'This is not a new desire'

'Fascist, classist, imperial machine'

'Absolute radical liberals'

'That’s just a made-up thing'

Our Top 10 Songs With The Name “James” In The Title looks at the popularity of a name that had its origins in the Hebrew name “Yaʻaqov” (Jacob), which means “supplanter” or “one who follows.”.Over time, “Yaʻaqov” was transformed through Latin into the Late Latin form “Iacomus,” which led to the Old French “James” and eventually became the modern English “James.” This transformation reflected the language changes of medieval Europe, where the name became associated with Christian saints and figures of religious importance, solidifying its popularity across the Christian world​. James gained significant prominence in English-speaking countries due to its The post Top 10 Songs With The Name “James” In The Title appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Across different cultures and countries, people perceive the wisest members of society to be logical and reflective as well as able to consider other people’s feelings and perceptions. This was found in a new study that examined people’s conceptions of wisdom as a characteristic in 16 radically different world cultures, from Japan and Slovakia to […] The post People Seen as Wise Share These Characteristics All Over the World appeared first on Good News Network.

Books Five Books Five Works About Extended Trips and Unexpected Delays Travel plans are always tricky, especially when you’ve offended a god or been marooned in space… By James Davis Nicoll | Published on August 27, 2024 “Odysseus and Polyphemus” by Arnold Böcklin (1896) Comment 0 Share New Share “Odysseus and Polyphemus” by Arnold Böcklin (1896) Nothing is as poignant as the realization mid-trip that one has only a brief sojourn in which to enjoy one’s destination. So universal is this experience that people across the planet must join together in their envy of the Boeing Starliner crew, who are approaching (at the time of posting) the third month of their eight-day visit to the International Space Station. Will the two astronauts beat Polyakov’s record? Only time will tell. Weighing on us as it does, the idea of an extended vacation has inspired speculative fiction and spec fic-adjacent authors back to the dawn of civilization. The key insight? Making it impossible for the traveler to find an immediate, direct route home. Take these five lucky tourists. The Odyssey by Homer (8th Century BCE) Having invested a decade assisting Menelaus with his marital troubles, not to mention a brief but memorable foray into the equestrian miniatures hobby (albeit in the unusual 20:1 scale), one might expect Odysseus to rush back to his beloved wife Penelope. One would further expect the journey to be a brief one, as Troy was but 565 nautical miles from Odysseus’ Ithaca1. In fact, the trip took a good ten years. Several factors facilitated Odysseus’ extended tour of every monster-and witch-haunted island between the smoldering ruins of Troy and Ithaca. First, ancient ships of the 12th century BCE were not well-suited to unbroken long sea voyages. Second, Odysseus’ companions were bold souls as eager to accidentally squander magic treasure as they were to offend a powerful witch. Finally, Odysseus’ travel plans were subject to revision by the god Poseidon, who did his best to ensure the trip home would be memorable. Odysseus did not set out to offend a god. Having done so, he had the rare combination of unparalleled cunning, courage, and being the protagonist of an epic poem named after him to help survive the consequences. Anyone care to guess how many of Odysseus’ companions made it home alive? Star Rangers by Andre Norton (1953) After three thousand years of empire, Central Control is no longer central or in control. Calamity for Central Control is opportunity for would-be local warlords. Across the crumbling empire, ambitious functionaries carve out realms of their own. Patrol ships like Starfire might prove impediments to collapse. Thus, the Starfire’s final mission… Starfire is dispatched to chart uncharted worlds for as long as it takes for the crew to perish. Not everyone does. The ship crash-lands and the lucky survivors set out to explore their new world. Their final world. A place known as Arth. Readers might have assumed that because Norton’s target market was teenaged boys, she’d soft-pedal the dire situation in which her characters found themselves… such readers would be surprised when they actually read the book. Norton highlights some surprising grim elements, from genocidal bigotry to the epidemiological hazards of travel to long-isolated worlds. Marooned by Martin Caidin (1964) NASA’s most recent bid to place a man in orbit is a resounding success. Returning him safely to Earth is another matter. The retro-rockets on Major Richard J. Pruett’s vehicle malfunction. Without them, the Mercury capsule will remain in orbit. With his air rapidly running out, and no means to effect repairs, Pruett’s only course of action seems to be to come to terms with mortality. Jim Dougherty believes rescue is possible. To achieve it, tremendous technical challenges must be surmounted. A naïve person would conclude that delivering a two-man Gemini capsule to orbit within the forty-eight hours before air runs out is impossible. It is… unless help arrives from a very unexpected source. Viewers familiar with the 1969 version of the novel and/or the film of the same name may find the description unfamiliar. This is because the filmmakers took liberties, not least expanding the cast of castaways from one to three, and Caidin revised his novel accordingly. In one of those odd quirks of fate, the film had its brief theatrical release shortly before the Apollo 13 mishap, a more serious crisis that the real NASA handled more adroitly than the fictional characters of Caidin’s novel. The World Is Round by Tony Rothman (1978) Returning from a recent mission, Hendig’s tale of an impossibly huge, yet habitable planet in the Barythron system is manifestly nonsense. Nevertheless, the riches to be won if there’s even a kernel of truth in the story inspires businessman Pike to fund and mount an expedition to Barythron. Astonishingly, unreliable Hendig has told the truth: Barythron’s habitable world is the size of a gas giant, yet has a solid, habitable surface. How can this be? Because the world in question, Patra-Bannk, is a vast artifact. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a world-sized artifact in possession of a mysterious past, must be in want of castaways forced by circumstance to explore. The crew wastes little time getting scattered, marooned, captured by locals, and thoroughly entangled in local politics. Along the way the visitors will learn much about Patra-Bannk. Or at least the survivors will. A gas-giant-sized world is impractically huge to explore on foot. Therefore, it is helpful that the builders provided rapid transit. As well, the builders seem to have put considerable thought into ensuring the artifact was self-sustaining. As it turns out, not quite self-sustaining enough. Still, one good solar flare won’t send it falling into its sun, unlike certain other megastructures I could mention. The Martian by Andy Weir (2011) Threatened by an encroaching sandstorm, the Ares 3 crew cut short their stay on Mars, fleeing to the safety of their orbiting spaceship Hermes. Or rather, all but one of the crew flee. Mark Watney, impaled by flying debris, is left for dead on Mars. Mark is not dead. Mark would like to remain not dead. Furthermore, Mark would like to return to Earth. Rescue depends on factors outside Mark’s control. Staying alive long enough to give his crewmates and the team on Earth a chance to pull off an implausibly bold rescue bid is up to Mark. Can Mark survive Mars’ hostile environment? Can Mark survive the unexpected consequences of his own innovative schemes? To some, the film adaptation of this provides yet another example of why America should stop sending Matt Damon places. I remember the novel fondly as one of the works that ended a several-decade-long drought of near-future, hard SF novels set in the Solar System. As long as there has been travel, travelers have been encountering unforeseen complications. The above are only a few of the works I could have mentioned—I didn’t even get to Robinson Crusoe on Mars! Feel free to regale us with exemplary works I’ve overlooked. Odysseus’ Ithaca is not the one in New York State. ︎The post Five Works About Extended Trips and Unexpected Delays appeared first on Reactor.

Author of The Widow in the Woods Mark Zuckerberg sent a bombshell letter to Congress proving yet another of our silly little conspiracy theories right. He admitted that the Biden/Harris administration had asked his company to censor posts about the Hunter Biden laptop and Covid-19. In a letter addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Zuckerberg explained. He told Jordan that in 2021, “senior officials” from the Biden administration and White House “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.” When Facebook did not agree with the censorship, Zuckerberg said, the Biden administration expressed a lot of frustration. “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. (source) But it wasn’t only information about Covid that they covered up. Hunter Biden’s laptop story could have changed the outcome of the last election, and mentions of this, too, were erased from Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg also said that Facebook shouldn’t have censored the NY Post‘s Hunter Biden laptop story – and said that the FBI had warned the platform “about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead up to the 2020 election.” “That fall, when we saw a New York Post story reporting on corruption allegations involving then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s family, we sent that story to fact-checkers for review and temporarily demoted it while waiting for a reply,” reads the letter. “It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story.” (source) Why does this matter? Some of you are thinking, “I don’t use Facebook or Instagram. Why should I care?” As I’ve written before, the level of influence here is utterly massive. Consider the fact that the “population” of Facebook is bigger than the populations of the US, China, and Brazil combined. That’s how many people will now only receive one side of the story on things like war, politics, guns, and current events. People will believe what they’re told because there is no alternative information presented. There are no questions asked. It’s literally the textbook definition of brainwashing. Social media is a massive source of information and influence today. If the information is rigged by entities that support socialism, gun control, and the end of privacy, we’re doomed. 2.2 billion active users will be bombarded with these messages without any real option for the other side of the story. So regardless of whether you, personally, participate, this will color popular sentiment to a massive degree. It will grow the cognitive dissonance that assures people of things like “the government is your friend” and that “you don’t need to protect yourself, the police will take care of you.” People who hate freedom will get unfettered access to the minds of 2 billion people. That should scare the crap out of you. This isn’t the first illicit action that Facebook has taken to hide information. In 2018, there was a coordinated social media purge that deleted hundreds of alternative news accounts from both Facebook and Twitter. These small websites, just working to share opinions and facts that differed from what the MSM shared, had their lifes’ work completely eradicated. They lost everything they had built and many sites shut down completely at that time. At the time, President Trump was in office but that doesn’t mean that his administration was responsible for the actions. In fact, this did more to hurt Trump than help him, because any positive coverage of him was also lost in the algorithm. Many of the websites erased supported (or at least didn’t despise) Trump. It’s specifically the Biden/Harris administration that Zuckerberg is pointing the finger at here.  And we knew it the whole time and we screamed it from the rooftops and anyone who believed the MSM was convinced we were all crazy. This is some real Chinese firewall BS we have had going on in America. But hey, vote for Shiny New Kamala Harris and “save democracy.” Here’s Zuckerberg’s letter. This is an attack on the First Amendment. Another argument at the time all this was happening was that this was not a First Amendment issue. Detractors said that Facebook was a private company and could do whatever they liked. They said if we didn’t like it, we didn’t have to use it. And that’s true, if it had been a decision within Facebook without government influence. But the fact is, the government was responsible for this. 100%.  The person that they are currently trying to elect to office was part of the administration who pressured a large company to do it’s bidding and hide facts and opinions that were contrary to their interests. Two. Billion. People. That’s one heck of a captive audience. Why is Zuckerberg admitting this now? It’s difficult to say why Mark Zuckerberg chose this time to come clean. But part of me has to wonder if he knows something about the outcome of the upcoming election the rest of us don’t. Perhaps he is convinced that Trump will be re-elected and he doesn’t want to be in trouble later for his part in the matter. Maybe he has become a Trump fan – he expressed how impressed he was with Trump’s response when he was shot. Maybe he sees the writing on the wall and he doesn’t want to face an angry mob with virtual pitchforks. What are your thoughts? Were you surprised by this admission? Did you believe at the time that the government was behind the wave of censorship? How influential do you think social media is? Let’s discuss it in the comments section. About Daisy Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews. Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter. The post Zuckerberg Is Sorry for Censoring Facebook for the Biden/Harris Administration appeared first on The Organic Prepper.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Heritage Action for America is treating the Defining Male and Female Act, a bill that would define sex based on biology, as a key vote in scoring how lawmakers stand on issues of concern to conservatives. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., introduced the legislation at the end of July to establish in federal law that there are only two sexes: male and female. “God created man with XY chromosomes and woman with XX chromosomes, and no left-wing politician has the power to change that indisputable fact,” Miller told The Daily Signal. “The Biden-Harris administration is trying to force the American people to deny reality by allowing biological men to participate in women’s sports through its illegal rewrite of Title IX.” “The Defining Male and Female Act will prevent any future administration from jeopardizing women’s safety, and I am pleased to see Heritage Action scoring a key vote on this critical legislation,” the Illinois Republican said. When Heritage Action issues a key vote, lawmakers are notified that their position on the legislation at issue will affect their score on the Heritage Action Scorecard. Miller intended the bill to combat the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rule change, which adds “gender identity” to the list of sex-based protections, allowing males to share female spaces and participate in female sports. “Men and women have distinct biological differences that are obvious to everyone except the Left,” Janae Stracke, vice president of outreach and advocacy at Heritage Action, said in a written statement. “The safety, spaces, and opportunities of women and girls across the country are now under constant threat, thanks to the Biden–Harris administration’s illegal rewrite of Title IX and the relentless push to force radical gender ideology in America’s schools.” The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 5th and 6th Circuits granted preliminary injunctions on the change Aug. 16, blocking the new rules from going into effect in those areas. Heritage Action praised Miller for introducing the bill. “While it is unfortunate that legislation to accurately define sex is necessary, Heritage Action applauds Rep. Miller for taking up this fight to defend science and safety,” Stracke said. “She has the full support of Heritage Action’s grassroots army and the vast majority of Americans who accept the biological fact that men cannot be women.”  The post EXCLUSIVE: Heritage Action Scores Bill Defining Male, Female as Key Vote appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Mark Zuckerberg admits Biden administration ‘pressured’ Facebook to censor Americans