Giant SPIDERS in the Congo, Africa?

1. Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) in the Congo

The Ducktators (Looney Toons), Lst Wk Tnght

• Looney Tunes, The Ducktators, 1942; Last Week Tonight w/John Oliver; Wisdom Quarterly

I spent 48 hours on the Dark Web

(Aevy TV)

Leftist forums oppose Zionist-Israel's IDF kill squads (Aevy TV)

Mushroom Motherboard: fungus computing

Simon Whistler, Megaprojects, 3/4/24; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How ancient and important are mushrooms to this world? Ask Paul Stamets (fungi.com)

(TED Talk by Paul Stamets) Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World [they built in the first place]

The Mushroom Motherboard: The crazy fungal computers that might change everything

Mycorrhizal relationship of mushrooms

(Megaprojects) March 4th, 2024: Let's unlock the secrets of fungal computing to discover the mind-boggling potential of fungi as living computers. From the Wood Wide Web to the Unconventional Computing Lab, witness the evolution of mushroom technology. A "mushroom" is the fruiting body of a much larger network called the mycelia [the world's first Internet], the matted undergrowth of connections in forest and field. It was the earth's first communication network of hyphae, the mycorrhiza (CMN) or symbiotic relationship between fungi and green plants. That mushrooms would serve as entheogens (substances capable of manifesting the divine within) for humans and animals is an amazing coincidence. Or is it a correspondence to something, as one of our earliest human ancestors?

• Denver introduces psychedelic crisis training program

Got a beard? Good: beardblaze.com. Simon Whistler's social media: Twitter: simonwhistler

Vegetarian spider discovered (video)

Bizarre Beasts, 2/5/21; Ananda (Dharma B Meditation), CC Liu, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly

How one spider became (mostly) vegetarian

I want it plant-based or else!

(Bizarre Beasts) Bagheera kiplingi, a type of Mexican jumping spider from a world of 45,000 known species of spiders, has a most un-spider like adaptation: a vegetarian taste for plants.

Huge thanks goes out to the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium for allowing the filming of their fantastic spiders. Find out all about them (missoulabutterflyhouse.org). Sources...

Host: Sarah Suta (she/her). Follow Bizarre Beasts: twitter.com/bizarrebeasts, instagram.com/bizarrebeasts, facebook.com/BizarreBeasts #BizarreBeasts #spiders #ants. Subscribe to the pin club (store.dftba.com) This month's pin is designed by Maggie Chiang. Find out more about her and her work here: hellomaggiec.com. Cancel any time by emailing hello@dftba.com.

Universe twice as old as thought? (video)

British astrophysicist Dr. Becky Smethurst, University of Oxford, Christ Church (Dr. Becky on YouTube, July 27, 2023; Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Has JWST shown that the universe is TWICE as old as we thought?!

With all the CGI, color enhancements, photographic manipulations, projections, and theoretical mathematical calculations, this slice of heaven/space could be any age (James Webb Telescope)

It's really big: JWST prepped on earth

(Dr. Becky) The great Dr. B. has attitude, doubting that new evidence and explanations for the current data suggest the universe is older than we thought.

• JWST: James Webb Space Telescope

A new research study has come out claiming that to explain the massive galaxies found at huge distances in James Webb Space Telescope images, the universe is older than we think, at 26.7 billion years (rather than 13.8 billion years old).

• 

  JWST: Note two tiny white ants in foreground.

  00:00 - Introduction: #JWST's massive galaxy problem
• 01:48 - Our current best model of the Universe: λ-CDM
• 03:16 - The problems with λ-CDM and the "Crisis in Cosmology"
• 04:28 - Getting distance from redshift
• 05:13 - A new model of the Universe: a HYBRID of "tired light" and expansion of the Universe
• 06:25 - The history of "tired light" and why it was eventually dismissed (Tolman Surface Brightness Test)
• 08:18 - What Gupta (2023) have found
• 09:30 - The change to the calibration of redshift and distance (and the new age of the Universe)
• 10:02 - What other problems does this new model help solve?
• 11:07 - The observational evidence that this new model ignores...
• 12:39 - How else do we explain JWST's massive galaxy problem? Universal IMF issues
• 14:35 - Outro: the legacy of JWST
• 15:23 - Brilliant
• 16:46 - Bloopers Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV

This video dives into that study, looking at what model they used to get at that claim (a combination of the expansion of the universe and "tired light" ideas of redshift), how this impacts our best model of the universe and the so-called "Crisis is Cosmology," and why Dr. B. is not yet convinced.

📚 My new book, A Brief History of Black Holes, out NOW in hardback, e-book, and audio (narrated by myself): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky

📚 The Year In Space celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: https://geni.us/jNcrw

👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping): https://dr-becky.teemill.com/

🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive

🔔 Forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified or don't...

#astronomy #cosmology My previous YouTube video on how JWST’s massive galaxies are no longer “impossible” • JWST's "too massive" galaxy problem s... Gupta et al. (2023; is the universe 26.7 billion years old?) academic.oup.com/mnras/advance... Labbé et al. (2023; over-massive galaxies spotted in JWST data) arxiv.org/pdf/2207.12446.pdf Arrabal Haro et al. (2023; z~16 candidate galaxy turns out to be z=4.9) arxiv.org/pdf/2303.15431.pdf Zwicky (1929; "tired light" hypothesis raised for first time) pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073...

JWST observing schedules (with public access): stsci.edu/jwst/science-ex... JWST data archive: mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup... Twitter bot for JWST current observations: twitter.com/JWSTObservation. The successful proposals in Cycle 2 (click on the proposal number and then "public PDF" to see details): stsci.edu/jwst/science-ex...

👩🏽‍💻 ABOUT: I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know [epistemology], especially the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online, ask me. My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars. http://drbecky.uk.com https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk

How Sex Changed the Internet (video)

Jen Bradford (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Bradford Theatres, March 15, 2011; Larry Mantle, AirTalk (scpr.org, 11/17/22)

Avenue Q: "The Internet is for Porn"

(Bradford Theatres) After nearly five years of mischief, bad behavior, and political incorrectness, London's funniest show by far hit the road and came to The Alhambra for one week only. "THE BEST MUSICAL OF THE DECADE" screams the Sunday Times. See bradford-theatres.co.uk for details and age suitability. See also Amanda Rodriguez.

• AUDIO: Karen Bass becomes first female LA mayor; FDA approves LAB grown flesh; How the Internet Changed Sex

How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex: An Unexpected History

Author Samantha Cole, Host Larry Mantle, AirTalk (KPCC.org/SCPR.org, 11/17/22)

Now Naga monsters are perverting earthlings

From the moment there was an “online,” there was sex online. The famous test image used by software engineers to develop formats like the jpeg was “Lena,” taken from Playboy’s November 1972 centerfold.

Early bulletin boards and multi-user domains quickly came to serve their members' sexual musings. Facebook started as a way to rate “hot or not” Harvard co-eds.

In fact, virtually every significant development that defines the Internet we know and love (and hate) today — privacy issues, government surveillance, corporate individual spying and mass data collection (to then hand that data over to government agencies for the asking), online payments and online banking, dating, social media, streaming technology, mass data collection — came out of the meeting of sexuality and technology.

The kicker is, not only did sexuality vastly influence the Internet, but the Internet arguably changed modern human sexuality by giving every imaginable non-heteronormative community a place to explore, fantasize, thrive, and be accepted and out.

Maria Louise Ciccone aka the future "Madonna"

A lively history, filled with broad themes and backstories, pioneering personalities and eureka-moments, How the Internet Changed Sex... is a short, serious, and highly entertaining look at the intertwining convergence of sex and the Internet.

Written by Samantha Cole, who’s been on this beat as a senior writer for Vice, How the Internet Changed Sex... covers everything from:

• Jennicam (remember her?) to the problem of “deep fakes”;
• “A Brief History of Online Dating” to how the government has been trying to reckon with NSFW content;
• cybersex to what VR (virtual reality) spaces like the Metaverse holds for future of human sexual interactions.

Porn is just one part of the story. Rather, this is a story about human nature during the digital gold rush of the last fifty years. More

How to buy a female sex slave (photos)

Lauren Fruen (Sun, 8/8/17); Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

[Wow, I never realized living in the West was the same as living in a secretive rape culture!]

How to buy a FEMALE SEX SLAVE: Shocking list of "sex slave client services" offered to buyers of British model "kidnapped in Italy" revealed in emails.

"DELIVERY IS FREE, DOCTORS ENSURE PURITY"

Sex slave abductee Chloe Ayling shown taking a selfie of her buxom figure (The Sun)

.

Alleged sex slave driver, Lukasz Pawel Herba

Chloe Ayling was abducted and held hostage for six days after being lured to Milan for a bogus photo shoot [by Lukasz P. Herba].

 

Shocking list of “sex slave client services” offered to buyers of British model Chloe Ayling “kidnapped in Italy” revealed in emails. The disturbing dark web advert includes details of Chloe Ayling’s measurements and where she was being held.
 

THIS is the chilling dark web advert used by Brit model Chloe Ayling’s abductors to try and sell her as a sex slave for a “starting bid” of $300,000, according to an email sent following her kidnapping.

 

The disturbing flier includes details of the 20-year-old mom’s age, measurements, where she was being held and even the date the “auction” will take place.

Chilling images from the ‘dark web advert used by Brit model Chloe Ayling’s abductors to try and sell her as a sex slave’ were released for the investigation.

Chilling images: dark web ad for sex slave

Shocking list of ‘sex slave client services’

Disturbing flier includes details of the slave’s age, measurements, location (The Sun)

What exactly does the shocking ad reveal about the auctions held by the sex traffickers?

• The gang “do[es] not sell girls that are terminally ill, pregnant, have STDs or are young mothers.”
• The women abducted can be “transported globally” with “collection” also available.
• Auctions normally take place on Sundays and a “normally within a week of capture.”
• Doctors test the girls for STDs and “whether they are pure.”
• Auctions are “strictly for recommended people only.”
• Details of where each woman is taken from, born, and held

Chloe (Dan Charity/The Sun)

Cops say the shadowy Black Death group gave the young mom a specific list of things to say in media interviews.
 

Abducted British model Chloe Ayling reveals terrifying ordeal at hands of Black Death kidnappers in Italy.
 

The advert was included in a rambling email sent to this newspaper and other publishers several weeks ago, two days after her abduction.

 

Alleged kidnapper Luke Herb

Lukasz P. Herba [shown at right in striped suit and cowboy hat] abducted Chloe Ayling, allegedly, when she was lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan, Italy.

 

He is said to have held her captive in an Italian farmhouse while she was auctioned on the Dark Web by the Black Death cult.

The email, which was written in broken English and included bizarre slang, was not acted upon because it appeared alongside hundreds of other emails received every day.

The Sun has informed the National Crime Agency, who are leading the investigation, of the email who say they were already aware of it.

 

Black Death leaflet (Splash)

Alongside the garbled statement, the email included a picture purporting to be the "dark web" advert [advertisement] but did not make any request for money.

 

It also included sickening images of a woman [shown above].

It appears to be Chloe Ayling  in the images -- looking dazed laying on the floor with the Black Death cult leaflet laying on her stomach. More

• State Dept. made me a monster! Hilariously bad passport photo
• Los Angeles Radio in review (LAradio.com)
• Remembering the Water Protectors (Stage West) 
• Woman’s post about being "manterrupted" while reading Men Explain Things to Me goes viral

Crazy childhood trauma survivor: Sinead's cry for help

Troubled singer Sinead O'Connor posts 12-minute video admitting she is suicidal and living in a Travelodge in the "arse end of New Jersey"

Porn in an Age of slow Internet speeds

Pat Macpherson, Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Matt Groening ("Life in Hell"); Acharya Buddharakkhita (trans.) Nirayavagga "Hell" (Dhammapada XXII/ATI)

Porn? I think Eve's QUEST was for knowledge. Are you there, God? It's me, Rebecca (Bex Finch/flickr.com). Who is everyone? Secret: I have tried every religion/spirituality/philosophy/movement in this picture. My faith is, er, interesting. Mother's a Jew, father's an atheist (formerly Episcopalian). I'm Jewish by blood/culture, had a Bat Mitzvah, but once I got to college...well, you know how it is. One existential crisis after another left me an atheist. Then an agnostic -- a very humble position (which is why I love David Hume). Then I "found" God when I ate mushrooms -- not shitake -- and I've been a deist ever since. But by "God," I just mean a "higher power," no identity (no way for us to identify), unable to comprehend, the [Causeless] First Cause, you know? Religion scares me. That's my secret. I remembered Buddhist spirituality! But I'm pissed I forgot to add Kierkegaard philosophy here. Despair, angst, leap of faith...brilliant.

It's always the pool or pizza boy in sordid sunny North Hollywood, U.S. porn capital

 

Failed actress/model Sasha Grey

What is "porn" but torment to the eyes that tears away at the psyche with unrealistic expectations and a figurative hunger for sensual experiences? What is to come of it? What harm (unskillful karma, unwholesome intention and conduct) is to be done to attempt to slake the craving stirred up in the mind/heart?

Some say it would be better to "pluck out one's eye" (Catholic/Christian/Jewish), to "cut off one's hand" (Muslim), to develop insight and root out harmful/painful karma at its root (the Buddhist approach).

Mind is the forerunner. Guard it. (Dhammapada)

And the Buddha even went so far as to say that for a monastic -- one who has renounced worldly pursuits and become dependent on the generosity of donors wishing to help one on one's quest for enlightenment in this very life -- it is positively dreadful to take that help and abuse it. It would be better to eat red hot iron balls than to consume the food offerings of those with confidence in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha wishing to preserve the path to freedom (enlightenment) and the end of all suffering (nirvana) in this world. 

Dhammapada verses
The Dhammapada, Acharya Buddharakkhita (trans.) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

306. The perjurer [the utterer of "false speech," which the Buddha defines in detail elsewhere] goes to a state of woe, as does one who, having done (wrong), says, "I did not do it." Persons of base actions both, on departing they share the same destiny in the other world [the world to come, i.e., some future existence, not necessarily the immediately following rebirth destination].

307. There are many unwholesome characters and uncontrolled people wearing the saffron [Buddhist monastic] robes. These unskillful person will be reborn in states of woe because of their unskillful deeds.

308. It would be better to swallow a red-hot iron ball, blazing like glowing fire, than as an immoral and uncontrolled Buddhist monastic to eat the alms offered by people [with faith in the Sangha, the Monastic Order].

Where porn begins: freely viewed billboards and ads from American Apparel

Binky: Porn and the Age of Slow Internet Speeds (Matt Groening/"Life in Hell")

 

309. Four misfortunes befall the reckless person who consorts with another's spouse: acquisition of demerit, disturbed sleep, ill-repute, and (rebirth in) states of woe.

310. Such a person acquires demerit and an unhappy rebirth in the future. Brief is the pleasure of the frightened couple (those engaged in cheating), and the ruler (or judge, civil court) imposes heavy punishment (for adulterous acts). Hence, let no person consort with another's spouse.

311. Just as (double-edged) kusa grass mishandled (or wrongly grasped) cuts the hand, even so, a recluse's life wrongly lived drags one to states of woe. [The best use of life striving for enlightenment most directly, if lived incorrectly, can severely drag one down because of all its powerful karmic potential.]

312. Any loose act, any corrupt observance, any life of questionable celibacy [within the Sangha] -- none of these bear much fruit.

313. If anything is to be done, let one do it with sustained vigor [persistence]. A lax monastic life stirs up the dust of the passions all the more.

Romney Obama Care under attack by partisan Republicans (Tom Tomorrow/TMW)

.

White privilege or racism? (JenSorensen.com)

314. An unwholesome deed is better left undone, for such a deed torments one afterwards. But a wholesome deed is better done, the doing of which one does not later regret.

315. Just as a border city is closely guarded both within and without, even so, guard one should guard oneself. Do not let slip this opportunity (for rapid spiritual growth). For those who let slip this [rare]opportunity grieve indeed when consigned to hell[s].

316. Those ashamed of what they should not be ashamed of, or ashamed of what they should be ashamed of -- upholding false views, they go to states of woe.

317. Those who see something to fear where there is nothing to fear, and see nothing to fear where there is indeed something to fear -- upholding false views, they go to states of woe.

318. Those who imagine the unwholesome where there is none, and do not see the unwholesome where it is -- upholding false views, they go to states of woe.

319. Those who discern the wrong as wrong and the right as right -- upholding right views, they go to realms of bliss.

 

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Chip off the old --ock: pervert son of a pervert father, circa 1950's Americana.

• PORN is not just implied at American Apparel, it's real
• Philadelphia police renaming medal of valor after one of their own slain officers, passing over many of their murderous officers
• AP analysis of the "fractured" Israel electoral bets [that will reinstall dictator Netanyahu and/or his conservative party]
• Showbiz in a minute: Obama on UFOs, Griffin, Ferrell
• VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel gives Commander and Chief Obama a sense of humor (mean tweets)

CIA cocaine into U.S. "Kill the Messenger"

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; Gary Webb (Pacifica Radio, KPFK.org, KPFA.org) via UprisingRadio.org and DemocracyNow.org; AP

(BTT) "Kill the Messenger" 2014 trailer starring Jeremy Renner. A story too hard to believe -- the coke and crack epidemic in the U.S. was a CIA operation to illegally fund war abroad! More

Why should anybody be surprised? The mainstream media is completely controlled in the U.S. with propaganda and spin replacing actual controversy and whistleblowing. The movie "Shadows of Liberty" explore that media control.

(DemocracyNow.org/Shadows of Liberty) "Shadows of Liberty" coverage of the movie

Managing a Nightmare: How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of [investigative journalist] Gary Webb

Ryan Devereaux (The Intercept)

NO, YOU CAN'T TELL THIS STORY TO THE U.S.!

MOVIE REVIEW: Eighteen years after it was published, “Dark Alliance,” the San Jose Mercury News’s bombshell investigation into links between the cocaine trade, Nicaragua’s Contra rebels, and African American [ghetto] neighborhoods in California, remains one of the most explosive and controversial exposés in American journalism.
 

McDonald's invites icky food questions

The 20,000-word series enraged black communities, prompted Congressional hearings, and became one of the first major national security stories in history to blow up online. It also sparked an aggressive backlash from the nation’s most powerful media outlets, which devoted considerable resources to discredit author Gary Webb’s reporting.

Pimped ride: What do you drive?

Their efforts succeeded, costing Webb his career [and life]. On December 10, 2004, the journalist was found dead in his apartment, [allegedly] having ended his eight-year downfall with two .38-caliber bullets to the head. [Two bullets suggests an execution not a suicide.]
 

Liquid nicotine for kids and addicts

These days, Webb is being cast in a more sympathetic light. He’s portrayed heroically in a major motion picture ["Kill the Messenger"] set to premiere nationwide next month. And documents newly released by the CIA provide fresh context to the “Dark Alliance” saga -- information that paints an ugly portrait of the mainstream media at the time.

 

Does Mitt Romney have a brain disease?

On September 18, the agency released a trove of documents spanning three decades of secret government operations. Culled from the agency’s in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence, the materials include a previously unreleased six-page article titled “Managing a Nightmare: CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story.”

More war in Iraq?

Looking back on the weeks immediately following the publication of “Dark Alliance,” the document offers a unique window into the CIA’s internal reaction to what it called “a genuine public relations crisis” while revealing just how little the agency ultimately had to do to swiftly extinguish the public outcry.

Police: 50+ arrested in Ferguson protests

Thanks in part to what author Nicholas Dujmovic, a CIA Directorate of Intelligence staffer at the time of publication, describes as “a ground base of already productive relations with journalists,” the CIA’s Public Affairs officers watched with relief as the largest newspapers in the country rescued the agency from disaster, and, in the process, destroyed the reputation of an aggressive, award-winning reporter. More

AP HEADLINES

About 70 hospital staffers cared for Ebola patient
They drew his blood, put tubes down his throat and wiped up his diarrhea. They analyzed his urine and wiped saliva from his lips, even after he had lost consciousness.
 
Korean chat app vows to protect user privacy
Popular South Korean messaging app Kakao Talk said Monday it will stop fully cooperating with authorities seeking to access private messages as part of a government crackdown... 

McDonald's invites icky questions about its food
McDonald's wants to explain why its burgers may not rot and that there are no worms in its beef. The world's biggest hamburger chain is confronting unappetizing questions as... 

Romney legacy expands to brain diseases
Their legacy already established in politics, Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, are working to leave a lasting mark on neuroscience. Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital on... 

Back to reality for Dems as House chances fade
[In the pretend gang war in Washington DC, Blues against Reds, the Democrats pretend to lose, Republicans pretend to win, and sometimes they actually do win, all to maintain our farcical two-party system, which does all it can to prevent a third party. A third party would actually provide a real choice, an option, and the end of the fake system we live under.] Democrats' high hopes of mitigating House losses in a rough election year have been dashed by reality. The question now is not whether Republicans hold the House -- that's a...

Police: More than 50 arrested in Ferguson protests
Pounding rain and tornado watches didn't deter hundreds of protesters Monday outside Ferguson police headquarters, where they stayed for almost four hours to mark how long...

Sleepy Guyana wrestles with high rate of suicides
The young man responds all too easily when asked whether he knows anyone who has committed suicide in his village, a sleepy cluster of homes and rum shops surrounded by vast...

Virtual meets Reality, blurring work and play: Augmentations bring virtual monsters and heroines to life on city streets, even our own backyard. But A-R is moving beyond.