ESCARGOT

 It makes you wonder who the first person was to look at a snail and think: I'll eat that.

the Ol'Buzzard

WARNING! THE CHRISTIANS ARE COMING AND THEY ARE NOT VERY NICE PEOPLE.

 

the Ol'Buzzard

I AM SOME DISGUSTED WITH THE HUMAN RACE

 

 

Yesterday I posted about the fusion breakthrough at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.  It is truly a breakthrough that could change the future of the human race.   The problem is that I am old and I have seen too much of the human race; a façade of civilization to cover up the most base instinct buried in our DNA.

 

We must step back and realize that the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is the government entity responsible for all of our nuclear weapons.   Almost all of the technology we enjoy today came as spinoffs of weapon development.

 

Look at the world.  Women are publicly beaten by the morality police and there are religious beheadings throughout the Moslim world; The Uighurs in China are forced into labor camps; There are gulags in North Korea and Russia; school girls are kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram and forced into marriages; Untouchables still exist as an underclass in India; Russia is bombing the civilian population of Ukraine; China has the largest navy in the world and is threatening Taiwan; North Korea is developing long-range missiles that could reach the United States carrying nuclear warheads; The United States, one of the most warlike nations ever to exist, invaded Iraq to replace Saddam Hussein and ended up destroying the country and killings thousands-of-times more people than the despot replaced…  

Look at our history and look at the atrocities man commits in the name of politics, religion, and ego.   From the first mythical family when Cain killed Able, mankind has shown itself the most violent and destructive animal to ever inhabit the earth.

 

 

The invention of a clean, eco-friendly, unlimited power source has the potential to change the world for the better; but that would be disregarding who we are.  

 

These are the things the Ol’Buzzard thinks of when he can only sleep five or six hours a night.

the Ol’Buzzard

THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE

 

 

 

Show me the people who control the money, the land and the weapons

and I will show you the people in charge

George Carlin

 

 

Put on your headphones 

the Ol'Buzzard

A REBOOT FOR CIVILIZATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 

A major scientific achievement that could change civilization as we know it has just occurred; but has been lost in the noise of political unrest, holiday mania, and air travel disruption.

It has happened in December 2022 the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory using lasers successfully created a controlled thermonuclear fusion. 

We have been able to produce nuclear fusion since the mid-1940s with the advent of the Hydrogen bomb.  What we haven’t been able to do was control the fusion process.

   

Fusion results when you bring two elements together under extreme pressure and temperature and form a new element releasing energy in the process.

Example:

Protons have a like charge – let’s call it a positive charge – they repel each other.

By increasing the temperature and pressure you can force those two protons together; finally to a point where a new force (the strong nuclear force) overcomes the repelling forces and combines the two protons into a new element nucleus.  

This new nucleus has less mass than the sum of the original mass of the two protons.  

The difference of that mass is released as energy.

Under controlled conditions the explosion that comes out also creates an implosion toward the center; under high temperature and pressure, the Lawrence Livermore lab was able to sustain the explosion – energy release. 

After the successfully controlled fusion, the Laboratory found that energy output was fifty percent higher than the energy imputed from the lasers: more energy out than was put in.

 

The conclusion to this is that fusion is an energy source that could produce electricity cheaper than oil, coal, or gas and with a zero carbon footprint.  Portable fusion sources could eventually replace batteries in electric vehicles.

Wars are fought and countries are held hostage over fossil fuel energy sources.  

Controlled thermos nuclear fusion could be a reboot for the environment and the human race. 

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 

 

MY YEAR AGING UNGRACEFULLY

 

2022 has been an uncomfortable year for me.   I am a year older moving toward my mid-eighties and beginning to feel my mortality.  I have had a couple of heart flair-ups and ended up in intensive care for two days.   I look in the mirror and barely recognize the old man looking back at me.

 

It brings to mind the book Fool, by one of my favorite authors Christopher Moore.   It is the story of King Lear as told by his Court Jester.

 

“Goneril went to her father and took his hand, ‘Yes father you are old.  Very old.  Really, really, extraordinarily, mind-bogglingly –‘

 

She turned to me for a clue.

 

‘Dog fuckingly’, I suggested.

 

‘- Dog-fuckingly old; said the duchess.   You are feebly, incontinently, desiccatedly, smelling-of boiled-cabbagely old.  You are brain–rottingly, balls-draggingly –‘

 

‘I'm fucking old!’ said Lear.”

 

Like King Lear I fucking old, I’ll stipulate that.

As exposed in my blog, like most old men I am full of advice, mainly because I am too old to go out and set a bad example. 

the Ol’Buzzard

AN AFTERTHOUGHT OF THE WEATHER EXPERIENCED THIS WEEK

 

 

On Sunday the 19^th (Dec 2020) the temperature was 32 degrees (0 Celsius) and and Maine had two feet of wet snow drop in a twenty-four-hour period.

 

This past Saturday (Dec 24^th) here in western Maine we had three inches of snow, changing to rain that lasted 24 hours.  During the rainy period, the temperatures went up to 50 degrees (10 C).   Within three hours after the rain ceased our temperatures dropped to 14 degrees (-10 C).

   

Our world here in western Maine froze.

 

On the Maine coast, torrential rain accompanied by winds gusting to 70 mph, coincided with record-high ocean tides resulting in coastal flooding.

 

In a state with 1.3 million people, we had 130,000 homes without power.

 

I know everyone across the U.S. experienced abnormal weather patterns this week, some much worse than ours.

 

 

Only the most ardent climate deniers detached from reality may deny that the earth’s climate is changing.

 

With the ocean warming by degrees every year, I can only imagine what the future world will look like by the end of this century. 

the Ol'Buzzard

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

 

the Ol'Buzzard

A MATTER OF PRESPECTIVE

 

How MAGA republicans continue to view 

Donald Trump

How some Republicans are starting to view Donald Trump

The emperor has no clothes!

the Ol'Buzzard

SWITCHED ON BACH

 Bach with synthesizers: Cantata 29

Best listened with headphones, if you have them. 

the Ol'Buzzard

TRUMP TRADING CARDS

Trump is now offering digital Trading Cards for the low price for only $99 each. 

Super Trump

 Trump the Cowboy.

Trump the Fighter pilot.

Not bad for a man who dodged the draft:

 Bone Spurs!

I understand that there are 45 of these cards.  What a great Christmas present!  

And the profits all to to Donald Trump.   

But this one is not included - but should be.

Anyway, you can not be an actual MAGA Republican if you don't buy these cards.

They will go quick, so order while the supplies last.

You can order your cards here:

CollectTrumpCards | Donald Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs

This isn't a scam.  He is offering these cards because he loves you?

I don't actually understand digital trading cards.   I hear they are not actual physical cards, but that you receive them through your e-mail?

the Ol'Buzzard

THE PAST STAYS WITH US.

 

When I was in Navy boot camp in 1959 our Company Commander was an old salty first-class Boatswains Mate.  One of his most used expressions was,  ‘Fuck me silly with a Handy Billy.’   The Handy Billy, also known as the P50, was a gas-powered water pump used for firefighting aboard Navy ships.   Today, when I fuck something up my go-to explicative is still ‘Fuck Me Silly’.  

I don't remember his name, but he made an impression

They call it a crow; but look at the beak.  Its got to be a buzzard

The Ol'Buzzard

TECHNOPHOBE

 

I am one of the holdouts in a soon-to-be-extinct generation.  I have resisted the bionic implanting of a cell phone onto the list of my anatomical necessary organs.

 

I have owned a flip phone but never turned it on unless I was away from home and found it necessary to make a call – which was seldom.

 

However, two weeks ago after my phone quit working, I was notified by Verizon that my flip phone would no longer be supported and that I would have to purchase an upgrade.

  

I called Verizon and after fifteen minutes of navigating through six recorded menus, I was finally able to speak to a human.   I canceled my Verizon subscription.

 

I had seen the advertisement for a Lively Jitterbug smartphone in a senior publication.  I gave them a call and immediately had a representative on the line.   For five dollars more than I was paying Verizon, I got their smartphone with numerous apps including a calendar, GPS, internet, and unlimited text and phone usage; and the phone operates on the Verizon network.  

 

The phone was a breeze to set up and came with an extensive manual.  I had a question and called their tech line.  The phone was answered by a real person on the third ring.  I have got to admit I am impressed.

 

I still don’t plan to turn the phone on unless I am away from home and need to make a telephone call, but the apps will come in handy. 

 

The Ol’Buzzard reluctantly enters the techno-communication century.

 

OLD BUZZARD GIVES ADVISE

 

Growing old doesn’t make you smart, just smarter than you were in your youth.

That said, I have lived through eight decades, so the advice I offer - you can take it or leave it.

I have seen the environment drastically change since the time of my youth and young manhood. The water and the air have become more polluted, and the earth is warmer, causing many species of animals and insects to migrate north.

In the first Native village we lived in in 1985 we were informed that the well, which was located among Oil storage tanks, was polluted and that we should draw our water from a second well located in the center of the village.  A few weeks later we were told that the well in the center of the village was polluted and that we should boil the water (there were one-hundred-fifty people in the village and at least that many dogs.)  We ordered our first water distiller from a company called Water Wise, and have distilled our water ever since.

     

When we lived in Kentucky there were signs on the Ohio river warning people to limit the number of fish they should eat from the river and for pregnant women to avoid eating river fish.   Now here in Maine, the Fish and Game department has the same warning in their literature.

 

In the last Native village we lived in, there was a gold mine to the north and a platinum mine to the south.  People ate fish from the river and there was a high cancer rate in the village.  We distilled our water.

Likely, most water sources on this earth are not fit for human consumption without extensive treatment. To me, distilling our water is a health precaution. 

 

 

 

I don't advertise for any product - just share my experience of products I like.

This is our unit and cost about $350.  The unit is dependable and last for decades.  We distill a gallon a day, which adds about $15 a month to our light bill.

 

There are eight billion people in the world and our water supplies are finite.  There could be a future time when wars will be fought to control water sources.

 

 All problems stem from unchecked population growth. 

the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

I'M A BAD BOY

 I just had three of my old post two from 2011 and one from 2013 put behind a warning presumably because of mentioning  specific sex acts that aren't available in heaven.   I wonder how that works?   Did someone access my old post and complain to google?  Has this happened to anyone else?  Are these the same people that ban books?  Is this creeping Christianity?  

Help me out here Yellowdog Granny, do I dare use fuck in my post?  

the Ol'Buzzard

 

ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING IN COLORADO - WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

 

 

Police have in custody the man that attacked a gay nightclub in Colorado, but not the man responsible for the attack.

 

 

Responsible for more American deaths and carnage 

than any person alive today.

George W. Bush not only crashed the economy in his last term of office and was responsible for the near destruction of two of our major automobile companies, but he got us mired in an unnecessary twenty-year war that cost the lives of 2,000 military personnel and hundreds of thousands of civilians.  

By letting the Assault Weapons Ban expire during his first term he is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of children and thousands of adults that have been killed by military type assault weapons in the hands of civilians.    

the Ol'Buzzard

WORLD POPULATION JUST CRESTED EIGHT BILLION!

 

CASSANDRA WARNING

 

The world population just crested eight billion.   People worry about political unrest, climate change, pollution, wars, pandemics, and nuclear weapons…  But, all of these concerns have one hidden root driver: uncontrolled population expansion.    

It is obvious, that we will reach a point where human consumption and pollution will become unmanageable. 

Where is that critical maximum?  Ten billion? Twelve billion?   At the present rate of population growth, we could exceed fifteen billion people populating the earth by the end of this century.

Increased consumption.

Increased pollution.

Accelerated climate change.

Worldwide pandemics.

Increased conflicts and wars.

Depletion of finite natural resources.

Government population control (one-child families)  is an unpopulated subject and it is easy to place blame for burgeoning population on other countries.

I would not presume an answer, but uncontrolled population growth poses the biggest danger to the human race in the future.

I am old, so I don’t have a dog in this hunt, and I won’t be here to tell you ‘I told you so.’

WORLD POPULATION CLOCK

Last week I looked at some boots online, and now boot commercials are spamming my searches.  Sorry.

the Ol’Buzzard

 

WHAT THE FUCK?

Last week we had three of the hottest days ever recorded in November in Maine.

Today it is 31 degrees and snowing - up to six inches predicted!

the Ol'Buzzard

AND HE IS RUNNING AGAIN

 

Make America Gag Again

the Ol'Buzzard

JERRY LEE LEWIS DIED OCTOBER 28

THE KILLER IS DEAD

LONG LIVE THE KILLER

An icon of my generation.  

Your great-grandparents danced to his music.  

the Ol'Buzzard

AMERICAN ZEN MEDITATION

In Zen Buddhist meditation, people focus on Konas, paradoxical riddles, to move beyond the analytical and egotistical mind.   Probably the most famous is ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’ 

These standard Konas might be fine for the oriental monastic mind who has far less ego, but it falls flat for the fast-paced Americans who live in a world of 280-character tweets.

Therefore I am suggesting some American Kona for American Zen meditation:

1.   Why does Superman have a cape?

2.   Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

3.   Why is a nickel larger than a dime?

4.   Why are there no B-cell batteries?

Contemplate these questions while sitting in your five-minute meditation.

 

You can thank me later

The Ol’Buzzard

No Bullshit Zen 

 

Voting Conundrum

 

 

People believe what they want to believe, often facts don’t matter.

If you address an issue negatively that conflicts with someone’s belief, you have probably made an enemy for life. 

So many conspiracy theories and ‘alternative facts’ permeate our society that I consciously avoid commenting on the current controversies tearing apart this country.

It makes no difference to me if people want to believe the earth is six thousand years old, that Elvis is alive in Vagus, that UFOs will kidnap you and harvest your farts; but for the life of me, I can’t understand how a working, middle-class person can vote for Republicans.

 

Democrats passed Social Security, Republicans opposed it.

Democrats passed Medicare, Republicans opposed it.

Democrats passed VA funding, Republicans opposed it.

When George W. Bush crashed the economy and the two major automobile companies Dodge-Chrisler-Jeep and Chevrolet-GMC were facing bankruptcy.  Democrats bailed them out and Republicans opposed it.

Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act and Republicans opposed it.

Democrats passed funding for families and businesses hurt by the pandemic and Republicans opposed it.

Democrats passed a bill that limited the amount a senior would have to pay for medication and medical services, Republicans opposed it.

Democrats capped the amount that drug companies could charge seniors for insulin and Republicans opposed it.

Democrats passed the infrastructure bill that is paving our roads, repairing bridges, and creating jobs – opposed by Republicans.

 

What do Republicans pass?   Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts that benefit the wealthy and major corporations.   They are a one-trick pony.   Republicans keep their base riled up by declaring that Democrats want to cancel Christmas,  take their guns, turn their sons gay, kill babies and make America into a black and brown majority country.   These are cost-free positions; but when it is time to pass legislation it will be to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and the VA. (turn these programs over to for-profit insurance companies to run) and of course: tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts for the wealthy. 

Ronald Regan declared it Trickle Down Economics: make the rich richer and the crumbs off their tables will feed the working class. 

It seems to me that working people voting Republican is like turkeys voting for Thanksgiving.

I can’t understand it.

The Ol’Buzzard

I READ THEREFORE I AM

 

I sometimes think that my reading is similar to people binge-watching TV.   I probably read at least thirty-five books a year, plus periodicals and articles that grab my attention.   There is never a time that I am not reading one or more books.    It is almost as if I am living in alternate worlds away from the realities of today. 

The human race is changing rapidly and I am not sure I like what I see.   Evolution throughout the animal world has required hundreds, if not thousands of years to achieve.   From African Eve to Homo sapiens required three million years.

 

 In the 1970s Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock.  He proposed that changes in our knowledge and environment took many decades, if not centuries, before human acceptance.  He predicted that humans were incapable of accepting rapid change, and historically that had been proven.   This was probably true until the advent of computers.  Changes had always occurred slowly and, as a result, human evolution moved slowly.

  That has speeded up.

Because of technology and cell phones, the synapses in human brains are being rewired.  Where once we were social animals communicating through personal interaction, now our social interactions are primarily through technological devices.  Instead of talking we text. Our friends are followers.  We are rapidly moving to a virtual world.   We are evolving, and this is happening over decades, not centuries.

 

 Genome editing (CRISPR), pioneered by Jinnifer Doudna, has suddenly advanced human technology to an era of designer humans.    The Nazis dreamed of this; but now it is a reality.   Through CRISPR it is possible to manipulate the gender, hair and eye color, build, etc of an embryo.   A master race?    The moral implications are reigning in human experimentation, but the technology is here.  It is only a matter of time.  Like nuclear energy, what can be used for human benefit in defeating disease, can also be used to the human detriment.

   

Artificial Intelligence is another technology we have a tentative handle on.   Humans are limited by their acquired knowledge and the speed of access.   Computer speeds and storage capacity is unlimited and increasing exponentially due to nanotechnology.   As we advance in quantum technology all the knowledge of the world could be stored on chips no bigger than the point of a pin.    Supercomputers are being designed to teach themselves (AI) and through the internet could acquire all knowledge in the world almost instantly.  By the end of this century, computers will control every aspect of human life: energy, transportation, architecture, medicine…  Will computers become the herder and we the sheep?

 

That is if we survive this century.

 

The United States has 5,428 nuclear weapons, United Kingdom 225, Russia 5,977, North Korea 20, China 350, India 160, Pakistan 165, Israel 90, and France 290.   

How long before some unstable person does the unthinkable: the megalomaniac Donald Trump had the nuclear launch codes.   Kelly called Trump an idiot, John Bolton called him a moron.  The head of the CIA said it was like dealing with a kindergartner and that Trump was unbriefable because of his short attention span – we dodged that bullet (or warhead.)   Now Putin is nuclear rattling.

 

The world is changing rapidly and the human race is evolving. 

Science follows science fiction and the worlds of Ray Bradbury and Michael Crichton may be the step-cousin of the future. 

 

The Ol’Buzzard

 

It is not an asteroid, a super volcano, or climate change that will bring an end to the most destructive super predator to walk the earth;

NOT THIS ONE

THIS ONE

 it is the thousands of nuclear weapons in the hands of individual despots, religious fanatics, and outright idiots

   We dodged the warheads with four years of Donald Trump having access to the launch codes

But not to worry, the government has a plan to preserve the human race.

the Ol'Buzzard

THE ANTS WILL INHERIT THE EARTH

 

 

Except for the arctic, you can’t look around anywhere in the world without finding ant hills.   I know that people down south say that cockroaches will survive mankind, but they are wrong – it’s the ants.

In my yard, in the summertime, there are dozens of ant hills.   There must be thousands of ants beneath the surface. 

Ants operate in collectives, they can’t survive individually.   Neighboring collectives have been known to work together forming a super collective.

The Argentine ants were spread throughout the world via world trade.   When brought together Argentine colonies from different countries form super colonies, making them the most populated society on earth.

Regardless what you try, you can't get rid of the buggers.  When the nuclear apocalypse arrives, the aunts will survive to feed on us.  

By the way

Happy October 1st.