“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
And indeed, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get through it!
…and we will have fun doing it, too!
The Rules
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
Bottom line – respect other people’s FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.
Our only additional requirement is that you do so NICELY. Or at least try to make some effort in that direction.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election.
You may also pray for our nation, our world, and even our enemies.
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Day Year:
placeholder
noun
something which holds the place of another, such as this default post which “holds the place” of what would be an interesting and varied weekly Monday post.
verb
to do something to Eric Holder, as in “Please placeholder under arrest.”
When I was a kid, I got nicknamed “Bald Eagle” because I actually was getting notably thin “up there.” Of course today “Bald Eagle” might be a cool nickname, but in junior high school, it definitely was not a cool thing.
Fast forward to today, and now here I am over twenty years older than you are, and even in spite of that poor start, I have better hair than you do.
And I am not a piss-guzzling, shit-gobbling communist “journalist” (what a sick joke) either.
On both accounts you must absolutely hate looking into the mirror.
And Oh By The Way probably more people read my posts than watch you bloviate on air. And yes, I know your ratings dropped again. One would think there’s be a limit to that…you can’t drop below zero, can you?
RINOs an Endangered Species? If Only!
According to Wikipoo, et. al., the Northern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a critically endangered species. Apparently two females live on a wildlife preserve in Sudan, and no males are known to be alive. So basically, this species is dead as soon as the females die of old age. Presently they are watched over by armed guards 24/7.
Biologists have been trying to cross them with the other subspecies, Southern White Rhinoceroses (Rhinoceri?) without success; and some genetic analyses suggest that perhaps they aren’t two subspecies at all, but two distinct species, which would make the whole project a lot more difficult.
I should hope if the American RINO (Parasitus rectum pseudoconservativum) is ever this endangered, there will be heroic efforts not to save the species, but rather to push the remainder off a cliff. Onto punji sticks. With feces smeared on them. Failing that a good bath in red fuming nitric acid will do.
But I’m not done ranting about RINOs.
The RINOs (if they are capable of any introspection whatsoever) probably wonder why they constantly have to deal with “populist” eruptions like the Trump-led MAGA movement. That would be because the so-called populists stand for absolutely nothing except for going along to get along. That allows the Left to drive the culture and politics.
Given the results of Tuesday’s elections, the Left will now push harder, and the RINOs will now turn even squishier than they were before.
I well remember 1989-1990 in my state when the RINO establishment started preaching the message that a conservative simply couldn’t win in Colorado. Never mind the fact that Reagan had won the state TWICE (in 1984 bringing in a veto-proof state house and senate with him) and GHWB had won after (falsely!) assuring everyone that a vote for him was a vote for Reagan’s third term.
This is how the RINOs function. They push, push, push the line that only a “moderate” can get elected. Stomp them when they pull that shit. Tell everyone in ear shot that that’s exactly what the Left wants you to think, and oh-by-the-way-Mister-RINO if you’re in this party selling the same message as the Left…well, whythefuckexactly are you in this party, you lying piece of rancid weasel shit?
Justice Must Be Done.
The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system. (This doesn’t necessarily include deposing Joe and Hoe and putting Trump where he belongs, but it would certainly be a lot easier to fix our broken electoral system with the right people in charge.)
Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is pointless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud in the system is not part of the plan, you have no plan.
This will necessarily be piecemeal, state by state, which is why I am encouraged by those states working to change their laws to alleviate the fraud both via computer and via bogus voters. If enough states do that we might end up with a working majority in Congress and that would be something Trump never really had.
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)
Mozart
Mozart wrote two distinct pieces called “Symphonia Concertante), both in E flat major.
The more famous of the two (at least, judging from youtube hits) is K 364. Three movements, Allegro Maestso to start, 2nd movement (Andante) at 13:06, 3rd movement (Presto) at 23:47.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBTVWI6-eCc
But I think I like this one better, to be honest. KV 297b, also in three movements: Allegro at the start, Adagio at 13:53 and Andantino con Variazione at 22:37. This one has considerably more in the way of woodwinds to add color.
PGMs going down and the “traditional” precious metals going up indicates to me that we are expecting inflation and a recession. Or it will tell me that if the pattern holds for more than a few weeks (so far, one week and counting). Why? Because the platinum group metals are valuable primarily for their industrial uses, so they will tend to go down if industry expects to be in trouble, while gold and silver tend to be places people go when they’re worried–perhaps because industry is expected to be in trouble. Or perhaps because they think the dollar will suddenly approach its intrinsic value.
On the other hand, inflation tends to show up as rising stock and gold prices. A company’s nominal value goes up due to inflation, just like gold’s value will.
This market bears watching in light of recent world events, and recent couldn’t-be-worse-if-they-tried-which-makes-sense-because-they’re-probably-trying economic policies.
James Webb Space Telescope Update
Multi-instrument alignment continues. There are no less than five instruments inside the telescope, behind the mirror, and the mirrors have to be able to focus light accurately on all five instruments’ sensors.
One of the instruments is MIRI (Mid InfraRed Instrument) and it requires temperatures even colder than the telescope is getting just from being shielded from the sun. This is because it’s sensitive to longer wavelengths of infrared, wavelengths given off as black body radiation from even things quite a bit colder than the other instruments. It actually gets cryogenically cooled even more with liquid helium. But right now it is actually the warmest instrument of the five, at 94 K (-291 F). It needs to get down to 7 K (-447 F), which is still about 18 degrees K warmer than Hitlary Clinton’s personality.
T1: Heat
Finally, I have found some time to work on a “science” post. I’m going to cover a topic I skipped over the first time around through the physics series, because initially my main goal was eventually to talk about neutrinos. And every once in a while I regretted it. So if there’s a logical place for this in the old sequence, it’s somewhere in between a pair of the single-digit posts. But there’s more than one part to this, so I wouldn’t go renumbering things just yet! For now I’m going to treat these as a separate series, with numbers T1, T2 and so on. (T for “Thermal.”)
The issue of heat is important in physics, and chemistry, and biology. I’ve talked about “black body radiation” being dependent on temperature before.
(To refresh memories: The hotter something is the brighter it glows, and the higher the wavelengths it glows at; if if gets hot enough it glows in visible light, if it gets even hotter, it glows in ultraviolet light or (really, really hot) x rays or even gamma rays. Many stars visible in the night sky glow in primarily blue wavelengths, these are basically the hottest objects we have everyday (well, everynight) experience with, at 10,000 K or even higher. Fortunately they’re quite far away so they don’t barbecue us.)
But I never really talked that much about heat as such, just this one side effect that’s very important to astronomy since it can tell us a lot about a star.
If you remember all the way back to Newtonian dynamics (parts 1, 2, 3, and 5), it describes a view of the way the world works which at first seems totally at odds with the way things actually work.
Newton’s first law of motion is: A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless acted upon by a force.
But we see moving objects come to a halt all the time with no obvious “push” being given to them.
Even billiard balls stop eventually, and those are the inevitable example given for working with momentum. Or air hockey pucks. Or cars on ice. (I have occasionally found myself in a pickup game of two-ton-puck road hockey. Not fun. The only way to win is not to play at all.)
Outer space is actually the only place this seems to be true; objects in orbit will stay that way forever, at least when you can ignore third-body influences. (Which, even when dealing with the planets of our solar system orbiting the sun, you really can’t, not in the long term.)
This is probably why it took us so long to get to the point where Newton could do his thing. For one thing we had to figure out how, in fact, the planets moved, so that Newton could explain that with universal gravitation (thank you Johannes Kepler for the setup). And Galileo had to do all of his experiments with kinetics. Before this the theory was objects would be given an initial impeteus, which would then bleed away. Then, they might want to return “home.” Smoke’s home was Up There; a cannonball’s home was Down Here (and most things were like that). Fire a cannonball, and you give it an impetus. It travels in a straight line as the impetus bleeds away, finally halts, then drops straight down. That was the theory anyway. (Actual artillerymen knew this was bullshit, though, even before Galileo showed that cannonballs moved in parabolas. And then Newton showed that no, they were really moving suborbitally, in very small sections of a very eccentric ellipse–effectively indistinguishable at the ranges cannonballs could be fired in the 1600s. By the way, high school and college freshman physics teaches the parabola, not the ellipse.)
But in fact Newtonian dynamics works very well. The problem is, in order to teach it effectively, you have to pretend, at first, that friction doesn’t exist, because friction, though covered quite well in Newtonian dynamics, makes the story problems more complicated. Only after you master frictionless behavior do they throw friction at you and expect you to account for it as well.
Friction is a force from the air, or the ground, or something touching the object in question, and is both proportional to the speed of the object, and opposite in direction.
OK, I’d better unpack that with an example. Imagine you’re pushing a heavy box across the floor. And you’re able to shove the sucker at 1 MPH. It requires a certain continuous force to keep the box moving at a mile per hour. It would require twice as much force to move it at two miles per hour, half as much to move it at half a mile per hour. Since the box is not speeding up, the net force on it must be zero (by Newton’s second law of motion, good old F = ma). But you’re applying a force. But it’s countered–precisely–by the friction between the box and the floor, which is in the exact opposite direction. Now if you double how hard you’re pushing on the box, it speeds up, but eventually settles in on moving twice as fast as it was before, without moving, so your push and the friction are again in balance. So the force from friction is proportional to how fast the box is moving. Hopefully you can go back and reread the previous paragraph and it will make more sense to you.
OK, so Newtonian dynamics can, with added difficulty, account for friction. It’s a variable force working “against” us pushing that box across the floor. (And to save effort, we get a dolly, which reduces the friction. Our salvador is dolly.)
But we’re not done yet. Remember how momentum is supposed to be conserved? When the box quits moving because we stopped pushing, where does that momentum go? Well, let’s suppose we are pushing the box eastward, so our applied force is eastward. The force of friction on the box is westward, then. But that force of friction must also be acting on the floor, which is attached (ultimately) to the Earth, and the friction force acting on the floor must be pointed eastward (because of Newton’s third law, the one about every action bringing about an equal but opposite reaction). So the earth is getting pushed on by the friction. But it’s roughly a godzillion times more massive so you can’t see the effect. The effect (as invisible as it is) disappears when the box stops moving, because at that point the friction force on the box, and therefore on the floor-attached-to-the-earth, is zero.
And one more thing…the one that’s actually where I’m going with this (took my sweet time about it, didn’t I?). Isn’t energy conserved?
The box, while moving, has kinetic energy. Then it stops. This doesn’t seem like much of a problem, though, does it? After all we routinely swap kinetic and potential energy, pretty much any time gravitation comes into play, and orbiting bodies do this all the time unless they’re in perfectly circular orbits.
Indeed. We are free to swap potential for kinetic energy. But we are pushing the box across a level floor and it still comes to a stop when we quit pushing! The very definition of “level” is a surface where the potential energy is the same no matter where you are standing on it* so the kinetic energy cannot be getting turned into potential energy.
(*[skip this if you don’t want your mind blown] Incidentally, you can get some very weird shapes that are “level.” A non-rotating planet would have a spherical surface, all at the same potential but level, a rotating planet will have that surface be an oblate spheroid (i.e., one a bit squashed looking), with the equator being the maximum bulge, but then you have the moon and sun pulling on the earth which raises tides and makes the “level” surface a bit more complicated (and ever-changing). That level surface nevertheless looks flat to us, because it’s so doggone big.
You could conceivably have a double planet orbiting so closely that the two planets would each form a teardrop shape, with the points of the teardrops each pointing at the opposing planet. If they were close enough together they might even touch. And that would be “level” ground to the people on those planets, though the force of gravity would be zero where the teardrops touch.)
If energy is conserved, and at everyday scales it most certainly is, the kinetic energy of the box must be going somewhere, and it is: it becomes heat energy.
Not only that, but since you were pushing the box against an opposing force (before you quit and let it stop) across some distance, you were doing work, and that too is a form of energy, and it too all became heat energy.
I’m not quite sure when heat was recognized as a form of energy, as opposed to the older theory that it was a fluid named calor that flowed from one object to another (sort of a reverse-phlogiston; or rather phlogistion was a reverse of calor). Antoine Lavoisier, who late in the 1700s dismantled phlogiston theory and came up with a largely correct but incomplete list of elements, actually considered calor (as well as light) an element.
Chemists were able to determine that different substances required different amounts of heat energy to change their temperatures. The amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius (or one Kelvin) was defined as the calorie (note a small c). A thousand calories was a kilocalorie, enough energy to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water one degree C or one K. But sometimes a kilocalorie is written as “Calorie” with a capital C. (It is this Calorie-with-a-big-C that you contend with when you are dieting.)
A substance like iron, on the other hand, could heat up a degree per gram with a lot less energy than a calorie. In fact, it only takes 0.107 calories to do this.
How do you determine this? In principle, you can drop a one gram lump of iron at, say, 20C into a gram of water at 21C, then wait for the heat to transfer. Once everything is at a uniform temperature, you can measure the temperature, and notice that the water barely cooled down at all, but the iron nearly reached 21C. So the water dropped a little bit in temperature but the iron heated up quite a bit. If the energy is constant, the iron heated up a lot more (with the same amount of energy) than the water cooled off (by giving up that energy); thus iron takes less energy to heat up than water. Obviously, you can alter the mass of the water or the iron, or the temperature difference, and things change in proportion; you can do the math and figure that iron’s heat capacity is 0.107 calories per gram, per degree K, if water’s is 1 calorie per gram, per degree K (which it is, by definition).
Water’s heat capacity happens to be one of the highest. Iron’s is more typical.
It turns out that experiment is difficult to run precisely because, of course, the heat leaks out of the container of water while you’re trying to do it. Still, you can try to control this by putting the water in a thermos…a very good thermos, or something better than that. (These sorts of painstaking efforts to eliminate outside effects are why science is harder to do than it is to write about…or read about, no matter how badly I write these posts.)
On to James Prescott Joule, 1818-1889, who came up with the first definitive way to relate heat energy to mechanical energy. Calories were convenient for chemists working with water and other substances, but just how big is a calorie compared to other forms of energy?
In the metric system, we’ve built up our units of force, and so on, from meters, kilograms and seconds (MKS, also known as the international system or SI (its French initials)); there’s also an older system that worked off centimeters, grams, and seconds (CGS). Thus the Newton, the unit of force, is one kilogram-meter-per-second-squared (kg•m/s2 or, preferred by pedants, kg•m•s-2). Work is a force applied by a distance, so the natural units for this ought to be Newtons times meters, N•m, or substituting in, kg•m2•s-2. And indeed that’s what energy’s metric unit is. (It even has a convenient name, but I’ll hold off on telling you what it is for now.)
So can we somehow equate the calorie with this natural metric unit of energy? How many metric units of energy does it take to make up a calorie?
Joule was able to do a known amount of mechanical work on water and measure its temperature change, thus he could determine how much mechanical work it would take to raise the temperature of a gram of water one degree C, and so he knew how many natural metric units were equivalent to a calorie. In fact, he ran multiple different experiments, including some using electricity to heat the water, and (the most direct), the weight of an object hung from a pulley to turn blades in the water to stir it and thereby heat it up. He always got close to the same answer, working in English units (foot pounds of energy).
Over the years we’ve refined his work and have a very precise answer (and we express it in metric.) And the answer is: 4.184 natural metric units equals one (small c) calorie.
And because of Joule’s work on this and related topics, we gave that natural metric unit of energy the name joule, symbol J.
We have also named the metric unit of power, which is to say, the rate at which energy is delivered, the watt, yes the same “watt” you see on light bulbs and microwave ovens. (It’s a metric unit as are volts and amperes and ohms…which, if you’re anti-metric, ought to chap your hindquarters.) One watt is one joule per second, or one joule is the energy delivered by one watt, for one second. A kilowatt-hour (which you might be more familiar with since electric companies like to use them to bill you) is one kilowatt (a thousand watts), delivered for an hour, which is 3600 seconds, so a kilowatt-hour is 1000 x 3600 = 3,600,000 watt-seconds or joules. (Of course, it could also be 500 watts, delivered for two hours…or 2000 watts delivered for half an hour…anything that will multiply out to 3,600,000 watt-seconds.)
Returning to heat, 4.184 joules equals one calorie, but this isn’t the usual number you’ll see. Remember, a calorie is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of one gram of liquid water 1 kelvin (or one degree C), but today, almost everyone works in MKS (meters, kilograms, seconds, newtons, joules, watts), not CGS (centimeters, grams, seconds, dynes, ergs…), so kilograms of water are preferred over grams and you’ll generally see that 4,184 joules equals one kilocalorie (abbreviated kcal preferentially, because “big C” versus “little C” gets confusing especially when talking). Or better yet, 4.184 kJ (kilojoules) = 1 kilocalorie.
(But note, the kilocalorie is still just called a “calorie” when we’re talking about food; the author of your book on the new fad kumquat diet may bother to capitalize it…and may not.)
Chemists still use kcals and calories, because it’s convenient for them, but offically, they are neither base units (kilograms, meters, seconds, kelvins, amperes), derived units (newtons, watts, joules, coulombs), nor even the list of non-SI units mentioned in the SI (like the astronomical unit, electron volt, or minute (of time or arc, take your pick).
I’ve talked a lot about temperature, as if we knew what it means. And everyone thinks we do because we measure it all the time, for weather and cooking and refrigeration. But our everyday understanding is very incomplete. (It’s certainly not the same thing as “heat” because different amounts of heat energy change temperatures by different amounts depending on the materials being heated.)
Physicists, of course, looked into this as well and gained a deeper understanding. And with that cliffhanger, I’ll stop here. Next time we move onwards.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
To conclude: My standard Public Service Announcement. We don’t want to forget this!!!
Remember Hong Kong!!!
If anyone ends up in the cell right next to him, tell him I said “hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
And indeed, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get through it!
…and we will have fun doing it, too!
The Rules
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
Bottom line – respect other people’s FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.
Our only additional requirement is that you do so NICELY. Or at least try to make some effort in that direction.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election.
You may also pray for our nation, our world, and even our enemies.
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Day Year:
placeholder
noun
something which holds the place of another, such as this default post which “holds the place” of what would be an interesting and varied weekly Monday post.
verb
to do something to Eric Holder, as in “Please placeholder under arrest.”
Or rather, “Hey Chinese Communist Party and your entire array of servitors, ass-wipers, and fellators!”
You’re not even worth my time this week. When you decide to act like civilized people, maybe I’ll give you a lesson or two in how non-barbarians behave.
Hey BiteMe! (Or, Whoever Has Their Hand Rammed Up That Putrefying Meat Puppet’s Ass)
[Language warning]
You and yours have caused a lot of injury. Literal injury with your war on people who don’t want to take an untested vaccine. When people die in an emergency room because a hospital won’t admit them because they haven’t had their clot shot, that’s a crime.
I’m going to address here the insult on top of the injury, because I am among the insulted. I still have my health but apparently you want me to live under the 8th Street Bridge (which actually isn’t on 8th Street, but whatever, that’s what the I-25 overpass over Cimarron is called), so maybe if you have your way that won’t be true for long. Dreadful time of year to become homeless.
No, you’re just trying to make me unemployed, because I won’t take your fucking shots.
Well, that threat is NOT going to work. I. Won’t. Take. Your. Fucking. Shots.
And it looks like enough people agree, that you’re having to back down, you worthless asswipe.
You’re LOSING.
You LOSER.
You Chinese-bought ratfucking traitor.
I would love to see you die an agonizing, humiliating death. (This isn’t a threat, because I am not threatening to cause that death. I am just announcing my intention to party if it happens.) It would be just recompense for the way you’re killing America…and millions of Americans.
His Fraudulency
Joe Biteme, properly styled His Fraudulency, continues to infest the White House, we haven’t heard much from the person who should have been declared the victor, and hopium is still being dispensed even as our military appears to have joined the political establishment in knuckling under to the fraud.
One can hope that all is not as it seems.
I’d love to feast on that crow.
(I’d like to add, I find it entirely plausible, even likely, that His Fraudulency is also His Figureheadedness. (Apparently that wasn’t a word; it got a red underline. Well it is now.) Where I differ with the hopium addicts is on the subject of who is really in charge. It ain’t anyone we like.)
Justice Must Be Done.
The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.
Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
(Platinum is at exactly the same price it was five weeks ago. When I copied the post…it already said $1,033.00 there.)
Everything except rhodium went down over the past week; actually it was a good deal lower on Wednesday, and higher on Thursday, than it is today. Which implies to me these metals are settling into a new trading range with (for example) gold trading at a bit over $1900 typically.
Which is still a good deal higher than where it was before, having trouble staying over $1800.00, though it’s not dancing around the $2000 dollar mark like it was a week and a half ago.
Expect continued inflation and for shortages to not just continue but get worse.
James Webb Space Telescope Update
This week the James Webb Space Telescope reached another milestone in getting the eighteen separate primary mirror segments to work as one. They were able to image a star and dozens of distant galaxies behind the star. (I posted about this on Thursday.) Now the challenge is getting that focus to be true for all of the different science instruments on the spacecraft, not just the one they’ve been using.
Apparently the optics are meeting or exceeding all expectations. Once the mirror alignment is fully complete and the instruments are all calibrated, the interesting stuff begins. Images from this thing should be vastly better than Hubble…but it’s an apples-to-oranges comparison since Hubble and JWST look at different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. JWST can’t even see green, blue, violet and ultraviolet light, though it can see very deeply into the infrared–which Hubble can’t do.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
Get your rest, Trumpy Bear! You’re going back to the White House!!!
We can’t let SNIFFY BEAR destroy it any more than we already have!!!
The Business At Hand
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
And indeed, it’s Monday…again.
But we are COOL WITH IT.
The Rules
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election.
Prayers for your enemies, and your enemy’s enemies, and your enemy’s enemy’s enemies, are all permissible.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
For your listening enjoyment, and general encouragement, we continue Wheatie’s tradition of fine music videos, shipped fresh from the seas of information by our intrepid authors.
While looking at videos in an earlier week, I accidentally discovered this oddball American sister duo on the Latin “pop country whatever” music charts.
…..and later realized that such a sister act is not a totally unique thing…..
…..although it certainly looks like BOY DUOS are more common…..
Q’s post addressed to Nate Cain (qanon.pub post 2578) had a line which really struck a nerve: YOU ARE NEVER ALONE. Here is the post. Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 52a4e6 No.4250950 Dec 10 2018 23:13:47 (EST)https://twitter.com/cain_nate/status/1072221511443013633Sometimes ‘intrusions’ have a way of safeguarding people & evidence.Sometimes ‘intrusions’ are a necessary event in order to safeguard chain of custody [post OIG WB status …
…..and while I was looking for that Elenyi video, I found this, but it’s not a duo…..
…..and that kinda balances out the Barlow Girl trio.
“And so it goes.”
Call To Battle
Actors Henry Fonda and James Coburn on the set of Universal Studios movie ” Midway” in 1976. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
…..and then…..
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
If you want to download the Pfizer documents – the ones that they wanted to hide for 75 years or whatever – it’s easy. But first, a couple of videos to set things up a bit.
Now it’s really a one-page site – they get right down to business on the landing page…..
You can search through the site to select documents first, OR you can just download to your heart’s content. Here is the bottom of the page, with nothing selected, so the download button is grayed out.
Now, if you want to download ALL of the documents just go to that drop-down button in the lower left corner…..
…..and change the setting from “Show [ 25 ] per page” to “All”. Then, you will get a single page, and you can put a checkmark on ALL 150 documents (which is tedious as hell, but it works).
When you download all of these documents, they will come in a ZIP file. You can then extract all of the documents out of the zip file, and then view each of them with the proper application.
Enjoy!
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Day:
endeavor
noun
A conscientious or concerted effort toward an end; an earnest attempt.
Purposeful or industrious activity; enterprise.
verb
To exert oneself to do or effect something; make an effort; strive.
To attempt; try.
Used in a quote:
We thought about it for a long time, “Endeavor to persevere.” And when we had thought about it long enough, we declared war on the Union.
The Chinese Should Think Before Wiping Us Out As Sometimes They Need Us To Solve Their Problems For Them
Okay you knuckledragging ChiComs trying to take us down…here’s a history lesson for you.
For millennia, you had to suffer from this:
Yep. Steppe Nomads. They laid waste to your country, burned, raped and pillaged (but not in that order–they’re smarter than you are) for century after century.
You know who figured out how to take them on and win? The Russians.
Not you, the Russians. And it took them less than two centuries. And Oh By The Way they were among the most backward cultures in Europe at the time.
You couldn’t invent an alphabet, you couldn’t take care of barbarians on horseback, and you think you can take this board down?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! We’re laughing at you, you knuckledragging dehumanized communists…worshipers of a mass-murderer who killed sixty million people!
I mean, you still think Communism is a good idea even after having lived through it!
By my reckoning that makes you orders of magnitude more stupid than AOC, and that takes serious effort.
His Fraudulency
Joe Biteme, properly styled His Fraudulency, continues to infest the White House, and hopium is still being dispensed even as our military appears to have joined the political establishment in knuckling under to the fraud.
One can hope that all is not as it seems.
I’d love to feast on that crow.
“No Chemicals”
A detailed analysis of the contents of His Fraudulency’s skull was performed.
Absolutely no chemicals found!
Justice Must Be Done.
The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.
Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.
Political Science In Summation
It’s really just a matter of people who can’t be happy unless they control others…versus those who want to be left alone. The oldest conflict within mankind. Government is necessary, but government attracts the assholes (a highly technical term for the control freaks).
James Webb Space Telescope Update
Nothing much reported this week. Mirror alignment continues, and the blog posted an article on how JWST will use spectroscopy to study distant galaxies: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/03/10/webb-will-use-spectroscopy-to-study-composition-of-distant-galaxies/
Of course, those distant galaxies are also younger galaxies because we are seeing them by light that left them billions of years ago. One of the goals of JWST is to be able to see far enough away/far enough back in time, to see galaxies actually forming for the first time.
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
After last week’s hundred dollar gain, gold and silver continued their climb this week, hitting $2000 on Monday…all with a backdrop of rumors that Russia is about to go onto a gold standard.
Back on February 5, gold was at $1809.40, silver at $22.60, platinum $1033, palladium $2378, and rhodium, $17,800. How things have changed! If you bought and held way back when…this is what you’ve been holding for.
Gold then spiked all the way up to $2050, but then was shoved back down to roughly 2000 on Thursday, before closing at 1992.1 Friday. Other precious metals had similar behavior.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
Hang in there, Trumpy Bear! You’re going back to the White House!!!
No more of this Sleepy Creepy guy, provoking needless wars to fill Democrat coffers!
The Business At Hand
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
And indeed, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get THROUGH IT, OVER IT, and BEYOND IT.
The Rules
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
In an image…….
Try to make it real.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election.
You may also pray for our enemies, many of whom were grievously harmed by their foolish choice to virtue signal with the experimental gene therapy vaccines, which were snuck upon all of us by the monstrous WEF, Pfizer and Moderna, despite our warnings, and because this corrupt administration, media, and social media suppressed the truth.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
For your listening enjoyment, and general encouragement, we continue Wheatie’s tradition of fine music videos, shipped fresh from the seas of information by our intrepid authors.
First, some “epic” mandolin…..
Well, let’s get that mandoleen a little more TOE-TAPPIN’ and a FOOT STOMPIN’!
And finally, a song from a movie you probably never saw – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
OK – we can’t leave you with that downer. Check THIS happy song out!
Feel ready? GOOD!
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
For the first time – no image here.
OK, just ONE of many:
I refer you to a series of ABSOLUTELY AWESOME memes posted by Robert Malone, here:
“Hospitals receive payments for testing every patient for COVID, every COVID diagnosis and every ‘COVID death,’ as well as any time they use remdesivir and mechanical ventilation.”
Not only is that a great article, that is highly referenced.. It very accurately goes through history and malfeasance by our government and the hospitals. This article is a must read. It also has an extensive list of references at the end.
You may hit a paywall, but you can take Malone’s word for it, if you do.
H/T whoever it was who found this gem! (I forgot)
How “Let’s Go Brandon” Demonstrates the Failure of The Regime’s “Decisive Victory” Strategy Against Us
This may seem like it’s the usual, hand-waving, “defeat is victory” battered-conservative abuse-porn, coated with addictive hopium, but IMO it’s actually some “real” hopanite ore, suitable for creating hopium-based nukes, and depleted hopium bullets.
Basically, a comparison of the “establishment victory over Trump” to Pearl Harbor.
They have not won.
Rather, they have earned themselves an ASS-WHOOPIN’.
Robert Malone Performs/Explains A Real Live Peer Review
This is actually REALLY GREAT, and a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY. You will almost NEVER see this, unless you get an advanced science degree, and in that case, you will likely be taught all the bad habits of somebody not nearly as good and experienced in “grantsmanship”, patenting, and publication, as is Robert W. Malone.
Malone even does it in plain, common, sensible language that anybody can understand. You will literally see how to “talk back” to HIGHLY credentialed scientists making mistakes, showing bias, sticking to narratives, and just being people who you should NOT trust.
This is RESTORATIVE to real science. I just cannot praise this enough.
Peer review example: “Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine among children”
Having written hundreds of requested peer reviews, I am offering my unsolicited one.
What makes this even more powerful, is a slightly earlier post by Malone, in which he exhorts ALL people to USE COMMON SENSE in doubting the media on things in which they don’t have expertise, because the FAKE NEWS is demonstrably WRONG on the things in which you DO have expertise, and you REMEMBER those cases, and therefore you are absolutely entitled to extend that skepticism to ALL THINGS THE PRESS SAYS.
Please note that there are many variations on how English speakers actually pronounce most of the word, but the lifted pinky / beltway bandit / light-in-the-loafers silent T is “supposed to be” preserved in English, and the result sounds very French.
Therefore, if you want to stay grounded and keep your “man of the people” cover, you can intentionally mispronounce the word JUST A LITTLE by including that final ‘t’ ever so slightly (“MAUWNt”).
Alternatively, over-emphasize the open mouth ‘MAUW[n]’ at the end to almost comedic levels, and you sound like a real American who took French in high school. But it’s still probably best to avoid ‘reproach-ment’, unless you really want to make sure people think you don’t know a lick of French.
Used in a sentence:
The convergence was noted by statesmen and scholars of the time, but the term “Great Rapprochement” to refer to a distinct historical phenomenon may have been coined by the American historian of Anglo-American relations Bradford Perkins in his 1968 study of the period, The Great Rapprochement: England and the United States 1895–1914.
Slightly misused (and optionally mispronounced) in a Lindsey Graham joke:
SPECIAL SECTION: Message For Our “Friends” In The Middle Kingdom
You knuckle-dragging barbarians are still trying to muck with this site, so I’ll just repeat what I said last time.
Up your shit-kicking barbarian asses. Yes, barbarian! It took a bunch of sailors in Western Asia to invent a real alphabet instead of badly drawn cartoons to write with. So much for your “civilization.”
Yeah, the WORLD noticed you had to borrow the Latin alphabet to make Pinyin. Like with every other idea you had to steal from us “Foreign Devils” since you rammed your heads up your asses five centuries ago, you sure managed to bastardize it badly in the process.
Have you stopped eating bats yet? Are you shit-kickers still sleeping with farm animals?
Or maybe even just had the slightest inkling of treating lives as something you don’t just casually dispose of?
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
And here’s my response to barbarian “asshoes” like you:
OK, with that rant out of my system…
Loop it if you like; I will wait.
Richly deserved.
Justice Must Be Done
The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.
Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)
If You Absolutely HATE Your Car
Watch this.
And be glad you aren’t in East Germany. Which, OBTW was the garden spot of the Warsaw Pact.
On the other hand, if you lived in the Soviet Union, you could get a luxury vehicle:
Over here in the 21st Century, in the first world, we have our First World problems, like electric vehicles with a bit TOO much get up and go:
Gold moved up again, as of Thursday night it was around $1,940 again. And instead of being forced down again on Friday…well, it’s getting close to the milestone $2K.
I’m not sure, but palladium might now be at an all-time high. It has been going up faster than gold has been, that’s for sure. It has gone up about 25% just in the last week.
James Webb Space Telescope Update
Coarse phasing, described last week, continues.
Meanwhile the Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument is being checked out, as described here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/03/03/checking-out-the-mechanisms-in-webbs-nirspec-instrument/
Not a whole lot more to say unless they post something new on Friday.
Fuck Joe Biden
Biden, you don’t even get ONE scoop of ice cream today.
(Please post this somewhere permanent, as it will continue to be true; the SOB will never deserve a scoop.)
Incidentally, I’m writing this on Friday. This morning I saw a full-sized pickup truck in the oncoming left turn lane with a forest of flags in the bed. Once he turned and drove left-to-right in front of me, I could see two American flags near the cab, and SIX “Let’s Go Brandon” flags near the tailgate. That was unusual; usually there’s a mix of FJB (only not abbreviated) and “Trump Won” and “Trump 2024” flags when someone does this.
I haven’t seen such a display in a few weeks, by the way. Even the guy at the office complex where I work with the FJB flag on his pickup seems to have removed it (or doesn’t work there any more–trucks all look alike to me from the back, and all crossovers look like cockroaches).
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
Get your rest, Trumpy Bear! You’re needed in WASHINGTON, DC!!!
Vladdy Bear and Winnie The Pooh are making Sleepy Creepy Joe look like a punching bag!
The Business At Hand
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
And indeed, it’s Monday…again.
But we’re ON A ROLL.
The Rules
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
Gonna be quick this time.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election.
After his speech at CPAC, I think it’s quite clear that praying for President Trump’s return to the White House is indeed praying for our enemies, who are too messed up to realize how much better off they would be under a Trump presidency.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
For your listening enjoyment, and general encouragement, we continue Wheatie’s tradition of fine music videos, shipped fresh from the seas of information by our intrepid authors.
Microwave Monday reminds me of this song from back in the day.
ENJOY!
This right here is the stiffest dose of teased-out 80s chick hair you are EVER going to get.
And if you want to see it with 2008 hair….
And then there’s an outdoorsy 2014 version which has a really great “live” feel…..
But how about a 2021 version with just Susanna Hoffs and a string section?
But if you’re still feeling like it’s all unfamiliar, here’s the original video!
Yeah – that’s more like it!
Call To Battle (H/T Sundance)
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
…..and now for…..
Microwave Monday
After recent discussion of Havana Syndrome, and the possibility that it involves electromagnetic radiation (and in particular microwaves), I have decided that we all need to LEVEL UP our gut-level understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum – even beyond what Steve has done with his explanation of the science behind it.
This will also help us deal with both the REALITIES and DISINFORMATION of 5G telecom.
I will be doing this by giving you all a bunch of INFOGRAPHICS to get started.
Steve got us started HERE, in his 8th science lesson on LIGHT.
You may remember some of this stuff….. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
Let’s start breaking up that electromagnetic continuum into REGIONS that have NAMES.
You can see that microwaves lie between RADIO and INFRARED.
Let’s look even more closely at those groups.
We can even start breaking those radio and microwave regions down into BANDS that you are all familiar with.
Here you can start to get a feel for the SIZE OF THE WAVES versus objects and frequencies.
The SIZE OF WAVES and WHAT THEY AFFECT actually matters – although it’s not simple.
Megahertz, gigahertz, teraherz, and petahertz are all there.
You can really see it more easily in the following infographic.
You can easily see how we have made “radio devices” push farther and farther away from the very SAFE “radio” region, through television, mobile phones, and WiFi, closer and closer to the microwave and infrared radiation that constitutes COOKING MICROWAVES and RADIANT HEAT ITSELF.
And as you can see here, many technologies emit electromagnetic radiation – and some more than you may have realized.
So where are the 5G frequencies? Please be aware that there is constant change in this stuff, so that these infographics may be slightly out of date. Do not let that deter you – minor changes don’t NIX any issues of the basic range in which 5G operates, unless specifics of the science are given.
Use COMMON SENSE.
Let’s zoom in a bit.
Note that the above is just the US – other countries use different regions.
Here is more detail on European and US 5G.
Much of this is SQUARELY in the microwave region. From Wikipedia, we’re basically talking 300 MHz to 300 GHz.
Now let’s start looking at ALLEGED but possibly REAL health effects of EMR in the microwave region, which may VARY ACROSS THE REGION.
Remember also that DOSAGE MATTERS – like anything else.
You have to squint to see the next infographic, but look at “Biological Effect”.
It depends strongly on FREQUENCY / WAVELENGTH.
This is a very good listen. This lady is also a climate dupe, but she will get you to realize that your microwave devices may actually be doing to YOUR MEAT what microwaves normally do to YOUR MEAT, albeit at LOWER BUT LONGER DOSAGES.
This is another good one!
More of her schtick. This gal will get you to question the “harmless” narrative, just like vaccines, but try to keep some common sense. Remember – driving is a killer, too. You still want the freedom to drive?
Common sense! How do we get the BEST of both worlds?
Now I’m just going to play a bunch of their infographics. Caveat emptor! But some of this stuff is interesting and counter-intuitive. SIGNAL and NOISE matter. In more ways than one.
SO – maybe you should THINK about how to handle the devices you have!!!
But then talk back to all that stuff HERE.
Be sure to be SKEPTICAL of this SKEPTIC lady – that is an essential part of ETHICAL SKEPTICISM. We don’t want to be panicky about 5G, or believing disinformation, but we do want to treat MICROWAVES as maybe not that awesome for our health, in doses that exceed our individual sensitivity.
So BEWARE of BROAD-BRUSH SKEPTICS who downplay too much in favor of technology.
After all, we just got through a BATTLE ROYALE over disastrous mRNA technology that was advanced too fast for all the wrong reasons.
Finally, a GREAT infographic. It’s MASSIVE. I’m only showing you the small version – you have to click the link for the BIG ONE that’s easy to read down to the details.
Something stinks, and to my nose, it’s the New World Odor.
But first, a disclaimer.
I’m actually ashamed that I wanted to work for Google at one point, but I need to get that out into the open right away, lest somebody, someday, use that “gotcha” against me and think it’s actually damaging.
Heck – I even bought a variety of Google swag, back when they were small and upstarty, just like when Netscape, Firefox, various Linux brands, and other rising tech companies were once “new” and “cool”.
A lot of people once thought that Google’s motto of “Don’t be evil” was a bit of a bass-ackwards under-performer, which should have been a positive, rather than a double-negative. Not me. I realized back then that this paradoxical formulation was exactly why the motto was so ahead of the curve.
“Being good” lacks skepticism – particularly of self. “Being good” as a primary motivator is a guaranteed set-up for the primary sin of PRIDE.
“Not being evil”, in contrast, is automagically skeptical of self. And skepticism isn’t just good for science – it’s good for religion.
Yes – I think it’s clear you need both. This is part of why (IMO) Christianity always refreshes itself by going back to its Jewish roots when there are foundational questions. No matter how you slice it, we need to concern ourselves with the Law, which includes consequential negatives, because we don’t want to get rid of our saving prohibitions.
We need our Peters, but we also need our Pauls.
Thus, when Google ditched “don’t be evil”, I smelled trouble.
And what is happening now, may be evidence that Google has forgotten how to “not be evil”.
Google has made mistake after mistake since they began tampering politically with their search engine, largely during the Obama years, but to an even greater degree during the Trump years. And now, in one short year of Biden – Google has arrived at the point of adopting a policy that conflicts with the most basic principles of science.
Simone Gold, of America’s Frontline Doctors, just tweeted this.
WOW: @Google sent notice stating they will be removing the America’s Frontline Doctors website from search results.
We are a team of medical doctors who dared to speak the truth.
“Nor do we allow content from any site that contradicts or runs contrary to scientific or medical consensus and evidence-based best practices.”
Well THAT’S great. How do you think science is going to advance? YOU CHUMPS!
Let’s just save that tweet, simply to make sure that it doesn’t disappear when Twitter inevitably suspends Dr. Gold.
Note these final words from Dr. Gold.
“And we have been proven right, again and again, and again.“
Dr. Simone Gold, AFLD
Dr. Gold is not lying. Throughout COVID-19, free and independent doctors and scientists have been LEADING captive science and captive medicine against their BIASED FUNDERS AND CONTROLLERS – which clearly include GOOGLE now.
The “concensus” science has repeatedly and continuously been ABNORMALLY WRONG due to BIAS, and has required continuous correction by – very sadly – OUTSIDERS.
Science does not progress by sticking to consensus. It advances by CHALLENGE TO CONSENSUS. Google is INTERFERING with that process. SHAME!!!
In my opinion, “they” are all scared.
And the reason they’re scared it this.
Now – as insurance companies look around to see who picks up the tab for people dying from the ERRORS OF THE CONSENSUS, it sure ain’t gonna be able to pin it on the people who WARNED about the experimental vaccines.
It may indeed be that some of the blame (moral, even if not monetary) will land on those who CENSORED THE SAVING WARNINGS.
Over and over, people like Google censored us because they said that the things WE SAID were not true, and yet it turned out that the things we said WERE true, and that the consensus THEY said was true, was both WRONG and responsible for MANY DEATHS.
And THIS may be the biggest CENSORED TRUTH of all.
Alden et al, Lund University, Sweden, confirms one of our worst fears. The exogenous genetic material coding for the dangerous Spike protein is reverse-transcribed into the human genome; possible long-term constitutive expression/synthesis of disease promoting/lethal Spike. pic.twitter.com/JEzSwSruWM— Peter McCullough, MD MPH (@P_McCulloughMD) February 25, 2022
Here, I saved an image of a copy which was only partially destroyed by Twitter.
And here I saved the actual tweet (in two pieces).
Here is that image within the tweet, in more detail.
So what is McCullough talking about? And what is Twitter hiding?
Academic Editor: Stephen Malnick Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 2022, 44(3), 1115-1126; https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb44030073 (registering DOI) Received: 18 January 2022 / Revised: 19 February 2022 / Accepted: 23 February 2022 / Published: 25 February 2022 (This article belongs to the Topic Clinical, Translational and Basic Research on Liver Diseases)
Abstract
Preclinical studies of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, showed reversible hepatic effects in animals that received the BNT162b2 injection. Furthermore, a recent study showed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the genome of human cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of BNT162b2 on the human liver cell line Huh7 in vitro. Huh7 cells were exposed to BNT162b2, and quantitative PCR was performed on RNA extracted from the cells. We detected high levels of BNT162b2 in Huh7 cells and changes in gene expression of long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1), which is an endogenous reverse transcriptase. Immunohistochemistry using antibody binding to LINE-1 open reading frame-1 RNA-binding protein (ORFp1) on Huh7 cells treated with BNT162b2 indicated increased nucleus distribution of LINE-1. PCR on genomic DNA of Huh7 cells exposed to BNT162b2 amplified the DNA sequence unique to BNT162b2. Our results indicate a fast up-take of BNT162b2 into human liver cell line Huh7, leading to changes in LINE-1 expression and distribution. We also show that BNT162b2 mRNA is reverse transcribed intracellularly into DNA in as fast as 6 h upon BNT162b2 exposure.
I have discussed the Jaenisch paper numerous times since I became aware of it in December of 2020, and more importantly in March of 2021.
In fact, in the following blog post I made in April of 2021, I actually hypothesized a scenario which is basically the findings of the De Marinis paper!!!
Alternate Title: Is Persistent Reverse Transcription a Hidden Virus/Vaccine Objective? Gloating Pre-Preface There are few feelings of satisfaction like opening up the NEWS and knowing one’s theories and understandings are WORKING even better than one thought. Let’s see if they use this one for damage control, and get the “new science” out before the STORY …
Now – let me state, in the simplest possible way, what these papers mean.
The Jaenish paper proves that the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus alters human DNA.
The De Marinis paper proves that the Pfizer mRNA vaccine also alters human DNA.
Oh, there are quibbles that I’m “oversimplifying”, but they’re just quibbles, and I will show you WHY they are not just quibbles, but extremely disingenuous ones.
And please note that I am UNDERSTATING when I just say “alters DNA”. The Jaenish paper proves that the viral DNA changes are going into GENOMIC DNA. The De Marinis paper strongly suggests that THE SAME may be happening due to the vaccine.
But before I give you MY take on the De Marinis paper, let me give you the opinions of OTHERS.
Let’s review one first.
Peter McCullough:
Alden et al, Lund University, Sweden, confirms one of our worst fears. The exogenous genetic material coding for the dangerous Spike protein is reverse-transcribed into the human genome; possible long-term constitutive expression/synthesis of disease promoting/lethal Spike.
Translation: The pseudo-mRNA code for the spike protein in the Pfizer vaccine gets into the genomic DNA inside human cells in test tube experiments, and produces both DNA and mRNA coding for what was uniquely in the vaccine. This new cellular DNA and RNA very likely (as a consequence) produces spike protein, causing long-term disease and health issues.
One can legitimately contest the assertion that genomic DNA is being altered (we don’t know this yet – hopefully soon), but any denial of the fact that CELLULAR DNA is being changed, is simply not “fact-based”.
For example, I saw “downplay trolls” on the original McCullough tweet, quibbling about in vivo vs. in vitro – that these results don’t “prove” that the same thing happens in living humans – only in living human cells in a test tube.
The reason this is a hypocritical crock of shit, is that “due to an abundance of caution”, almost every single “carcinogen” and other “bad boy chemical” that is restricted or controlled in the United States, at the cost of trillions of dollars which go into the pockets of the deep state and China, is because of IN VITRO results.
Thus, if it’s OK to have vaccines that do what Pfizer’s vaccine does, then it’s OK to remove the restrictions on benzene, and have benzene everywhere. Likewise for thousands of other chemicals.
Starting to see how this works? Let’s move on.
Alex Berenson:
Hey, remember how they told you the mRNA in the vaccines could NEVER wind up in human DNA? A new study out of Sweden suggests otherwise (at least in lab-grown cells).
Don’t worry, everything is fine.
After all, we have all that long-term placebo-controlled clinical trial data proving the safety of these mRNA shots.*
So About Not Needing Actual Study…[Comments enabled]
Oh, mRNA won’t get taken up into cell lines and thus can’t propagate on a permanent basis in the human body, we were told.
Indeed that’s rather important. Mutagenic (cancer), cytotoxic (you’re ****ed) and teratogenic (any child you give birth to or sire is ****ed) things that get into cellular DNA can lead to irreversible damage because most cells in the body are replaced on regular basis.
There’s an infamous quote that is in fact wrong: Our body fully replaces itself every seven years. That’s not true. It came out of a study that looked at the average age of cells in a human, using Carbon-14 dating. Anyone who has done any sort of statistical work knows the problem with averages: They are just that, and the statistical outliers are there but unaccounted for with such simplistic tripe.
There are several types of cells that are never replaced. Certain ones in the cerebellum, for example, that deal with coordination and balance, those in the ocular lenses and the eggs in a woman’s ovaries.
There are also cells that are much more-frequently replaced. Red blood cells, for example, have a roughly 90 day life cycle. This is why an A1c test, which measures glycated hemoglobin (that is, red cells that have been damaged by glucose) will tell you what your average blood glucose level has been over the last three months. The epithelial cells in your intestines last only about five days, and the live (dermal) part of your skin is replaced in about 2 weeks. Skeletal muscle and the rest of your intestines, on the other hand, are good for around 15 years.
But with few exceptions it is indeed true that most cells are in fact replaced. This is why you can get cancer; when there is an error in that replication the result can be a cell that has wildly damaged regulatory mechanisms on self-replication. If that damage kills the cell immediately then there’s no real foul, but if it leads to much more rapid reproduction…… that’s cancer.
We have known for quite a while that viruses can and do in some cases infiltrate into DNA. We know this because we’ve found pieces of viral RNA in our genome and not a few of them either; they’re literally all over the human genomic code. It’s wildly improbable that said congruence happened by random alignment of the various codons in our genetic code; ergo, it got in there at some point in evolution and then got into either the eggs of a developing female fetus or the sperm of a male and thus propagated. We only know, of course, about the integrations that weren’t fatal to offspring or the person in question. We also know that in general genetic mutation is harmful or fatal nearly all the time, so that we have said evidence in our genome means this sort of thing happens quite frequently and most of the time it screws the person who has it happen to them.
Indeed some cancers are blamed on viral infections where the viral RNA gets transcribed into the DNA of the cells and causes said errors.
mRNA is not really “new” technology; Moderna has been trying to make it work for cancer, for example, for a long time — without success. The reason for failure has always been dose-related toxicity that has overtaken the benefit when used in sufficient quantity to actually deliver a therapeutic effect. This is not an uncommon reason for drug and therapy failure; in fact that too happens all the time.
But we didn’t bother doing intermediate and longer-term study on the specifics of using mRNA (or, for that matter, a modified virus as with J&J) to deliver a partial viral payload in this regard before rolling it out. Instead, we just trusted that there’d be no integration. Indeed zero epigenic, mutagenic and teratogenic studies were done;they take years to do and we just flat-out didn’t bother. Where we had original control groups in the summer and fall of 2020 we intentionally destroyed them by giving the placebo arm of the original trials the drug three months later, making analysis on any sort of clean analytical basis impossible.
This was wild arrogance given that we know viruses do indeed integrate via infection. To presume it won’t happen here, when we cause cells to produce viral proteins, when the very same thing, producing viruses when a cell is infected, sometimes does is ridiculously and wildly-irresponsible arrogance.
In the BNT162b2 toxicity report, no genotoxicity nor carcinogenicity studies have been provided [26]. Our study shows that BNT162b2 can be reverse transcribed to DNA in liver cell line Huh7, and this may give rise to the concern if BNT162b2-derived DNA may be integrated into the host genome and affect the integrity of genomic DNA, which may potentially mediate genotoxic side effects. At this stage, we do not know if DNA reverse transcribed from BNT162b2 is integrated into the cell genome.
This study does not prove that said genetic pollution has occurred, but it raises the distinct possibility as the precursor events required for this to occur are now known to happen with scientific certainty.
We don’t know because we deliberately did not look; the studies were not done prior to use.
Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (abbreviated as gDNA[1]) is chromosomal DNA, in contrast to extra-chromosomal DNAs like plasmids. Most organisms have the same genomic DNA in every cell; however, only certain genes are active in each cell to allow for cell function and differentiation within the body.[2]
The genome of an organism (encoded by the genomic DNA) is the (biological) information of heredity which is passed from one generation of organism to the next. That genome is transcribed to produce various RNAs, which are necessary for the function of the organism. Precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) is transcribed by RNA polymerase II in the nucleus. pre-mRNA is then processed by splicing to remove introns, leaving the exons in the mature messenger RNA (mRNA). Additional processing includes the addition of a 5′ cap and a poly(A) tail to the pre-mRNA. The mature mRNA may then be transported to the cytosol and translated by the ribosome into a protein. Other types of RNA include ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA). These types are transcribed by RNA polymerase II and RNA polymerase III, respectively, and are essential for protein synthesis. However 5s rRNA is the only rRNA which is transcribed by RNA Polymerase III.[3]
Used in a sentence:
While we tend to be more concerned about changes to genomic DNA, changes to any kind of human DNA are potentially problematic.
SPECIAL SECTION: Message For Our “Friends” In The Middle Kingdom
I normally save this for near the end, but…basically…up your shit-kicking barbarian asses. Yes, barbarian! It took a bunch of sailors in Western Asia to invent a real alphabet instead of badly drawn cartoons to write with. So much for your “civilization.”
Yeah, the WORLD noticed you had to borrow the Latin alphabet to make Pinyin. Like with every other idea you had to steal from us “Foreign Devils” since you rammed your heads up your asses five centuries ago, you sure managed to bastardize it badly in the process.
Have you stopped eating bats yet? Are you shit-kickers still sleeping with farm animals?
Or maybe even just had the slightest inkling of treating lives as something you don’t just casually dispose of?
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
And here’s my response to barbarian “asshoes” like you:
OK, with that rant out of my system…
Biden Gives Us Too Much Credit
…we can move on to the next one.
Apparently Biden (or his puppeteer) has decided we’re to blame for all of the fail in the United States today.
Sorry to disappoint you Joe (or whoever), but you managed to do that all on your own; not only that, you wouldn’t let us NOT give you the chance because you insisted on cheating your way into power.
Yep, you-all are incompetent, and so proud of it you expect our applause for your sincerity. Fuck that!!
It wouldn’t be so bad, but you insist that everyone else have to share in your misery. Nope, can’t have anyone get out from under it. Somehow your grand vision only works if every single other person on earth is forced to go along. So much as ONE PERSON not going along is enough to make it all fail, apparently.
In engineering school we’re taught that a design that has seven to eight billion single points of failure…sucks.
Actually, we weren’t taught that. Because it would never have occurred to the professors to use such a ridiculous example.
Justice Must Be Done.
The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.
Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.
Kamala Harris has a new nickname since she finally went west from DC to El Paso Texas: Westward Hoe.
Mozart
Sedate. The adagio (2nd movement) from his clarinet concerto.
And a bit…less sedate. Last movement of his Symphony #41 which is the last one he wrote.
(Don’t be fooled by the fact that there’s a Symphony #42, or 43, or…well up to #55 at least…as I explained last time the numbering isn’t really chronological. To the best of my knowledge he’s got at least 51 symphonies under his belt (though some are disputed), so if we were ever to renumber them, this one would be #51. But we never will renumber them; that would cause confusion for centuries.)
By the way, that sucker ends in a five part fugue. Not easy to write!
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)
Spot Prices
All prices are Kitco Ask, 3PM MT Friday (at that time the markets close for the weekend).
Gold seems to be see-sawing around the $1900 mark. This is what we’ve been seeing for months now. No…wait. Until just a couple of weeks ago it was see-sawing around the $1800 mark.
I start these posts by copying the one from five weeks ago. That way I get to keep the eagle from back then. One of my chores is to go in and modify the precious metals prices (which otherwise would be, respectively, six and five weeks out of date on publication).
But this time I’m going to keep them, just to show you.
Gold actually crossed the 1900 line briefly last week. Now it has been above and below it; it is at $1908.50 right this second (12:14 PM Wednesday). Thursday, it touched $1980.10 briefly in overnight trading.
Wow! That’s not an all time high but it’s within sight of it (I believe the all time high was about $2025.)
So here it is, Friday after markets closed and we see:
Gold has been shoved down ninety dollars from its midweek high.
JWST Update
Webb has made a lot of progress just in the last couple of days. There have been two entries to the blog. The first was basically explaining in a great deal of technical detail how it’s going to search for very early galaxies. This is to try to shed some light (so to speak) on how galaxies formed in the first place. This happened at a time before the maximum look-back time Hubble could see. https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/24/to-find-the-first-galaxies-webb-pays-attention-to-detail-and-theory/
But today I checked again, and it looks like HUGE progress has been made on the mirror alignment. They’re still looking at HD 84406, a star in Ursa Major that’s fairly bright (but still not bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye) but more importantly relatively isolated on the celestial sphere.
Here’s the blog entry: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/25/webb-mirror-alignment-continues-successfully/ I will summarize below.
Last week they had swiveled all of the segments so that the light from each segment landed in a certain place, forming a pattern that matched up with the actual layout of the mirrors.
This week they tried to focus each individual mirror, and it appears they have largely succeeded. Here is a GIF showing “before” and “after”
Not only did they complete that step (which is step 2 of the mirror work), but then they swiveled the mirrors some more, and put all 18 images in the same place, completing step 3! (They weren’t even scheduled to start work on it for another week or so!)
HD 84406, as seen by JWST with the 18 individual mirror images stacked but not yet in phase.
Now, you’ll notice six spikes coming off the star, and they are showing diffraction (they look dotted). That’s because the mirrors are not in phase with each other–in other words the distance the light must travel from each mirror to the sensor is not quite the same. If the difference is a full wavelength, it doesn’t matter, but if the difference is a partial wavelength, it will. (And different colors of light will have different wavelengths, so some light is in phase, and others going through the same two mirrors, is not–unless the length of the path through each mirror is exactly the same.) So now they are going to do Step 4, “coarse phasing” as the first part of sharpening the image. (Step 5 is “fine phasing,” Step 6 “Telescope Alignment” and Step 7, “Final Correction.”
According to the Where’s Webb page, four of the five sensors are at temperatures ranging from 38-48 K (-392 to -373 F), but one, MIRI (which is being used for most of this alignment work) is at 112 K (-258 F).
Round, Comma Dammit!
I shouldn’t even have to write this. It has been just about 2,500 years since people figured out Earth is round. In other words this was Old News when Jesus was preaching. But such is the abysmal state of science education today, that many are taken in by hucksters and outright bullshitters who can slip subtle lies into their arguments, and be convinced the earth is flat.
OK, I’m going to deal with some terminology. I don’t want to say “Earth has a spherical shape” because a sphere is a precisely defined mathematical concept (the set of all points that are at the same distance, r, from a given point in three dimensional space). Which means that, technically, a bump the size of a coronavirus on the surface of the earth is enough to make it not-a-sphere. Of course, there are much bigger bumps on the earth, anything from a fire ant hill in southern Louisiana, to big mountains like the rather famous one to my west.
But then, on the other hand, all of that isn’t enough to make the earth (proportionally) less spherical than a cue ball.
Even the fact that the earth is slightly oblate (thicker through the equator) and that deviation from a perfect sphere is greater than that caused by mountains, isn’t enough to make the earth less spherical than a cue ball.
But Earth is better described as an oblate ellipsoid, than as a sphere. But terrain, and a few bulges caused by the fact that the earth’s interior is not perfectly uniform, mean it’s not quite an oblate ellipsoid, either.
So to avoid nitpickers, I’m just going to say it’s round. Or if I need a noun, I’ll say “ellipsoid.” Rounder than a cue ball, but not quite a perfect sphere or even oblate ellipsoid.
Round, comma dammit.
What Does It Take to Replace an Accepted Theory?
I could just as easily have titled this section “What Does It Take to Revise an Accepted Theory,” too.
And another note on terminology. A theory to a scientist is something that is actually pretty solid. It’s almost settled. (Nothing is absolutely settled.) They’d be greatly surprised to find it wasn’t true. (But they are quite conscious of the fact that surprises do happen!) In popular parlance “theory” is a much weaker word. [Hence the (ignorant) argument that goes “It’s just a theory…”] We have the theory of gravitation, atomic theory, and so forth; these are all pretty “solid” right now.
When a scientist is spitballing, speculating, or has something he believes is supported well enough by the evidence to be worth considering and testing, that is a hypothesis. In writing the physics series I tried to avoid explanations that are currently at the level of speculation, though I included one very strong one, cosmic inflation (there’s little doubt it happened; the problem is they don’t have any clue why or how, so they don’t claim it’s a full-on theory–yet).
Basically it takes three things to get scientists to the point where they will reject an old theory.
There must be something the accepted theory doesn’t explain very well (or at all); the more the better. One or two anomalies will make scientists wonder what they’re doing wrong or if there’s some subtlety in the current theory that they’re missing, lots of anomalies will make them question the theory itself.
There must be a proposed replacement theory that explains those things, and also explains the stuff the prior theory DIDexplain well. That’s key. If you chuck out theory A for theory B because theory A didn’t explain phenomenon 27 (but does explain 1-26), then even if B explains phenomenon 27 perfectly, it is no good unless it explains 1-26 as least as well is A did. Otherwise you’re just trading one problem for another.
The proposed replacement has to make some sort of prediction of a phenomenon never seen before, that the old theory does not. And then this phenomenon must be found by observation or experiment.
To take an example, Einstein’s General Relativity replaced Newtonian gravitation. How did it do it? Let’s step through the list above.
Mercury’s orbital semimajor axis was precessing around the Sun, and only part of the motion could be explained as perturbations from other planets. This wasn’t enough to junk Newtonian gravity, or even seriously call it into question, however, because there’s always the chance of an unseen body accounting for the difference. Astronomers looked for it but couldn’t find it. But that just left an irritating question mark especially since such an object would be very hard to see.
The proposed replacement theory would explain Mercury’s precession perfectly. (It was one of the highlights of Einstein’s life when he did the computation and it matched.) But it also correctly explained every other planetary motion as well as the old Newtonian theory did, because further away from the sun, the math of General Relativity reduces to Newton’s Law of gravitation; the additional terms fade to insignificance.
General Relativity predicted that strong gravity would bend light. This was totally outside of anything Newtonian gravity would do, and was a phenomenon not directly connected to Mercury’s orbit. So if someone looked and it turned out gravity bends light, this criterion is satisfied. And indeed only four years after GR was published as a hypothesis, Arthur Eddington observed the Sun bending light from stars near it in the sky during a total solar eclipse.
Another example is plate tectonics (a/k/a “continental drift”), which was initially laughed at, largely because no one could explain how the continents could possibly move, but then it turned out to explain things that hadn’t been noticed yet and the explanation for how it could happen, was uncovered. That’s a fantastic story, and it happened largely in the 1960s. There are still geologists alive who remember that; when their whole subject got upended, and things they had no understanding of (such as why volcanoes and earthquakes happened in some places but not others) began to make sense. And now, of course, geology simply doesn’t make any sense without it. What a thrilling time to live through! [I could maybe do a post on this–or maybe a short series of them–but geology is even less my bailiwick than chemistry is.]
Returning to today’s topic, we have an accepted theory, Round Earth. More specifically we have “Round Earth that rotates on an axis, and orbits the sun in an elliptical path, and the axis is tilted with respect to the plane of the orbit around the sun.” Round Earth isn’t the only component that matters, the rest does too. But I’m going to refer to the grouping as “Round Earth” for convenience.
There is a proposed replacement hypothesis (though I hesitate to dignify it with that term), “Flat Earth.” The idea is that the earth is actually a disk, laid out much like the UN flag. Everything we see on earth is on one of the two faces of the disk, which you can think of as facing “up.” The sun and moon move around entirely above this disc, in circular paths centered on the “north pole” (i.e., the center of the disk). Antarctica is a raised rim around the edge of the disk. Different suggestions are made for how the sun and moon move.
How does it fare with the three criteria?
Round Earth explains the (apparent) motion of the sun across the sky, the length of a day, the seasons, the year, and the (apparent) motion of the celestial sphere. It also explains sunsets, lunar eclipses and solar eclipses. So far as I know, there’s nothing relevant that a good theory of this type should explain, that Round Earth doesn’t explain. (I qualify like this because of course Round Earth can’t explain such inexplicable phenomena as more than three people actually voting for His Fraudulency–because they are totally unrelated phenomena. It doesn’t explain everything; just everything that it ought to be able to explain.)
One putative example that was brought to my attention turned out to be a conflation of the sidereal day (rotation of the earth relative to the stars) with the mean solar day (rotation of the earth relative to the sun). Unfortunately, when elementary school teachers explain Round Earth to their students, they simplify it to the point where it’s possible to confuse these concepts, and I don’t blame them; explaining the difference would treble the length of the lesson. But unfortunately, that confusion sticks around in many people’s minds, ready to be exploited by charlatans.
Another “proof” that the earth cannot be round was brought up in that intercontinental aircraft flights from the southern hemisphere always go to the northern hemisphere, rather than to another southern continent. E.g., no flights from Australia to South America. This is supposedly because the distance is actually much, much greater than it would be if the earth were round. Unfortunately this claim is simply a LIE, as such flights do exist.
Flat earth not only doesn’t explain anything that Round Earth cannot, it utterly fails to explain things that Round Earth does explain. This is a huge failure. It’s masked to some extent because as it turns out there isn’t a flat earth theory. There are several of them, and they’re inconsistent with each other. Usually a flat earth theory can explain something we can see, but not anything else. For that you need a different flat earth theory. As long as they can drag one of these out of the closet to answer an objection, hopefully no one will notice it contradicts the one brought up five minutes before for the prior objection.
It can’t even make a prediction. That’s because it’s multiple theories with multiple models. Nevertheless, some predictions are made, but turn out to be false. For instance, according to Flat Earth, Antarctica is actually an icy fringe around the edge of the earth, and to protect the Flat Earth secret, people aren’t allowed to go there. This fails, of course, because people do go there.
Let’s look at #2 some more. Here’s a list of things Flat Earth cannot explain, at least not without switching through various variants of the model(s).
No Flat Earth map ever includes a scale that lets you determine the distance between any two points. A globe, of course, can and does.
Flat Earth cannot explain differing day lengths, in the Southern hemisphere, or rather, in the continents closer to the edge. According to the Flat Earth model, during the (northern) summer, the sun is running in a circle around the center point (which is the north pole to Round Earthers), fairly close to the center. But then in (northern) winter, the sun recedes further from the center and makes a larger circle around the center point. Since it’s further away from the continents clustered near the center point, those continents are colder at this time of year. The problem is, when the sun is over south America, for instance, in January, it illuminates all of Antarctica (even the parts on the opposite edge of the disk) while NOT illuminating the Arctic Ocean at all (even though the arctic is between the sun and that part of Antarctica.
Because this is such a huge fail, Flat Earthers have to assert that we’re not allowed to go to Antarctica, or we’d see the problem.
Make any sort of astronomical prediction. Given the Flat Earth model, you should be able to tell me where any object “up there” will be at any time. You should be able to predict solar and lunar eclipses, for instance. Round Earth can do this, with great precision, certainly good enough I could go see the total solar eclipse of 2017. More mundanely it can tell you how high in the sky the sun will be at any given time, at any given location. Flat Earth cannot. If they were to try, they might be right some small fraction of the times and places, but the geometry won’t allow it to be simultaneously right for a number of places all at the same time, or for the same place at multiple times. (And if you cannot make a prediction, your theory is useless.)
If the earth is flat, it should be possible to see (say) Pikes Peak from St. Louis. There’s nothing in between tall enough to get in the way. If you’re worried there might be some hill I am forgetting about, go up into the Gateway Arch and look out the windows on the west side. (Note that Flat Earth adherents do post photos claiming “you shouldn’t be able to see this” but it’s generally over water, and a city skyline that’s quite a lot closer.)
Instead of just taking a picture of a far away boat over water, how about watching it as it moves away? If the earth is flat, it should just get smaller and smaller. Instead, it will disappear bottom-up, sort of as if it was curving down over the horizon.
Sunsets. If the sun and moon stay above the disc, how do you explain sunsets? Ironically, the believers in Flat Earth from centuries ago would have no problem with this; the sun drops down through the plane of the disk, travels under the disk and rises on the other side. But that old idea can’t explain why it’s daytime in Tokyo when it’s midnight in the US, so it had to be discarded. But now it can’t explain sunset. What you would expect to see is the sun getting smaller and smaller as it moves further away, then eventually you can’t see it at all and it’s nighttime. That’s not what we see; the sun does not change apparent size in any appreciable way over the course of the day.
Lunar eclipses are impossible with this theory. What shadow can be cast upon the moon when the sun and moon are always above the disk of the earth? Instead, we see the shadow of something ROUND cross the face of the moon. Always round, always with the same radius, no matter where the moon appears in the sky. Almost as if something nearly spherical were casting a shadow on the moon (since a sphere is the only thing that would do this without fail regardless of the orientation), eh?
What would you see if you attached a camera to a weather balloon and sent it up there to where the Sun and Moon (which according to Flat Earth are small and close to the earth) are?
Flat Earth fails on all of these.
I watched a series of videos on this and it added to my list of objections to the flat earth theory. The background is the channel owner took on Flat Earth, then caught a ton of flak from the Flat Earthers. He then published a second video, and a third, and a fourth (actually a four parter), over the space of a few years. The last quadruplet is most useful because it tells you about things you can do to validate round earth and disprove flat earth, without having to do a lot of math and physics.
He is very snarky (meaning he insults the other side routinely and IMHO quite unnecessarily) but his actual arguments are solid. I’m going to paste in the four parter here. If you want to see the earlier videos (which are much longer), he links to them in the descriptions.
If this guy is so obnoxious, why am I using his videos? Because he has a lot of graphics that makes the point clear, and I haven’t the time to duplicate them. So please, ignore the insults.
Flat earth cannot explain how the moon can present the same face to us, no matter where we are. (Cued up after the snarky intro.)
Flat Earth cannot explain the differing behaviors of stars in the sky, by latitude. Again cued up after the snarky intro.
Direct flights in the southern hemisphere. In fact the graphic in the thumbnail is wrong; the flight should skirt Antarctica…but that’s even worse for Flat Earth theory.
As it happens, Flat Earth comes with a conspiracy theory. Apparently, lots of people conspire to suppress the “truth.” But there are problems with that…it’s too many people.
Now here’s the absolute best part.
There is a flat earther by the name of Bob Knodel. He at one point claimed to be a commercial pilot (and therefore could put the lie to Round Earth, if it were in fact a lie), but was exposed as lying about that.
He then actually did something responsible and ran an experiment to try to prove Round Earth wrong. Since, according to Round Earth, any point on the surface of the earth is rotating every 24 hours, a gyroscope ought to pick that up, since it will not rotate. So if the gyroscope appears to be turning 15 degrees every hour, it’s a sign the earth is rotating once every 24 hours. If it isn’t, though…then Round Earth is bunk.
I’ll give him credit for running the test.
Well, he performed the experiment, and saw the 15 degree per hour turn.
Flat Earthers love to claim Round Earthers are dogmatic and only repeating what they’ve been told in school, but that is exactly what Bob is doing here. He is ignoring and trying to explain away a result that supports the theory he claims is wrong. Evidence is staring him in the face, but he’s sticking to HIS damned dogma. Further experiments trying to eliminate other possible effects lead to the same result. But will he consider for a moment his bullshit flat earth theory might be wrong? Nope.
As I said, I give him credit for running the test, and then trying to control for other things.
But no credit for refusing to believe what it was telling him.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
