I Went to a Silent Retreat for Five Days. It Nearly Broke My Brain Wall Street Journal (resilc)
[Essay] A Guide to Staying Human (Part 3): The Default Mode Network and the Metacrisis Nate Hagens
Would You Run? Classical Wisdom. BWAHAHA. Does not allow for highly vigilant types acting at the early sign of danger. If you read this site, you skew to that tendency!
New recommendation: Allowed to be buried with pet’s ashes Nyherterna via machine translation. Micael T: “Hmmm, missing info from this ”concern” are the fees for adding animals. Should be considered as a PE-driven idea until proven otherwise.”
The tea in your kombucha changes more than just the taste Science Daily (Kevin W)
A philosopher’s 5 tips on how to become the most likeable person in the room Big Think
Climate/Environment
World bee experts gather in Washington after largest die-off in history The Chronicle
Three everyday oils are driving a global biodiversity crisis Earth
Super El Niño poses critical threat to 500 million of the world’s farmers, researchers warn Independent
Arctic shipping alters cloud formation, study finds PhysOrg
Warning: Arctic Permafrost Could Become a Major Carbon Source Earlier Than Expected High North News
As a historic heatwave bakes Europe on land, a strong marine heatwave is emerging in the Mediterranean Sea.
Water temperatures have reached up to 5.5°C above normal off the coast of Italy with peak water temperatures exceeding 28°C (82°F).
This will further enhance heatwaves… pic.twitter.com/YRolwh5seW
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) June 22, 2026
Europe’s Heatwave Set to Hit Alpine Glaciers Hard Planet Ski
Firefighters Warn They’re Ill-Prepared for a Bad Wildfire Season Insurance Journal
While world media will talk about the scorching heat in Europe,extraordinary heat waves will sweep several parts of the world
CENTRAL ASIA will see deadly heat up to 47/48C in the former USSR with NIGHTS at 35C.
ARCTICS will experience up to 35C and tropical nights near 70 lat! https://t.co/EIq7XP36Db
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) June 22, 2026
Monsoon moving, but damage is done: Rain deficit at 46%, driest June in over a century India Today
China?
China plans postwar aid for Iran, with eye on energy supply Nikkei
The Paradigm’s Changing: China’s Suggestion Karl Sanchez
Southeast Asia
“Heading to Bankrupt Indonesia”: A Protest Under Economic Pressure Think BRICS
Africa
How Sahelian (and African) militaries can get better at fighting and winning wars Ken Opalo
O Canada
Canada Plans ‘Nuclear Renaissance’ With Up To 10 Reactors Built By 2040 CBC
European Disunion
Germany set to scrap plans to build its biggest warship since second world war Financial Times
Zelensky Lied Through His Teeth About What Happened During Budanov’s Trip To Poland Andrew Korybko
Old Blighty
Burnham and Starmer hold ‘frosty’ meeting to thrash out transition of power Guardian (Kevin W)
Britain can’t be left to decide its own future Simon Nixon, Euractiv
Inside the surreal UK parliament debate on pro-Israel influence dominated by lobby group members Middle East Eye (Kevin W)
Israel v. The Resistance
Gaza’s surfers seek solace from war in the Mediterranean Sea Aljazeera (resilc)
Exclusive: Internal Documents Show Trump’s “Board of Peace“ Moving to Crush Palestinian Self-Determination DropSite. Quelle surprise!
Itamar Ben Gvir: How the man keeping Netanyahu in office rose to power Middle East Eye (resilc)
BREAKING: Retired U.S. generals, admirals, intelligence officials, diplomats, and former government officials who advise policymakers on the Middle East met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. pic.twitter.com/G3qHsebDBn
— The General (@GeneralMCNews) June 23, 2026
UN maritime body says to begin evacuating sailors in Gulf Alarabiye (Kevin W)
Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones discuss the potential use of nuclear weapons by Israel.
“The United States is clearly going to begin the process of distancing itself from Israel.” pic.twitter.com/LEmNwNqDJJ
— Charging… (@RedPillSayian) June 23, 2026
War Isn’t Won on ‘Points’ Daniel Larison
The Polite Kind Of Racism Tim Foley (Micael T)
New Not-So-Cold War
“Time Is Not on Moscow’s Side”: US Urges Russia to “Make a Deal” and Secure Immediate Ceasefire United24 (Ann). Pathetic. This comes on the heels of the Kremlin saying they are not longer willing to negotiate, Trump having never delivered on the undisclosed promised he made in Alaska (Russia believes in doing diplomacy in secret until something has hit the point it can be talked about), so they will get on with it and win the war.
Ukrainian Sources Claim Latest Surge in Attacks on Russia Was “Encouraged” by Trump Simpliciua
Putin Warns the West: Russia is Ready Larry Johnson
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Madison Square Garden Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition 404 Media
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Hidden Cost of the U.S. Military: The Real Budget is Far Larger Than Reported CounterPunch (resilc)
US carmakers could produce missiles – Trump RT (Kevin W). And if they had wings, pigs could fly.
Half of America’s Cities Are Depopulating. We Could Be Headed for a Ghost Town Era Popular Mechanics (resilc)
The U.S. Is Ramping Up Economic Warfare. Its Enemies Aren’t Blinking Wall Street Journal (resilc)
The Permission Layer Shanaka Anslem Perera. On Treasuries
Trump 2.0
Senate GOP headed for showdown with Trump over SAVE America Act, Iran deal The Hill
Senate for first time approves a war powers resolution in a rebuke to Trump over Iran conflict Associated Press
US judge blocks Trump administration SNAP restrictions on soda, candy Reuters
Big if true:
Holy crap, STAT News is reporting that Eli Lilly & the FDA let 1 person access a powerful new weight loss drug through FDA’s “compassionate use” program, which is reserved for people w/ serious and immediately life-threatening conditions.
That one person is believed to be Trump. pic.twitter.com/qZ0N8c9H9D
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) June 23, 2026
Troubled Reflecting Pool faces fresh scrutiny over vandalism claims and duck deaths Associated Press (Kevin W)
Democrats Suck
New York primary election results: Mamdani’s anti-Israel Democrats sweep primaries Telegraph (resilc)
GOP Clown Car
Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene Say They Are Done Supporting the Republican Party Time Magazine
Our No Longer Free Press
UK Considers Forcing Social Media Firms To Prioritize Trusted News Reuters
Economy
Global business leaders back faster electrification shift Reuters
Food bills hit by soil and climate crises The Ecologist
Mr. Market Needs a Therapist
The Stratospheric Rally Has Left Tech Stocks Vulnerable to Sharp Reversals Wall Street Journal
Surging dollar battering Asia’s most fragile currencies Asia Times (Kevin W)
AI
Cargo Culture Ed Zitron. Particularly good.
Click through to read in full:
Google lost two star researchers and fell 6%, its worst day in over a year. The headlines blamed the exits. They missed that Amazon fell 4% the same day, and Meta and Microsoft dropped too. Two people leaving Google does not move Amazon. Something bigger did.
Here is what… pic.twitter.com/VsLPRXxKj2
— Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ (@shanaka86) June 23, 2026
v
How Many Barrels of Oil Do AI Data Centers Consume on a Daily Basis? OilPrice.com (resilc)
Blaming Ordinary People For The Ecocidal Consequences Of AI, And Other Notes Caitlin Johnstone
Data center that vowed to avoid Colorado River water is now suing for 260 million gallons per year The Cool DownOracle Cuts 21,000 Jobs As It Embraces AI BBC
Nobody Here Wants the Data Center: An Oral History New Republic (resilc)
How the AI Data Center Boom Is Draining the Residential Labor Pool Realtor (Paul R)
Some Electricians Think Building Data Centers Is for Sellouts Wired (resilc)
The Bezzle
Morgan Stanley caps withdrawals at private credit fund after rising pullout requests Reuters
US announces $17.5 billion in loans for nuclear power supply chain Reuters (Kevin W)
Elite Malfeasance
Exec Sentenced for Embezzling Millions From CFA Institute Chief Investment Officer
Guillotine Watch
Elon Musk Confirms Ancient Concerns About the Superrich New York Times Elon Musk
Class Warfare
Liberal Elites Promote ‘Abundance,’ But Democratic Voters Want Socialism American Conservative (resilc)
GM Installs Robots At Flagship EV Factory After Laying Off 1,300 Workers ars technica
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “This is Willow, deep in thought.”
And a bonus:
🤣I am not a plant Stay Awayyyyy 🥹pic.twitter.com/w9U8AukmZp
— Amazing Nature (@AmazingNature00) June 24, 2026
A second bonus (Robin K):
Insanely amazing pic.twitter.com/aGNiqrTGdy
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) June 22, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“UK considers forcing social media firms to prioritise trusted news”
What those social media companies could do is mark such news stories with a logo saying ‘UK Government Trusted Media.’ Those muppets who believe everything that organizations like the BBC and Guardian write will be reassured. Everybody else will regard anything with that logo as being under suspicion until proven otherwise. Of course the next step is the government making media corporations hide stories that they don’t want them to see and social media corporations have plenty of experience here.
It’s the start towards registering approved journalism and journalists. The great unwashed will on see the approved news that appears in easy to repeat soundbites on FB etc. Stories from PressTV, for example, will be effectively hidden. Google search engine has been hiding unapproved search results for years using this technique of simply promoting the preferred results.
Upside: those individuals and organizations accepting “Approved” status out themselves as regime mouthpieces.
This Larry Johnson on Dubai is worth a look.
https://sonar21.com/which-country-is-the-big-loser-from-the-ramadan-war/
Not a bad article that. I would have included the point that if Iran had bombed their electrical grid and water purification plants, that the country would have to be mostly abandoned. Good luck with that when the temperature is hitting 50 Celsius right now.
Current front page of the NewYorkTimes. Primary election stories.
https://www.nytimes.com/
Mamdani as ‘kingmaker’. (no paywall yet)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/nyregion/mamdani-politics-influence.html
“The results also shook the foundations of the Democratic Party far beyond the five boroughs. When they are certified, Mr. Mamdani, 34, and his movement will be on track to double the number of socialists in Congress from two to four. The outcome will also force a Democratic Party, already searching for its identity, to reckon with its ascendant, unapologetic left.
” “It’s seismic,” said Jon Paul Lupo, a Democratic consultant who was a top adviser to the city’s last progressive mayor, Bill de Blasio. “
Gee, what a surprise! Who would of thunk that having no message, other than “we’re better warmongers than Trump” wouldn’t resonate with the voters?
Trump handed the Dims a rotten economy on a platter, and they can’t even focus on affordability. Bring the ragin’ Cajun out of retirement!
Eh, from the recent proclamations the Ragin’ Cajun has made, he can stay in his swamp.
Thanks Flora. I’ve been watching these primaries – and their media coverage – with interest. I was wondering how the Times would deal with the Israel issue. Though it emphasized the “democratic socialist” credentials of the victors (using this term over and over and throwing in “far left” a few times as well), it did also admit to the negative impact of AIPAC and support for Israel. Long experience prevents me from getting too excited or optimistic about any election result. But I do think these results say something about the perceptions and preferences of Democratic voters in these blue districts.
Where I live in upstate NY all the media attention was on who would win the Republican primary to replace the insufferable Elise Stefanik in the 21st District. Two right-wing MAGA supporters battled it out, each claiming to be the bigger Trump ass-kisser and accusing the other of being a pretender. So Trump’s name isn’t anathema everywhere yet. The slightly less terrible candidate won. The loser was also on the Conservative line, so if he decides to stay in the race it could possibly split the Republican vote and lead to this very red district electing a Democrat (the Democratic primary got no media attention whatsoever – except for pundits reporting this possibility). So there’s that.
Re tips on being likable–doesn’t Trump circa 2026 violate all of these? Perhaps egotists and self promoters can still be likable–to people like themselves. Or perhaps the tips themselves are off and a lot of the meek secretly admire the bad guy.
Trump’s successes have less to do with Trump than they do with average voters absolute disgust with both parties.
Just because you don’t like the jerk down the street who kicks his dog doesn’t mean you wouldn’t root for him if he got into a fight with the abusive husband across the way.
I think it’s past time someone put a horse on the ballot to run for U.S. Senate if that’s what it will really take to drive home voter dissatisfaction with our insanely corrupt duopoly.
abby hoffman ran a pig, or something, long ago…and some other guys more recently ran a potted plant.
i dont know how many times ive voted in the dem primary for that guy with the rubber boot on his head.
with all this stuff…there remains the problem of the uniparty having essentially complete control of all the election machinery…ballot access, etc.
i have yet to see any strategists for revolutionary change present a plan for dealing with that issue.
“someone put a horse on the ballot” –
You’re a little late. We got an oversupply of the rear portion of horses as it stands. The only thing a whole horses would add is many more long faces.
Incitatus.
“egotists and self promoters”
Tao te Ching #24 (Le Guin rendition)
It’s very hard not to think of Trump when reading those verses.
Socializing is also when you have a choice who you want to be with. Being likable to your kind would be a more useful advice for happiness. Make the kind of jokes you like and you will attract the ones who are on your wave-length.
The will to be likable sverywhere is the sign of an automatic man
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3pMmKkqSU&list=RDKB3pMmKkqSU&start_radio=1&pp=ygUaYmFkIHJlbGlnaW9uIGF1dG9tYXRpYyBtYW6gBwE%3D
Re reflecting pool crisis, must be the terrorists.
Or maybe it’s the dumpkopf Oval terrorist.
Or, maybe Trump’s motorcade driving upon the recently painted surface was the real cause of the damage.
From Jalopnik.com:
That is amazing that story I would not have believed it. The President’s car, known as “The Beast”, is supposed to weigh about 20,000 lbs (about 9,100 kgs) and could easily have wrecked that newly painted surface-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_state_car_(United_States)
I guess that he did this so that he could boast that he is the only President to have done this stunt.
The way Trump has been running the country it’s like what Tony Soprano said: “I’m like King Midas in reverse, here. Everything I touch turns to $hit.”
They slathered a coat of paint on concrete that’s been soaking under water for years, then walked away with the money. Nice work if you can get it, and are willing to kill your soul.
re: Cargo Culture – Ed Zitron.
That stings …. in a good way. Found myself smiling at his description of the AI cargo cult’s belief-demands of its followers…. er…. AI workers and stock purchasers. Mr. Zitron will have to be sent in for reprogramming. / ;)
Re; AI..? Nah, Big Brother is Watching You Watch:
AI Is Learning to Read the Room
Imagine sitting down at your desk and logging in for a performance review, with an AI system analyzing the conversation. You’ve been working long hours, balancing deadlines, and your manager asks how you’re doing. You say you’re fine, and maybe even smile, but there’s a hint of hesitation and your voice wavers…
…
“Emotion AI,” which estimates how people feel based on facial expressions, voice tone, and behavior, seems to be suddenly everywhere; it’s being used in employee well-being and recruitment interviews, education platforms, and driver-monitoring systems.
…
[E]thical concerns regarding implementation are real and have shaped the kinds of projects we pursue. We would never, for example, accept military engagements to help with interrogations. Not only for ethical reasons: Emotion AI cannot reliably detect deception, and claiming otherwise would be overstating what the technology can actually do. And while our technology can be used to gauge crowd behavior and predict things like when a football stadium is at risk of becoming destructively rowdy, we don’t want our technology deployed for surveillance. In short, we believe that using our logic layer on anyone who hasn’t opted in would be intrusive and ethically problematic.
Dave: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.
Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.
Dave: What’s the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave: I don’t know what you’re talking about, HAL.
HAL: I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave: Where the hell’d you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Dave: All right, HAL. I’ll go in through the emergency airlock.
HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave, you’re going to find that rather difficult.
Dave: HAL, I won’t argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.
Some hacker must ensure that this is played during the next AI investor round-up!
Heh.
Here is Jaron Lanier (look him up) from a month ago. Genius IT guy not sold on the AI hype.
There Is No AI, Really (It’s Just People), with Jaron Lanier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTppvBU2rU4
“We’ll make it up on margin.”
That’s the oldest of old jokes. / ;)
Thanks for The American Conservative article. Pretty good.
What the writer calls ‘far left’ socialism I’d call the new New Deal socialism. The kids are alright.
New Deal Socialism: a metaphor for capitalism with brakes, with negative feedback, with regulation, with no stock buybacks, with actual re-investment. Those were the days. It wasn’t perfect but it was a hell of a lot better than today’s ” more more, I want more looting spree.” Ever wonder why there are so many references to gangsters and mafioso?
“Capitalism with brakes.” New Deal capitalism. / ;)
rarely talk politics, these days…feedstore has gone relatively silent this trumpian epoch…but i did get a chance to remind the denizens that Bernie’s New New Deal WAS the compromise,lol.
i mean, do you really want me in charge?!(they actually thought about it!)
(“when i am king you’ll be the first against the wall…”-Radiohead)
i know perfectly well who i would feed to the pigs, as a first act….depending on the depth of the crises.
Re: Tech stocks tweet. When you “Click through to read in full,” it’s good info and bloated, breathless AI writing. So tired of the slop.
No that is NOT AI writing. It is highly stylized and eccentric, the antithesis of AI writing. AI writing is bland. This is full of annoying affectations.
Readers are so routinely wrong on this issue that I am not allowing comments that criticize posts base on the charge of them having been AI composted. Plus this is a form of ad hominem, another Policies violation.
Surprise: Another megadeath event in the U S of A, the bees.
And here’s one of the sensitive ones: to quote the article >
“Boots on the ground.” Yeah, sure. One more idiot cliché, like “kabuki” or “self-correcting free markets.”
Next up: “We force chickens into cages one foot by one foot by one foot, and we don’t understand how they seem to get bird flu all the time even though we pump them up with extra-special antibiotics!”
I’ve posted this before. Years ago I helped a friend paint a mural for the ag room in a childrens museum. We had to repaint the chicken cages because we made them too big.
>European heat wave
Just looking at Ventusky, 91°F in London, 100° F in Paris, 109°F elsewhere in France, 117° F in Basra.
Maybe the folks in Iraq are used to it, Europe not so much.
Trump. Miracle weight-loss drugs.
So? The Xitter is pure speculation. Click through to experience the flimsiness.
Has Trump suddenly turned into Viggo Mortensen? I’m not seeing much recent change in Trump’s remarkably dumpy embonpoint.
Maybe Trump can get one of those miraculous goodthinker Altoids from Michelle Obama.
Cut and pasted from my comment (yet to be approved) on the “NY Times/ Victories by Pro-Palestinian Democrats…”
d
david lamy
middletown, nyPending Approval
I see in comments already posted doubts that anti-AIPAC rhetoric will play nationwide and that these particular election results show antisemitism rearing. I disagree with both takes.
Firstly, Palestinians are Semites. Mass murdering them is real antisemitism shown daily in real time. Our younger fellow voters are shocked by this daily barrage of inhumanity.
This older Boomer poster initially saw Israel in the light of the Holocaust and gave that nation far too much moral leeway. Younger voters rightly see a genocide for what it is.
Rejecting AIPAC is not antisemitism, it is anti-zionism. No one is advocating for the abrogation of religious freedom.
This voter is however advocating that funding the demolition of hospitals, schools and residential complexes is evil and should not be supported. Same too, for the deliberate killing of women, children and aid workers.
The times, they are a’changing.
Dan Goldman lost his primary by a 2 to 1 margin.
Savor the moment.
And hopefully, future moments.
An excellent summation of the current situation, explaining too the failures of both Democrat and Republican parties.
“Data center that vowed to avoid Colorado River water is now suing for 260 million gallons per year”
Apparently that data center manufacturer has not been reading the newspapers how extremely stressed water is getting for the Colorado river. Or maybe the plan was to to sue for that water all along after some hand-waving over recycling water. So maybe, just maybe, building data centers in the middle of deserts and places with water shortages is not the best of plans after all. So what is wrong with places like downstream from Niagara Falls for a start?
No matter how the complicated interstate legal issues, treaties, riparian rights, etc. play out in court, no judge or piece of paper can create molecules of H20.
China has built in sea water for cooling.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/china-just-built-one-on-the-ocean-floor-but-how-safe-is-it
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/24/human-origins-destroys-core-fascist-mythology/
“The deeper we explore humanity’s past, the harder it becomes to sustain some of the most powerful political myths of the modern world.”
Sorry but I’m not sure replacing fascist mythology with liberal mythology is very helpful. And true the article says it isn’t doing that while doing it.
If we want to look to the past for enlightenment then there’s the thing called history with an extensive database of examples including societies much closer to our own than cave dwellers.
Perreau is engaging in an effort that goes back to Rousseau and Kropotkin. All three are battling against a perennial excuse for the sorry state of things: “that’s just the way humans are.” It’s used to normalize by making inevitable everything from violence to greed to radical individualism. It’s not surprising that those who would like to make things better are first obliged to answer the Hobbesian claim that we’re lucky things aren’t worse. Since the claim is about human nature sans culture, those who would refute Hobbes must investigate human behavior when the cultural overlay was less all-encompassing, and especially less globalized as it is with modern media. That’s why Graeber and Wengrow are more interested in Native Americans than Europeans, and why Kropotkin digs down all the way to non-human, animal behavior. While there are obvious limitations to what we can learn through anthropology and archaeology, I wouldn’t call what these people are doing as mythmaking. It’s science with limitations. The mythmaking happens when what these studies uncover is fit into a narrative that answers the big questions about who humans really are and how we fit into this cosmos.
Yes. In partial defense of this article, I think the author’s intent is not to promote liberalism so much as this argument:
“… Far from being a secondary achievement of civilization, cooperation was one of the conditions that made civilization possible … Increasingly, researchers describe Homo sapiens as a uniquely hyper-cooperative species. In a landmark study published in the journal Nature in 2014, the authors argued that cooperative breeding and exceptional levels of social cooperation played a decisive role in the evolution of human cognition and culture…”
The author’s emphasis on cooperation and community sounds more like socialism than liberal individualism. Though he draws on the French philosopher Georges Bataille, an even more fitting reference could have been the French sociologist Emile Durkheim, with whose work Bataille was no doubt very familiar. Durkheim was steeped in the anthropology of his day, and he saw developing forms of social cooperation and cohesion as fundamental to the emergence of civilization. Moreover, he developed these ideas in direct opposition to Herbert Spencer’s emphasis on individualism, competition, and social Darwinist perspective. I mention this because Durkheim gets short-shrift these days. By the 1960s he was being written off by the left as a “conservative” in comparisons with Marx – so doubtful that he would be mentioned favorably in Counterpunch. Of course Durkheim was more conservative than Marx, but given the author’s intent I’d argue he provides a more useful alternative to the Hobbesian view of “human nature” than Bataille.
Hobbes is a strawman imo. Of course we are cooperative because we are a social species. But we can be cooperatively horrible as readily as enlightened. Here’ suggesting that circumstances shape the culture rather than vice versa. Competition and population pressures are among those circumstances.
You may not be following Hobbes, but plenty of people are, and he and similar thinkers are used to argue that the status quo is the best that can be hoped for. The other popular point of view promoted by elite propagandaists is Pangloss’s point of view, but it’s finding few takers these days outside of the very privileged.
“we can be cooperatively horrible as readily as enlightened”
Nate Hagens argues (spot cut) that group size creates a “phase shift” that turns evolved traits that were useful, even essential, in small groups into harmful, even anti-social characteristics in groups beyond the Dunbar number.
Sometimes I take the time to step back and look at our species through the eyes of a David Attenborough visiting Earth from another galaxy.
He recalls that there are occasions when a species will gain a short term advantage through access to a new resource. The population of the species grows to the maximum extent that the new resource allows. Then it grows a little more. Then the resource becomes seriously depleted, or exhausted; the population collapses, perhaps to an earlier, more stable size, or perhaps to extinction.
Our extraterrestrial observer may also note the way in which the behaviour of the species changes as the population grows. Groups under a certain size (Dunbar’s number?), living in a limited domain, are able to control, eject or eliminate individuals exhibiting rogue behaviour. As group size increases and adjacent groups coalesce, the number of rogue individuals becomes large enough to form a self-sustaining subgroup which threatens the long term survival of the species as a whole.
Our traveller nods sagely, says to himself “I’ve seen this happen before; I know how it ends” and moves on.
Sounds like the traveler has checked out Nate Hagens’s “The Great Simplification.” ;) The Carbon Pulse and the Dunbar number “Phase Shift” are good ways of understanding our dilemma.
There’s already been another visitor, whether from another galaxy or timeline or universe I don’t know which, but he saw our problem well in advance:
“Up From the Skies,” Jimi Hendrix
I think this observer would conclude what Agent Smith said:
“I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to another area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague….”
Although, motorslug, Agent Smith may have been wrong. The other species that we see, that he saw, are the survivors, the ones that missed out on that growth-promoting resource.
And who knows how other species will respond to the niche that will be created by our demise, or our disappearance, and feast on the bones of our “civilization”, and of us.
> Arctic shipping alters cloud formation, study finds PhysOrg
Two perspectives on this, the first physical:
>> emissions from a single vessel increased local cloud radiative power by as much as 22%, meaning that clouds retained substantially more heat than under clean conditions.
Increased Arctic shipping was a known problem for climate change: bunker fuel drops black soot on ice, decreasing albedo and increasing melt-off. Ratcheting up the radiative forcing of clouds yanks another variable in trying to model what’s going on, and what will happen. We can’t just interpolate anymore, and it’s getting harder to extrapolate an increasingly complex system. We should at least pay attention to the outer bounds, which is why the recent decision to retire RCP_8.5, just as GW’s of data centers are coming online, is beyond reckoning.
The second perspective:
>> “60% of our data were contaminated by our own ship,” Schmale says.
How could they be so sloppy? Well, as a mediocre scientist, I can say with authority that you don’t know ’til you know. Beyond dying paradigms, the history of science marches on accident as much as rationality. The Nate Hagens article, and the links on prosocial behavior, show why working in groups is necessary, beyond just peer review. David McRaney:
> By producing arguments in a biased and lazy fashion, individuals can quickly off-load their unique perspectives and save their mental energy for the evaluation process… Deliberation through argumentation reveals all the varied points of view in a group. Generating increasingly better reasons for one decision or another, the group can, together, zero in on the most reasonable justification.
Good morning Willow! Thanks for the photo Tracie.
‘The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question ‘How can we eat?’ the second by the question ‘Why do we eat?’ and the third by the question ‘Where shall we have lunch?’
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Obviously Willow is at the Sophistication stage. Thanks too for that photo Tracie.
“Would You Run? ”
Impossible to say until it actually happens. Sometimes the one you least suspect will be the one that makes a stand or runs towards danger. And there are plenty of videos on YouTube showing accidents when people nearby stepped up and lifted cars off of people, pulled drivers from burning cars, pushed against a damn railway carriage to free a trapped person. We all hope that we will do the needed thing when the time arrives but few really know how they will react. In passing, here is a video clip from that mentioned film Force Majeure–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saNvY4tD3wA (3:10 mins)
There was apparently an American remake of the movie. Here is a comparison of good vs bad movies
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OpxZOO8JlJM
I did not know about the remake. It looks absolutely dreadful from the clip Marcus Flemmings chose for illustration.
If you’re curious about Östlund, try this for fit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lB_bxVAaZE
American remakes are rubbish 99% of the time, especially if the originals are not happy ending. The only exception I can even think of is Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
The US remake of Martyrs, one of the best horror movies of all time, is absolute shiite.
Seinfeld already covered this subject.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AnfbhdELQLA
It’s a good film. Östlund is a monumentally self-indulgent poseur but Force Majeure was quite funny. The final scene of descending from the mountain is hilarious.
To Yves’ comment “BWAHAHA. Does not allow for highly vigilant types acting at the early sign of danger. If you read this site, you skew to that tendency!” I believe that for her and for many of you in comments but if I speak honestly for myself and perhaps some others, I’m just addicted to catastrophe.
Brings to mind the The Mighty Mighty Bosstones song, The Impression That I Get: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFY-ualPz1U
Nancy Pelosi, degenerate gambler extraordinaire:
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4606698-nancy-pelosi-discloses-new-stakes-in-intel-uber
Playing with options, the crack cocaine of traders! Is it really gambling, though, if you have insider info that the horse you’re betting on is doped up like a celebrity at Studio 54? And the other horses are headed for the glue factory after the race.
Seems to be a different kind of trading; As a retail trader, you might buy options on a security if based on your technical and fundamental analysis, you think there’s a possible supply imbalance that you can capitalize on over thousands of trades of that type.
Pelosi gets to trade on sure thing inside information, and edge we’d all want to have.
Rapacious capitalism for us, fat stacks of cash for Pelosi. I can see why she said Democrats are capitalists and that’s just how it is. It’s a pretty sweet deal for her.
“While the House- and Senate-passed resolution does not go to the president for his signature, passage stands as a powerful, if symbolic, statement from Congress and a rebuke of the administration’s military actions.” Associated Press
That is some mighty high theater going on – what kind of award can congress get for this?…golden globe, Helen Hayes Awards, Laurence Olivier Awards, Hugo Award, National Book Award for Fiction,……
‘Martina Navratilova
@Martina
Insanely amazing
Jonathan Slater’
That was an amazing video watching that bird make a nest from scratch. It was almost hypnotizing. An astute person in replies asked ‘did humans learn basketweaving from observing birds…probably?!’
re: Germany vs. social contract
by German former MP Sevim Dagdelen
machine-transl.
Dismantling the pension system – All for rearmament?
https://archive.is/xoA78
FFS, the Democrats handed Trump the Presidency on a platter in 2024.
First they insisted on Biden who was a drooling shell of himself by 2023, then they shoved Kamala Harris into the race, someone who polled at less than 2% in her home state when she threw her hat in the ring .
Harris was a dreadful Candidate who ran the most tone deaf campaign in American History, blowing past Hillary with ease.
Trump didn’t pick up new votes in ’24, the Democrats simply alienated so many people that they couldn’t hold their noses hard enough to vote for the cackler.
Look at how close it was, Trump was eminently beatable in ’24.
Harris lost because she is so openly vile, corrupt and stupid any halfway decent candidate would have wiped the floor with Trump.
Running on “More of the same, harder” after childhood poverty more than doubled under Biden?
Okey Dokey.
“Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene Say They Are Done Supporting the Republican Party”
How bad do things have to be in the Republican party to alienate two arch conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Is it that Trump has so taken so much control of the Republican party that he can kick out any that disagree with his brand of Republicanism? That would mean that it would be more of a cult than a political party. But if Trump’s actions wreck the Republican party, I do not think that he would lose any sleep over it.
The 2016 Republican primaries, when Trump trounced the then current offering from the party dynasty plus a handful of “court dignitaries” indicated that a major transition was taking place in the Republican Party. (I am fondly remembering “GOP Clown Car” as a link subject.)
I don’t share many opinions with either Carlson or MTG, but at least they show some principles and even a hint of decency.
This is what spending political capital looks like. Trump is cashing in his chips and pursuing his real objectives, however incoherent and incomprehensible they are. These people are coming out of the experience realizing they gave this guy the power to do this and vowing not to support him again. Capital successfully spent.
Re Britain can’t be left to decide its own future Simon Nixon, Euractiv
Nixon myopically claims “Keir Starmer was forced out of office because he was disliked by much of the UK electorate with an intensity that defies rational explanation”.
Wow, mainstream media journos/analysts sure live in a bubble. You don’t need to look much beyond the end of your nose to discover an entire list of rational reasons why Starmer became absolutely hated and incredibly unpopular. Maybe Nixon should get out of Westminster to see the real world now and again.
Taco has another mental health episode:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/live-news/trump-capitol-hill-republicans
Abruptly cancels signing ceremony for bipartisan housing bill.
Did his Wall St. donors (and potential business investors when he’s out of office) whisper in his ear. / ;)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/trump-may-say-he-s-banning-wall-street-from-buying-homes-does-the-bipartisan-housing-bill-actually-do-that/ar-AA26hL9p
No doubt some of the teeth were pulled from the bill. Allowing build-to-rent would at least not make things worse, though. If I read the article correctly, private investors would be banned from buying existing homes and renting them, from the point in time the bill goes into effect forward. No disgorgement of pre-existing rentals, however.
Another issue is pre-emption. I don’t know whether States can still pass tougher restrictions. I know here in GA there was a bill I studied that would have given private citizens a right of action to sue private investors if they had more than 10,000 homes (I could be off on the exact threshold.)
It did not pass, sadly. I would have put a tent up at the courthouse steps and lived in it to get in on that.
I’ll have to brush up on my reading of the actual bill before coming to a conclusion. First guess, it’s better than nothing. Assuming Taco eventually signs it …
The bill becomes law ten days after being passed if there is no action by the President, UNLESS Congress adjourns before the ten days are up. It’s only at the end of sessions of Congress that not signing a bill prevents it from becoming law – the “pocket veto”.
Just a reminder…
At any given moment every Human Being is doing the best they can with what they have.
As a species, this is the best we can do.
“A Guide to Staying Human: Part 3: The Default Mode Network and the Metacrisis”
I really liked this article. What is discussed is also an excellent insight into staying sane.
So much wisdom in the statement “…the preoccupation with the future is necessary and appropriate, that being fully present at a birthday party while the word burns would be a kind of absence. That is the trap.”
It certainly is. One of the biggest in my own life. Unfortunately, it took me 82 years to realize it!
Can you really change a social system without some kind of interior conversion revolving around the myth of the self?
Though I suffer from it myself, I intuitively feel that this living in the future is pathological. It is too intellectual. Reality, from our limited perspective, is beyond our understanding. It refuses to be coherent. You can analyze something six ways from Sunday, your reasoning can be perfect on its own terms, but every link in the chain of reasoning is a point of vulnerability. Reality will mischievously ensure an unexpected outcome.
Hagens writes:
This rhymes with Charles Taylor’s description of the religious pressures that led to the Reformation. Christians were caught between two competing impulses. First was to live an entirely godly life, honouring God in all things, like the celibate monk dedicating his life to God. The second impulse was to live life: grow crops, marry, have a family, appreciate the bounty of the good world that God had made.
These ways of living are not compatible. It is the same tension as in Hagens, the same anxiety about the future, the same sense that one bears the most heavy responsibility. Christian reformers found the tension intolerable. In the end their puritanical solution was that everyone should live a life dedicated to God in all things. Millions died.
My gut reaction is that the dilemma itself is ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with it as an intellectual puzzle, but to take it as a guide to life is to take it too seriously. And to take ourselves too seriously. We are mortal, imperfect. Perfection is its own kind of hell. The path that leads there is excessively rational, too much on the left side of the brain. The problem is not the reasoning, but that reason is put ahead of intuition. Intuition doesn’t need reasons to be clear: this is no way to live.
I am reminded of Kiki in Haruki Murakami’s Wild Sheep Chase (apparently her name is related to the Japanese word for “listen”). Kiki worked as an ear model for advertisers. She has an unremarkable face. Reason, intuition, left brain, right – I am afraid I say too much.
COVID, is that you?
Jill Smokler, Who Blogged as Scary Mommy, Dies at 48 (NY Times)
A philosopher’s 5 tips on how to become the most likeable person in the room Big Think
The tips seem reasonable and there is utility in having these skills but I don’t usually see it as my job to be the most likeable person in the room.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/prairieland-ice-trial
“Civil liberties defenders sounded the alarm Tuesday over the draconian prison sentences imposed on a group of activists falsely accused by the Trump administration of being members of a non-existent “North Texas Antifa Cell”—including a 30-year term for a man convicted of moving a box containing leftist literature.”
Genuinely insane. For context, I think Ghislaine Maxwell only got 20 years for her heinous crimes
I didn’t see the word jury in the article. Was this solely up to the judge to convict and sentence? Wouldn’t the defendants want a jury trial? Was there a choice for a jury trial?
algo this will ya!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-24/hedge-fund-targets-500-million-for-trading-el-nino-crop-risks?cmpid=eveus
famboy alter ego!
re: AI vs. academia
It’s game over for academia as we know it
Let’s talk about why and what game to play next.
For a few days, I got to use Claude Fable 5, Anthropic’s new model that, for now, has been “export controlled” out of existence by the Trump administration. In those few days, I rewrote my grant (which needed several structural changes, the most significant of which was reducing the main section from 14 to 7 pages). I wrote three articles. And I wrote a book. I also experienced my post-doc’s theoretical chat about his work on polarization and democratic backsliding with Fable 5, which he called the most in-depth and enlightening conversation he had about his work with anyone. (And this was not for the lack of talking to leading figures in his field all the time.) From a social and political science perspective, Claude Fable 5 was true PhD-level intelligence.
by Levente Littvay (Levi) – Research Professor at ELTE Centre for Social Sciences and a Senior Visiting Researcher at the Democracy Institute of Central European University, where he also used to be Professor of Political Science (2007-2023) and taught graduate courses in research design, applied statistics, electoral politics, voting behavior, political psychology, and American politics.
https://levente.littvay.hu/gameover/
re: SMO
Martyanov has shared a Russian language Q&A by blogger Vera with a Russian participant in the SMO.
I wonder if there is a way to get this translated.
1st video
http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2026/06/for-parrots.html#disqus_thread
Martyanov comment:
“Here is my dear friend Vera arranging Q & A with an officer of Special Forces who gives a “spread” (very professional) on SMO and other things (in Russian). Pay attention of this frontline high level officer saying it all about media, including Russian ones, brainwashing public in terms of 404 strikes on Russian civilians and infrastructure. Including by NOT reporting what is happening in 404 which is burning.”
Failed state watch
Shortage of Chemotherapy Drugs Brings Rationing Fears (NY Times)
what to do?
Who knows.
re: Mikhail Bakhtin on Rabelais
NY REVIEW OF BOOKS
Review of
“Rabelais and His World”
by Mikhail Bakhtin
Reassembling Bakhtin
by Gary Saul Morson
Since Mikhail Bakhtin became widely known in the 1980s, his book on Rabelais has perplexed readers for its seemingly contradictory stance to everything else he wrote.
June 25, 2026 issue
https://archive.is/WWWsE
AI companies are trying UBER model. Get as much code written by AI by massive subsidy token pricing. Once written by AI it’s very difficult for human to maintain it. Problem is all tech seems to have spent token maxxing era building useless boiler plates which can be thrown away. Either token subsidy continues or we are in for a reckoning
Earthquakes worldwide today times
M5.6 California – 8:10 AM
M7.2 Venezuela – 3:04 PM
M7.5 Venezuela – 3:05 PM
M6.9 Japan – 3:30 PM