advance in strength, for fear of the massive drone counterattack that would ensue.

What's more, Ukraine has now developed much larger, long-range attack drones that have gone far beyond what anyone had expected.  Indeed, they've blurred the distinction between "drone" and "cruise missile" until the terms are almost interchangeable.  Consider that a few days ago, Ukraine attacked a Russian oil refinery in Saratov, more than 1,700 miles from the launch site of the FP-5 Flamingo drones.  The FP-5 is claimed to have a maximum range of some 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles).  Is it a drone, or a cruise missile, or both?

Smaller drones have so altered the shape of modern conflict that they may even render nuclear weapons superfluous (at least in terms of the destruction of a nation's ability to wage war).  HMS Defiant commented recently:

I see that some people who ought to know better are still nattering about the state of our munitions and our general unreadiness to wage war against China. Yes, yes, I know, dead horse, thoroughly beaten already but I did want to point out that the country that can turn out 80,000,000 iphones in a couple of months probably has no trouble turning out 40,000,000 high end killer drones with 300 mile ranges and 250 pound warheads.

The goal of the SIOP was to bathe in [nuclear] fire targets that needed to be destroyed affirmatively. If one could achieve the same effect by applying precise 250 pound bombs directly to the actual target and not just the neighborhood or city, then the same effect is achieved without all the excess radiation.

This poses a logical mans thinking problem for the evening. Every single HQ and logistics warehouse and fuel dump in Asia and the Western Pacific is in a precise, down to the inch known location on a target map. The putative bad guys have 40,000,000 drones. The other bad apples north of the 38th are known to be making lots of drones of their own and furnishing to their very good friends in Moscow.

. . .

You know another place where the heads lie uneasy at night? Yeah, Taiwan is in easy flight range of 40,000,000 expendable killer drones.

It does make me wonder though. Just what the hell is our answer to those 40,000,000 drones? ... We treat all weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, etc) as nuclear weapons and will retaliate if they are used against us. What possible form will retaliation take if drones alone are enough to execute a complete decapitation strike at just about every level of government overnight?

There's more at the link.  Go read it all.

He poses an excellent question, to which (I suspect) nobody in the US government has developed any concrete, practical response as yet.  Perhaps they should move faster on that . . .

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 328

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

Following my health update a few days ago, I could think of only one song that would be appropriate this Sunday.  Tongue firmly in cheek, of course!

That's been one of my favorite Jethro Tull tunes over the years.

Peter

I've seen this for myself. It's scary!

 

Courtesy of a link provided by Zendo Deb at 357 Magnum, we find this video report on the growing problem of e-bikes that are powerful enough to do highway speeds - but still require no license or training to operate them.  I've seen this for myself more than once.  These kids come hurtling down driveways or out of alleyways, going far too fast to brake or turn, and barrel right across one or even two lanes of traffic.  I don't know how I've missed a couple of them - it was that close.

The video is from StacheD Training.  The blurb reads:

Kids across the US are being seriously injured and killed while riding e-bikes — but in a lot of these cases, what they're actually riding isn't legally an e-bike at all. In this video, I break down a string of recent crashes in Metro Detroit, what the data says about who's actually at fault, and why some of these "e-bikes" are really unregistered electric motorcycles capable of highway speeds.

CPSC Report — E-Scooter and E-Bike Injuries Soar: 2022 Injuries Increased Nearly 21%

https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2024/E-Scooter-and-E-Bike-Injuries-Soar-2022-Injuries-Increased-Nearly-21

The comments below the video on YouTube are pretty sobering.  Clearly, this is a problem that's only going to get worse, unless and until someone cracks down on the unrestricted availability of these unregulated e-bikes.

Peter

Twenty-five years ago...

 

We do not forget.  Pray God we never do - as individuals, or as a nation.

May the souls of all the victims of September 11, 2001 rest in God's peace.

Peter

AI as Skynet - panic hype, or realistic warning?

 

Over the past couple of days several researchers and "experts" (?) have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) risks running out of control and threatening the very survival of humanity.  Rather than post individual links to all the articles, click over to Ted Gioia, who's summarized them all in a single Substack post.

I'm not convinced by all the hype suddenly being whipped up on this subject.  Eight warnings in 24 hours (or is it 48)?  Eight alleged experts all preaching AI doom, gloom and disaster?  The simultaneous onset of all these warnings makes me wonder about the timing.  Is someone trying to panic our politicians and/or business leaders into acting before they can figure out what might work?  "Don't just stand there, do something!" is a very time-worn statement . . . particularly when the "something" isn't clearly outlined or understood.  I'm suspicious.

On the other hand, consider all the hacking exploits, data penetrations and other cybercrimes that have been increasing in frequency for a few years now.  There's no doubt that even without AI, they're a threat to many aspects of our modern society.  Indeed, just a few weeks ago we saw that many water utilities were recently hacked, in some cases severely enough to interrupt the flow of that commodity to customers.  It's gotten bad enough that the FBI has issued a formal warning about "cyber actors" causing "operational disruptions".  In the event of a major international conflict, up to and perhaps including war, it's not hard to imagine enemy nations actively trying to attack all our utility infrastructure in the same fashion, disrupting our entire economy (not to mention our armed forces).  The more AI is used to run our economy, the more risk that "rogue AI" instructions might be fed into their systems to corrupt and disrupt their operations.

So, I think we can agree that there's a genuine risk to our automated systems . . . but is AI itself that risk, or is it merely an added element to risks of which we're already aware?

Some "AI prophets" seem to think that AI will ensure a better future for the whole world.  Elon Musk is a prime example, seeing AI as one vital future component along with space travel and other engineering challenges.  In that sense, his views are a counterweight to "AI-doom-and-gloom" predictions.

So . . . AI as threat or promise?  I don't know enough to comment, but experts seem more than willing to tell the rest of us what to believe.  What do you think, readers?  Please discuss in Comments.

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  Zero Hedge reported at noon today:  "Perfectly Timed AI Panic Resurrects 'Bipartisan AI Safety Bill'."  Click over there to read the report.  Briefly, it appears that the rush of alarmist AI reports may be a deliberately planned political pressure tactic designed to rush controversial AI legislation through Congress.  Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me.

Health update

 

The good news first:  thanks to a very competent and experienced pain management specialist, it looks as if the specific problem(s) with (or, rather, near) my lower spine have been nailed down at last, and a treatment path is opening up.

The bad news:  it's taken three years of visits to successive specialists such as neurosurgeons, neurologists, etc. to get here - and not one of those specialists identified, or even hinted at, the actual problem!

(Pause here while I spit in disgust, rinse my mouth out to get rid of the bitter taste, and catch my breath.)

OK.  As most readers will know, three years ago I began experiencing much worse pain than usual in my lower spine.  It had been painful since a severe injury back in 2004, followed by spinal fusion surgery, but it had settled down into a dull roar, with periodic episodes of greater pain.  The increased pain led me to ask for a referral to a neurosurgeon to figure out what was going on.  Over the next couple of years I saw two neurosurgical practices, one neurosurgeon, several radiologists, and some physical terrorists therapists.  They would all mutter about spinal deterioration above the site of the original fusion, but none would commit to what, precisely, needed to be done.  Instead, they kept referring me for additional CT scans and other investigations.  I came to the conclusion that they were reluctant to commit to surgical intervention because they couldn't precisely identify which vertebrae needed work.  If they operated, and I had to pay a great deal of money, but no improvement resulted, this would be problematic for them.

Earlier this year I asked my local physician to refer me to a pain management specialist.  I was popping Tramadol in multiples every day, and that's not sustainable in the long term.  She put me in touch with a fellow former South African, Dr. Theodoor Hancke, at Genesis Wellness and Pain in Wichita Falls.  I'm providing his name because he's a darned good doctor, and if you have severe pain problems and live within travel distance of Wichita Falls, I hope you'll contact him.  Tell him I said to call.

Dr. Hancke referred my CT scans to a top neurosurgeon in Dallas, who responded that in the absence of any certainty as to the precise location of the problem, he could not recommend spinal surgery at present.  Fair enough, I guess.  In the meanwhile, Dr. Hancke administered a Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection to try to reduce pain.  That worked for several weeks until the pain came back, so he repeated the process a second time, with similar results.

It was at this point that we heard from the neurosurgeon in Dallas.  Both Dr. Hancke and I were getting very frustrated at being unable to reduce the level of pain on a longer-term basis.  He suddenly asked me, "What about your sacroiliac?  Any problems there?"  I said that yes, I'd had a few, but...  Before I could go on, he made me take off my back support brace, turned me around, and stuck his fingers into the sacroiliac joints on both sides of my pelvis.  It hurt like hell, and I said so!  He grinned, and said that this opened up a whole new perspective on my problem.

I'm not a doctor, so I'll let Wikipedia summarize the problem:

• Sacroiliac joint
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
• Sacroiliitis
• Surgery for the dysfunctional sacroiliac joint

For a more authoritative (but still easy-to-understand) medical perspective, see "What to Know About Sacroiliac Joint Fusion".  It has a useful, informative video as well.

The infuriating thing is that my symptoms are an absolutely 100% fit with those described in the medical literature.  Why the heck couldn't all the so-called "medical professionals" who'd examined me and my CT scans have picked up on that?  I think it must be that they "locked in" on the fact that I'd had a previous fusion, and my current problems were in the same area as that previous site.  They couldn't look beyond the spine to consider other related issues - which makes me even more angry, because the medical literature indicates that well over 30% of those who undergo lumbar spinal fusion (as I did) subsequently experience sacroiliac problems.

Dr. Hancke, being a pain management specialist rather than a neurosurgeon, was able to "think outside the spine" (you should pardon the expression) and find a way forward.  I'm just sorry for three wasted years until I met up with him...  At any rate, last week he administered the first of what should be two, or at most three, steroid injections into both sacroiliac joints.  It's already had a dramatic effect on my pain levels, cutting them in half.  If, after it wears off, another injection has the same effect, that will probably be sufficient evidence to move forward with fusing both sacroiliac joints to provide long-term relief.  Not only will that be a less painful surgery than spinal fusion, but recovery time should be much shorter - and costs will be lower, too, which is a great help!

Anyway, that's how things stand at present.  I'm very pleased to be able to report what I think is significant progress.  God willing, and all other things being equal, by the middle of next year I might be in a much better position as far as my overall health and levels of pain are concerned.  There are, indeed, additional back problems that will probably require surgical attention in a few years, but that can be postponed until it's absolutely necessary.

Thanks again to all of you who've kept me in your prayers over this, and contributed to my fundraiser for related expenses.  I'm deeply grateful to you all.

Peter

A grim warning from Europe about financial security - and what it might mean for the USA

 

In my first post this morning, I mentioned the possibility that Europe might take action against private bank accounts to fund its ever-increasing deficit and ever-growing social programs.  As if to echo that warning, here's what Zero Hedge had to say a few hours ago.

In the view of the EU’s chief Eurocrat, private property as a protective wall shielding citizens from an overreaching state has served its purpose as a pillar of civilization.

Central planning, subsidy madness – this is Brussels under the magnifying glass.

. . .

A ruthless expropriation or the decreed redirection of cash, as the finest bureaucratic German puts it, is supposed to solve the problems Brussels itself has caused through its stubborn climate policy, its overregulation and its continuing insanity of interventionism.

Von der Leyen was explicit before the business leaders: Europe has savings, she said, but unfortunately those savings are sitting on the sidelines. Ten trillion euros are sitting as cash savings in the hands of private households in bank accounts, lectures von der Leyen in the manner of a classic central planner who can no longer take her eyes off citizens’ wealth. The European economy must now put this capital to work for its companies, the chief bureaucrat decreed.

. . .

Von der Leyen is following the path of the German chancellor. Friedrich Merz, too, discovered the cash holdings of Germans as political capital for himself more than a year ago – thoroughly socialist, indeed almost dictatorial, the chancellor also pointed to the possibilities opened up by what he called an activation of this money.

Ursula von der Leyen and Friedrich Merz reveal not merely an ethical and ideological abyss; they are contemplating dictatorial control over the private wealth of citizens who are still sovereign.

There's more at the link, including a video recording of Ursula von der Leyen's address.

Don't think that this is only a European problem.  Look at the size of America's deficit, and then consider that we could wipe out two-thirds to three-quarters of it simply by "nationalizing" the retirement savings of Americans, by confiscating the shares and bonds in which they invest.  That's precisely what some US politicians have been saying for years, and are still saying today.  If they get into power, our private savings and investments are under grave threat.

Peter

Points to ponder

 

Several points of interest today (and all are well worth your time).

1.  DiveMedic discusses the Lindsey Clancy (mis)trial, including the evidence of psychiatric medications and other factors.  I agree entirely with his conclusion.

2.  Remember the Ig Nobel awards?  This year's winners have just been announced.  My favorite category:  Biomechanics.

Citation: Matilda Brindle, Catherine Talbot, and Stuart West for devising a more precise definition of kissing—“non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer”—in ants, birds, polar bears, and humans.

"Darling, come here.  I want to practice biomechanics with you!"  

3.  Chiefio warns:  "IF you have Money in the EU – Take It Out Now."

The simple fact is that the EU is flat broke, having squandered €Billions on the Ukraine Folly. They have tried regularly to steal the Russian money entrusted to Euroclear, but that mostly failed. They handed a “loan” to Ukraine that doesn’t need to be repaid until Russia pays “reparations”, that will never happen, so kiss that off ... So [Ursula von der Leyen] has stated that people’s savings accounts are a problem (ignoring that savings accounts are what allow banks to make loans for things like cars and mortgages and business working capital). She has stated that this money must be put “to the service of European Companies” (not realizing it already is as prudent business loans IF appropriately vetted). That she wants to “securitize them” and “supervise them” – which means steal your money for her desired expenses.

Remember what happened during the Cyprus banking crisis of 2012-13?  The EU forced the Cypriot government to close that country's second-largest bank, imposing a one-off levy on all uninsured deposits there, and seize many uninsured deposits in the Bank of Cyprus.  Almost 48% of all bank deposits above €100,000 were seized, without compensation.  If the EU could do it once, during a much smaller financial crisis, I wouldn't bet they won't do it again, and more, in the present circumstances.

4.  If you, like me, are wondering about the vast numbers of data centers under construction, it's worth examining the phenomenon on a worldwide basis.  Statista has compiled the figures for Number of data centers worldwide as of June 2026.  Here are the top ten nations:

For more information, see the Statista link above.  My question:  if the rest of the world isn't frantically building these things by the hundreds, why are we doing so in the United States?  Follow the money, and see who profits... and who pays.

Let us know your reaction(s) in Comments.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 327

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

Here's a treat for lovers of baroque music:  the complete harpsichord concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach, played on antique instruments.  It's a three-CD set from Plectra Music.  Keyboardists are David Moroney, Karen Flint, Arthur Hass, JungHae Kim and Adam Pearl.  Tracklist is as follows:

00:00:00  Disc: 1

 1 - Concerto in a Minor for Four Unaccompanied Harpsichords, BWV 1065: [Allegro] - Karen Flint, Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney,& Junghae Kim
2 - Concerto in a Minor for Four Unaccompanied Harpsichords, BWV 1065: Largo - Karen Flint, Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney & Junghae Kim
3 - Concerto in a Minor for Four Unaccompanied Harpsichords, BWV 1065: Allegro - Karen Flint, Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney & Junghae Kim
4 - Concerto in a Major, BWV 1055: Allegro - Davitt Moroney
5 - Concerto in a Major, BWV 1055: Larghetto - Davitt Moroney
6 - Concerto in a Major, BWV 1055: Allegro Ma Non Tanto - Davitt Moroney
7 - Concerto in C Major for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1061: [Allegro] - Karen Flint & Davitt Moroney
8 - Concerto in C Major for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1061: Adagio Ovvero Largo - Karen Flint & Davitt Moroney
9 - Concerto in C Major for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1061: Fuga - Karen Flint & Davitt Moroney
10 - Concerto in D minor for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1063: [Allegro] - Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney & Adam Pearl
11 - Concerto in D minor for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1063: Alla Siciliana - Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney & Adam Pearl
12 - Concerto in D minor for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1063: Allegro - Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney & Adam Pearl
13 - Concerto in a Minor for Four Harpsichords with Strings, BWV 1065: [Allegro] - Karen Flint, Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney, Junghae Kim & Adam Pearl
14 - Concerto in a Minor for Four Harpsichords with Strings, BWV 1065: Largo - Karen Flint, Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney, Junghae Kim & Adam Pearl
15 - Concerto in a Minor for Four Harpsichords with Strings, BWV 1065: Allegro - Karen Flint, Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney, Junghae Kim & Adam Pearl

01:07:20  Disc: 2 

1 - Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052:Allegro
2 - Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052: Adagio
3 - Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052: Allegro
4 - Concerto in D Major, BWV 1054: [Allegro]
5 - Concerto in D Major, BWV 1054: Adagio E Piano Sempre
6 - Concerto in D Major, BWV 1054: Allegro
7 - Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058: [Allegro]
8 - Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058: Andante
9 - Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058: Allegro Assai
10 - Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053: [Allegro]
11 - Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053: Siciliano
12 - Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053: Allegro

02:21:10 Disc: 3 

 1 - Concerto in C minor for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1060: Allegro
2 - Concerto in C minor for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1060: Largo Ovvero Adagio
3 - Concerto in C minor for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1060: Allegro
4 - Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056: Allegro
5 - Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056: Adagio
6 - Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056: Presto
7 - Concerto in F Major for Harpsichord and Two Recorders, BWV 1057: [Allegro]
8 - Concerto in F Major for Harpsichord and Two Recorders, BWV 1057:Andante
9 - Concerto in F Major for Harpsichord and Two Recorders, BWV 1057: Allegro Assai
10 - Concerto in C minor for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1062: [Allegro]
11 - Concerto in C minor for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1062: Andante E Piano
12 - Concerto in C minor for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1062: Allegro Assai
13 Concerto in C Major for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1064: [Allegro]
14 Concerto in C Major for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1064: Adagio
15 Concerto in C Major for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1064: Allegro

Either hit "Play" and let it run in the background, or navigate to your favorite among Bach's many harpsichord concertos and enjoy it.

Peter

No blog today

 

I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row, and the little buggers are busting out all over.  I'll be back as soon as I've wrangled them.

Peter

Does the Devil beat Johnny after all?

 

In one of his most recent articles on Substack, Glenn Reynolds linked to an article by Andy Weir on Facebook a few years ago, commenting on the Charlie Daniels song "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" (which I'm sure almost all my readers know - if you don't, it's on YouTube).  I thought you might enjoy Mr. Weir's thoughts too.

You know what always bothered me?

The song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band features the Devil and a Georgia boy named Johnny having a fiddlin' contest. If Johnny wins he gets a fiddle made of gold but if the Devil wins he gets Johnny's soul.

In the song, we hear both the Devil and Johnny play. The Devil concedes that Johnny's fiddlin' was superior. 

Am I the only one who thought the Devil's solo was WAY better than Johnny's? I mean, it's not even close. 

So, as a big supporter of fanfiction, I decided to write some fan lyrics. Consider these to be appended to the end of the song:

Well the Devil headed back to Hell and grinned an evil grin
Cause he knew right from the outset that the fiddle boy would win
The Devil’s song was better, it was clear as night and day
But he gave that golden fiddle to ol’ Johnny anyway

Cause he didn’t just give that Georgia boy a fiddle made of gold
He fed young Jonny’s sin of pride, which he’ll carry ‘till he’s old
And one fine day, when Johnny dies, he’ll pay for all his sins
And only then will Johnny see that the Devil always wins

See, the Devil plays the long game, and he plays the long game well
He knows just what to do to make a fella land in hell
He’ll make you think you beat him, then he’ll watch you fall to sin
But he had to admit: that little shit was the best that’s ever been.

If you're on Facebook, click over there and read the comments following Mr. Weir's article.  They're fun, too.

Peter

One of the last Special Forces veterans of World War II has left us

 

Jack Mann was probably the last surviving member of the Long Range Desert Group in World War II.  If you haven't heard of the LRDG, they were one of the first so-called "Special Forces" units in any Allied nation during that war, and helped to establish successor units such as the Special Air Service and numerous others.

The LRDG never numbered more than 350 men, all of whom were volunteers.

The LRDG was formed specifically to carry out deep penetration, covert reconnaissance patrols and intelligence missions from behind Italian lines, although they sometimes engaged in combat operations. Because the LRDG were experts in desert navigation, they were sometimes assigned to guide other units, including the Special Air Service and secret agents across the desert. During the Desert Campaign between December 1940 and April 1943, the vehicles of the LRDG operated constantly behind the Axis lines, missing a total of only 15 days during the entire period. Possibly their most notable offensive action was during Operation Caravan, an attack on the town of Barce and its associated airfield, on the night of 13 September 1942. However, their most vital role was the 'Road Watch', during which they clandestinely monitored traffic on the main road from Tripoli to Benghazi, transmitting the intelligence to British Army Headquarters.

With the surrender of the Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943, the LRDG changed roles and moved operations to the eastern Mediterranean, carrying out missions in the Greek islands, Italy and the Balkans. After the end of the war in Europe, the leaders of the LRDG made a request to the War Office for the unit to be transferred to the Far East to conduct operations against the Japanese Empire. The request was declined and the LRDG was disbanded in August 1945.

There's more at the link.

Jack Mann had a fascinating and varied career.  Here are some excerpts from his obituary.

Jack Mann, who has died aged 100, served with the SAS and the Special Boat Service (SBS) and was believed to be the last surviving member of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG).

Mann volunteered to join the LRDG as a radio operator in January 1943 ... Mann was responsible for receiving and deciphering the double-coded messages that directed operations over great distances.

Using modified No 11 sets, housed in cabinets on Chevrolet and Ford trucks, he had to contend with high desert temperatures and sandstorms which degraded equipment and disrupted incoming signals. As the enemy's range-finding equipment became more sophisticated, transmissions became increasingly hazardous.

The LRDG made the desert their accomplice. Their patrols believed that they could always outwit the Axis forces on the ground. Mann, however, hated the desert. "Don't talk to me about sand," he used to say. "I've had it in my eyes, my mouth, up my nose, in my food, everywhere."

. . .

Mann subsequently moved to Nahariya, the base camp of the Special Raiding Forces, and transferred to the newly formed Special Boat Service as a radio operator – one of its original members ... Mann was seconded to the Greek Sacred Squadron, which had trained with the SAS and seen action in North Africa. The Squadron used small boats and took part in hit-and-run amphibious operations against German garrisons in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea and the Dodecanese islands ... Mann was involved in reconnaissance missions using kayaks and a camouflaged hide-out near Bodrum on the Turkish coast. On other raids, Royal Navy motor torpedo boats and launches took members of the squadron to Turkey, where they were transferred to fishing caiques. Their rations were sometimes supplemented by wild boar, and fish dynamited in the sea.

. . .

One night, Mann was asleep in his hide-out on the island of Chios when he and a comrade were awakened by a German "E" Boat, a fast motor torpedo boat, approaching the shore. The two men, armed with rifles but in their underwear, greeted the German crew in Greek. The crew surrendered but they tried to be friendly, claiming that they were all Anglo-Saxons. Mann retorted that he was a Jew, ordered them to cut off their swastika badges and had them placed in the local prison. There they were made to clean a local building of faeces left by the occupying German forces.

. . .

As a Jew, he had been determined to fight the Nazis, and then to help the Jewish diaspora and displaced Jews of Europe when the war ended. In November 1947, the UN passed a resolution to divide British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

Israel declared independence in May 1948. Arab armies invaded in what became known as the Arab-Israeli War and Mann joined the conflict to help establish a state of Israel. He was given the rank of major and put in charge of the Southern Front.

During a crisis in which he had to get to HQ urgently, he commandeered Moshe Dayan's jeep. Ignoring the fact that the commander of the important Jerusalem Front was sitting in it, he ordered the driver to take him straight to HQ.

. . .

He remained closely involved with the veteran associations of the Special Forces in which he had served, and at his funeral his coffin was escorted by standard-bearers from the SAS Regimental Association, the SBS Association and the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women.

Again, more at the link.

I heard many stories of the LRDG, the original SAS in the Western Desert, and the SBS in the Dodecanese campaign and subsequent events, from my father, who served with the Royal Air Force during those same campaigns.  He met several members of all those groups on various occasions while arranging support missions, both resupply and attack operations.  He said that they almost all smelled vile (due to lack of water in the desert for personal hygiene), were extremely rude about official bureaucratic requirements, and "fought like the Devil himself at the drop of a hat, and would drop it themselves if nobody else would"!  Their consumption of beer was likewise legendary, because they could seldom get any in the field, so made up for it when in a town or city by drinking more than one bar dry every night.

Such men were the "Founding Fathers", as it were, of almost all US and European Special Forces units during and after World War II.  I daresay our own members of the SEALs, Delta Force, the Ranger units, the Green Berets, and other related outfits would be happy to raise a glass to the memory of Jack Mann and his comrades in arms.  One hopes they were reunited on the other side of the river - preferably near a well-supplied pub!

Peter

Surviving the active shooter: a situation more and more urban dwellers are facing

 

Just following news headlines will make it clear that more and more people living in cities are confronted by so-called "active shooters":  criminals and/or lunatics who start shooting for whatever reason, and often don't stop until they are neutralized.  Consider these few headlines (out of many more I could have used) from the weekend just past:

• Mass shootings rock 2 US cities, leave 3 dead, 18 injured
• Judge signs murder arrest warrant for suspect in Forest Hill homicide
• Armed man captured after shootout with Oakland police
• Tulsa Teen, 19, Shot Outside Event Center as Suspect Remains at Large

If we find ourselves in the middle of such a situation, what can we do about it?  What should we do?

Ed Monk has many years of experience in planning for such situations, and has trained not just individuals, but also police departments and major institutions, in how to handle them.  He's written a short but very informative book titled "First 30 Seconds: The Active Shooter Problem".

Part of the blurb reads:

The author served as an active-duty US Army officer for over 20 years. Throughout this career, planning to give and receive deadly violence was a common, required task. Ten days after his Army retirement, he began teaching public high school, where violence was never allowed, discussed, or planned for. He was STUNNED when school leaders told him the school’s planned response during an Active Shooter attack was to gather in groups and wait to see if the killer or cops got to you first.

This experience started his study of the Active Shooter problem. This book is about what he found.

Massad Ayoob, well-known to readers of this blog, is one of the most authoritative and experienced firearms, self-defense and law enforcement instructors in the United States.  He's released this nine-minute assessment of Ed Monk's book, and recommends it highly.

I've already bought my copy of Ed Monk's book.  I recommend that any reader living in a major urban area should do likewise, and if you live in a more peaceful area, buy one anyway - because you never know who may end up in your area.  It might be a very useful tool to initiate discussions with law enforcement, schools, libraries, etc in your part of the world.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 326

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

More next week.

Peter