A Vapor Sprayed Over Human Populations? Are We Talking About the Past?
April 6th, 2025Via: The 5th Kind:
Israeli Army Organizes ‘Hiking Tours’ for Jewish Settlers in Occupied Syria
April 6th, 2025Via: The Cradle:
The Israeli army is organizing hiking tours for civilians inside recently occupied Syrian territory during the upcoming Passover holiday, according to Israeli media reports.
The tours, coordinated by the Israeli military’s Northern Command and 210th Division alongside the “Friends on Excursions” group, are supported by the Golan Heights Settlements Council and the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority.
Participants, who must receive special permits, will be escorted by Israeli troops as they travel up to 2.5 kilometers into Syrian land, near the village of Maaraba. Tour highlights include visits to Wadi al-Ruqad (a tributary of the Yarmouk River), the Hejaz Railway Tunnel, and the Shebaa Farms – a contested strip of Lebanese territory occupied by Israel at the base of Mount Hermon.
Though registration has closed, the army said additional tours may be offered depending on security. The excursions mark the first Israeli civilian presence in areas of Syria recently taken over by Israeli forces following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Professor Filippo Biondi, The Scientist Investigating Structures Below Giza Plateau
April 5th, 2025Via: Project Unity:
Flashback to January: Warren Buffett’s $325 Billion Cash Pile
April 4th, 2025I don’t know how many times I’ve posted about Warren Buffett amassing hundreds of billions of dollars in cash, in anticipation of a major correction in stocks, but it’s a lot.
He knew that valuations had gotten insane, which essentially rigged the market to blow.
I wonder if he also knew that Trump would light the fuse?
Via: Investopedia:
A key chart value investors like Buffett use could help us narrow down the options: the S&P 500 index’s historic price-to-earnings ratio. That’s because it now sits 67% above its historical norm and almost 50% above its early 2022 value. This remarkable deviation could be a major reason that the famed Oracle of Omaha could be storing cash.
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The chart for the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio since 2022 tells a striking story about the stock market. It tells us investors are paying $30 for each dollar of earnings for the trailing 12 months, far above the historical median of 17.9.3
In other words, investors are paying almost $30 for each dollar of corporate earnings when, historically, they’ve paid 40% less. We’ve focused the chart on the run-up in the P/E ratio since early 2022; since then, it’s ballooned 50%.
Thus, this chart could provide a stark warning that stock prices are being driven more by investor optimism than the underlying value of these stocks, exactly the kind of market condition that Buffett has said makes him keep his “elephant gun” of cash at the ready.
New Antibiotic that Kills Drug-Resistant Bacteria Discovered in Technician’s Garden
April 4th, 2025Via: Nature:
Researchers have discovered a new antibiotic molecule that targets a broad range of disease-causing bacteria — even strains resistant to commercial drugs — and is not toxic to human cells.
The molecule was found in soil samples collected from a laboratory technician’s garden. The discovery shows that “there is terrifically interesting stuff hiding in plain sight”, says Kim Lewis, a microbiologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the research. “Kudos to them that they knew what to look for.”
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Wright and his colleagues set out to find microbes that have developed previously unknown tricks to kill pathogens. They collected soil samples in Petri dishes with growth medium and stored them for a year. The researchers then exposed the microbes from these samples to Escherichia coli, a common gut bacterium that can cause serious disease.
One sample showed potent antibacterial activity — by a species belonging to the genus Paenibacillus.
More: New Class of Antibiotics Discovered
AI 2027
April 4th, 2025Via: AI 2027:
We predict that the impact of superhuman AI over the next decade will be enormous, exceeding that of the Industrial Revolution.
We wrote a scenario that represents our best guess about what that might look like. It’s informed by trend extrapolations, wargames, expert feedback, experience at OpenAI, and previous forecasting successes.
“Listening to Music Alone Operates as a Social Surrogate”
April 4th, 2025Via: PhysOrg:
Humans have a fundamental need to belong, which strongly motivates our behavior. Failing to connect with others can lead to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. There are traditional ways to fill this need, like spending time with family and friends, but there are non-traditional strategies as well, activities that might not be immediately recognized as social.
These are known as social surrogates, which can buffer against loneliness, isolation and social threats, like rejection, just as well as time spent with others.
Parasocial relationships, such as the one-sided bond between fans and celebrities, immersion into the social world, and reminders of others, are all social surrogates.
“Listening to music alone operates as a social surrogate along all three of those pathways,” says Paravati. “All of these paths can help us feel less lonely and more belonging. Music helps us feel connected to the artists; it can make us feel immersed in the world of music; and music can remind us of others.
“You might think you’re motivated to listen to your favorite song because you think it has a catchy beat, but it’s likely that you’re drawn in because that music is filling your social fuel tank and helping you feel a sense of belonging.”
For the study’s first experiment, researchers asked participants about their use of known social surrogates, such as favorite television shows, as well as their use of music.
“We found that listening to one’s favorite music helped individuals feel less lonely,” says Paravati. “But someone’s favorite music was more effective at this than just listening to music in general.
Oil Tumbles 8% as China Retaliates with Tariffs on U.S.
April 4th, 2025Via: Reuters:
Oil prices plunged by 8% on Friday, heading for their lowest close since the middle of the pandemic in 2021, as China hit back in an escalating global trade war with the U.S. after President Donald Trump’s barrage of levies this week.
China announced it will impose additional tariffs of 34% on all U.S. goods from April 10. Nations around the world have readied retaliation after Trump raised tariff barriers to their highest in more than a century, leading to a plunge in world financial markets.
Trump’s Tariff Strategy Explained in 18 Minutes
April 4th, 2025I never thought I would see the U.S. resist China’s grand strategy.
It would have been nice to have done it more slowly.
Factories could have been built, the expertise could have been cultivated, markets could have adjusted in an orderly manner…
Nope. That’s not how it’s going to go.
Trump has less than four years to try to do what would, in any sane approximation, take twenty.
Welcome to the deep end.
Via: Tucker Carlson:
SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Present in Cerebral Arteries Up to 17 Months Following mRNA Vaccination
April 3rd, 2025Via: Journal of Clinical Neuroscience:
Spike protein expression was detected in 43.8 % of vaccinated patients, predominantly localized to the intima of cerebral arteries, even up to 17 months post-vaccination.
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None of the cases showed nucleocapsid protein positivity, supporting the absence of active viral infection.
