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Monday, March 20, 2017

Pre-Cogs and Prophets 10, Random Stuff, and More

- a clear continuation of my other posts on pre-cogs/prophets:
- clear that in spite of how crazy some of this sound many countries have pursued research into this area (I guess it's like the ancient periods. Stories of legend which national governments hope they can use to gain an edge over one another?). In a way we've done things that are the complete opposite of what we need to solve this thing? It's obvious through all of the government experimentation what's going to happen. They'll try to establish global hegemony under their particular style of rule. It won't necessarily be rule under the 'Word of God'?
- as I've said previously, even if you are a pre-cog/prophet yourself it's very difficult to design an experiment where certain biases can't come into play. Here's what we have basically established. People experiencing pre-cog visions in spite of being physically separated, little to no drug involvement, lack of trauma, etc... They end up seeing roughly the same thing and since they're seeing ahead of time (look up the proper definition of what a pre-cog/prophet is and you'll realise that the actual definition makes it extremely difficult for anyone to be defined as a valid pre-cog/prophet) then we've established that it can't simply be their imagination or a physical aspect that is specific to them... One of the things I'm guessing is that they have a higher proportion of dreams/visions that come true. It may be that for certain periods of time their dreams/visions only come true. None of what they're seeing can be coming via their imagination especially if they've never seen the target before and what they're seeing in their visions/dreams comes true repeatedly?  Neuro-degeneration (through ageing) leads to de-augmentation of visions/dreams which makes it more difficult for pre-cogs/prophets to weed out 'false positives'. Clear that many people may 'want abilities' but most don't (push versus pull theory)? Most of the scientists who have entered this particular region seem to use it for the roughly the same thing. Namely, abstract thought and manipulation. It's simply a different place to get work done (as a good example Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein, Newton, etc... all seemed to get work done here). They see what they see in spite of the 'God/religion' that they may be pursuing
- since what the pre-cogs/prophets are seeing are structured (have form) then people naturally assume that there is an intelligence behind what they are seeing. It's more more likely then not that there is a God?
- despite what is said by the religions, it's obvious that there are alternate pathways to reaching the 'Afterlife' (if it exists)
- as I've said previously it feels pointless fighting them because they've done more good then harm over the years?
- only those who are independent (and have abilities of some sort) can really go into this and investigate this? Too many vested interests and the fact is . That said, as others have mentioned those who are smart/dumb enough can see logic in anything...
When you start looking for something you tend to find it. This wouldn't be like Simon Newcomb, the great astronomer, who wrote a mathematical proof that heavier than air flight was impossible and published it a day before the Wright brothers took off. I'm talking about people who found a pattern in nature and wrote several scientific articles and got it accepted by a large part of the scientific community before it was generally agreed that there was no such pattern, it was all just selective perception."[4]
- if there is a God, why not make more of us pre-cogs/prophets if God wanted everyone to have a chance. This would guarantee 'faith'? One thing that has bugged me is the level of manipulation in society. What's been obvious from some of the US (and other national) government experiments is that they've roughly reached the same conclusions but what I don't get is this if the penalty is so high for not following the 'Word of God' why do we continue on in this way? Listen to what they say and it seems really obvious that since most people don't have a chance why bother? Moreover, semi-evidence of God actually makes things worse because it could lead to a breakdown of current society which seems very much juxtaposed to the way a God would want us to live? So (for many of us) we just bury things and take what we want and ignore the rest?
- lot of overlap in teachings of even religions that are in conflict (if you look)?
Fight in the cause of God with those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for God loveth not transgressors.
— Quran, Sura 2 (Al-Baqara), ayah 190[104]
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,[a]
- people don't understand the reasons why religion may have become politicised but it becomes much easier if you just look
Enemies is a broad term that applies to all manner of foes and adversaries. In this verse persecutors are specifically mentioned. At the time Matthew was writing the Christian community was subject to considerable persecution. The entire Jewish community at both Jesus and Matthew's time was subject to persecution by the Romans.[citation needed]

This verse causes some problems for those interested in war. In the Middle Ages this verse was interpreted as only applying to the personal sphere. One must not hate the individual who lives in an enemy nation, but hating the enemy country, faith, or ideology was acceptable. Others have rejected this view. Leo Tolstoy specifically read this verse as a rejection of militant nationalism.

Another interpretation was that by enemy, this verse meant heathens, not opponents, and what it was advocating was the love of converting the heathens to Christianity through missionary activity.[citation needed]
- even though the pre-cogs/prophets in the Old Testament/Judaism are generally lauded as strong they also got things wrong? My gut feeling is that they also didn't have complete control (much like now)? Also, like magicians to a certain extent they need to 'market themselves' in order to get things done and get others to listen to them? The actual meaning of what it means seems to have changed over the years from someone who is an actual pre-cog/prophet to someone who makes good decisions?
lynn buchannan real or fake
'Project Stargate' Member on Secrets of Remote Viewing
Military Remote Viewing Psychic Training Course   FULL DVD ON YOUTUBE
- nearly all of the religions have a mechanism which helps to ensure their spread and survival (whether for good or bad?) Propaganda Fidei, marriage, etc...
- the reason why the pre-cogs/prophets believe in Heaven and Hell isn't obvious to the public in general because they don't understand how this works. They see forward in time continuously. Over time, they figure out most (if not all) of their dreams are coming true. The problem is that what they see sometimes can not be prescribed to what happens on Earth. Moreover, they hear tales of others who have seen roughly the same thing (often without any pre-knowledge of what is occurring beforehand). These things basically 'makes more sense' to these people. The unfortunate thing is that the actual number of genuine pre-cogs/prophets out there seems to be tiny (around half a dozen in the entire world at any one moment in time?) so getting this message through to the 'others' is a bit difficult?
- I have a funny feeling our science is missing something big? The pre-cogs/prophets aren't doing what they are doing because they have 'huge energy capacities'. It's almost like a different different force? Using particle accelerators may only allow us to understand part of the picture? Experiments into noetics suggests to me that a lot of scientists, and religious folk believe that one of the final forces is perhaps the 'mind'? For me, it's like this though, gravity and electromagnetic forces can have a impact upon a charged particle. However, the impact of one is much stronger (electromagnetic) then the other (gravity). My guess is that is where we're currently at the edge. We can and know how to interact weakly and at a crude fashion with the final fundamental force/s but not properly (some of the physics theorists out there also seem to allude to this?)?
four fundamental forces
In physics, the fundamental interactions, also known as fundamental forces, are the interactions that do not appear to be reducible to more basic interactions. There are four conventionally accepted fundamental interactions—gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear. Each one is described mathematically as a field. The gravitational force is modeled as a continuous classical field. The other three, part of the Standard Model of particle physics, are described as discrete quantum fields, and their interactions are each carried by a quantum, an elementary particle
- as I've mentioned previously there are heaps of ways of mimicking prophets which makes this incredibly difficult to investigate. They seem to believe roughly the same thing that I do but they make it very difficult on themselves? True prophetic visions are generally pretty easy to distinguish from false ones (gets more difficult with age and bad health though). There are lots of reasons why pre-cogs/prophets may have heaps of false positives: substance abuse, age, health, pure fear (over time they know the problem with 'heightened/augmented reality'. If their anxiety levels are too high in real life they can suffer from periodic false positives)
demon prophets
A Rabbi, a Priest and an Atheist Smoke Weed Together
- a lot of saints, pre-cogs/prophets have had moments where they've had to deal with 'the other side'. This in itself isn't direct evidence for Muhammad being a 'false prophet'. The frustrating thing about Muhammad is that he's difficult to authenticate/validate because he was basically illiterate and had to figure things out as he went along? Deep down, it's insanity that the Arabs would knowingly follow a pre-cog/prophet that they knew was illegitimate (especially if they knew the penalty)?
- clear that they knew way back when the mental illness theories about the pre-cogs/prophets and those who were 'hearing voices' several thousand years ago. It's been a theory which has been heaped upon pre-cogs/prophets multiple times. What if they're sensing what they are sensing but they aren't 'technically ill though'? There are heaps of instances of this out there. Moreover, let's go through the logic of this. If they're seeing basically the same thing independent of many other variables (geography, time, information, etc...) it should stand to reason that they could potentially hear things as well. Obviously, the key question is the source/origin of this material though? I see it this way if the origin is coming from someone/something good or bad but the message is identical should it really matter as long as you can see through the junk?
- idealism/exceptionalism are ideas that have driven humanity crazy at times? The interesting thing for me is that everyone is basically trying to spread their particular ideology. It makes study of pre-cogs/prophets very difficult for the simple reason that even if you are completely honest it's still really difficult to figure this stuff out
- to those with natural abilities it seems pretty obvious? Just follow the instructions and you'll get what you want? Not only that but you also get feedback on how you're going through pre-cog/prophetic visions?
- idealisation (and demonisation) makes it more difficult to identify the distribution of abilities? For instance, in the case of the two main protagonists, Jesus was relatively pacifist while Muhammad was more 'aggressive'. Other thing about some of the pre-cogs/prophets out there who claim to be 'high up the chain' is that they can't really explain everything. If you read through Muhammad's teachings he was neither pacifist nor an outright violent man. He wanted to resolve things peaceably if possible. For any other pre-cog/prophet examining him (and others such as Jesus) one wonders why not just 'hand everything over' at the one time?
- interesting stories facts about Jesus. If the 'Holy Trinity' is true then Jesus should have been all knowing and all seeing. Why does he need a 'second go' at things? Why didn't he just do things first time around so that everyone could live happily ever after? He may have possibly have been a 'eunuch' which probably made his life of dedication and servitude to God a lot easier (assuming this part of his life is true. There are accounts of him possibly of having engaged in female relationships in some parts). Obviously, there are heaps of other stories and myths about him as well if you look
- obviously, the most interesting pre-cogs/prophets are often amongst the most controversial. Note, Muhammad. Most pre-cogs/prophets are reasonably certain where they're headed in the 'Afterlife'. Muhammad seems to be less sure then the others? A lot of 'messengers of God' are generally universally luaded in some respect. Muhammad sort of seems a bit different in this respect (pre-cogs/prophets are often controversial but not to the level that Muhammad seems to be at?)? Others have suggested that he seems to be a bit more 'carnal'. That said, read through a lot of what Muhummad said and did and he seems pretty reasonable. Violence wasn't his first port of call as critics have often mentioned. He (like Jesus) did a lot of stuff that was more 'appropriate' for his time. Brought into the future things look a bit awkward though
prophet muhammad
Muslims often refer to Muhammad as Prophet Muhammad, or just The Prophet or The Messenger, and regard him as the greatest of all Prophets.[6][7][8][9] He is seen by Muslims as a possessor of all the virtues.[10] As an act of respect, Muslims follow the name of Muhammad by the Arabic benediction sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, "Salutations of God and Peace be upon him," sometimes abbreviated "S.A.W."),[11] a practice instructed by Qur’an and Hadith. The deeds and sayings in the life of Muhammad – known as Sunnah – are considered a model of the life-style that Muslims are obliged to follow. Recognizing Muhammad as God's final messenger is one of the central requirements in Islam[12] which is clearly laid down in the second part of the Shahadah (Arabic:, 'Testimony' or Islamic proclamation of faith): La ilaha illal-lah, Muhammadur-Rasulul-lah (Arabic:، , "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God"). The Qur’an (3:132, 48:29) chiefly refers to Muhammad as "Messenger" and "Messenger of God", and asks people to follow him so as to become successful in this life and the afterlife.
- if you look and think you'll realise that a lof of criticism of Muhammad and Islam seems to be 'superficial'? Given context they aren't that much different from the rest of the world in their perspective of things
In Islamic belief, revelations are God's word delivered by his chosen individuals – known as Messengers—to humanity.[59] According to Islamic scholar Muhammad Shafi Usmani, God created three media through which humans receive knowledge: men’s senses, the faculty of reason, and divine revelation; and it is the third one that addresses the liturgical and eschatological issues, answers the questions regarding God's purpose behind creating humanity, and acts as a guidance for humanity in choosing the correct way.[60] In Islamic belief, the sequence of divine revelation came to an end with Muhammad.[60] Muslims believe these revelations to be the verbatim word of God, which were later collected together, and came to be known as Quran, the central religious text of Islam.
muhammad prophet quotes
- funny fact about Muhammad. Most pre-cogs/prophets seem to know which way they're headed (up, down, or otherwise) but he was worried? I wonder whether or not Muslims worry from time to time once they hear about this or understand it?
- leads me to my next point. Since most pre-cogs/prophets know pretty much where they're headed they actually look forward to the 'Afterlife' (should it exist). They know that life is better 'elsewhere' and that Earth isn't really 'their home'. They also know something else. That getting in isn't as hard as some may make it out to be? Moreover, while the terms 'God will provide' might not mean much down here it can mean something very different if only you just listen and if you understood what has already been created for humanity (if God is real)
- leads to the following. Being a pre-cog/prophet isn't as great as some people may think. Look at history and pre-cogs/prophets often have horrible lives 'down here' (though things have become better in the 'modern age')? Most of what they do only becomes of interest after they've 'moved on'
- when it comes down to it not really much separates the religions. What's interesting for me is the discussion in general/mixture of people. How they identify what is good and what is bad?
- one of the funnier moments in religion. Whether Balaam was mentally ill or God actually made a donkey talk to him, it's pretty funny...
- Muhammad (just like Jesus) was yet another one of the possible Messianic candidates who hasn't really fulfilled all of the requirements? You could argue that technically that all of them combined has ended up with roughly the same thing though?
The last prophet, or final prophet, is a term used in religious contexts to refer to the last person through whom God speaks, after which there is to be no other. The appellation also refers to that prophet which will induce mankind to turn back to God.
- clear that a lot of people have thought about this issue for a lot. Deep down, even those who have 'abilities' will know that deep down it will take 'something special' to get everyone on the same page. An individual or group that can seal everything up? Some people will never be satisfied even if they are provided with everything and everything is explained? At times, it feels like there needs to be an actual 'apocalyptic event' of some sort to get people to change their ways permanently?
- this is the most interesting aspect of the religious period of humanity's history. They thought that if they could identify the 'correct prophets' that they could somehow come up with the best solution for everyone? So much of what the religions say is based on the word of what others have simply said. For the most part it's just one persons word against anothers. The only genuine way out of this is for a machine/system to be built whicah can verify all of this once and for all (though machines can obviously be tampered with as well)? 
CrossTalk - What's Left
- if religion is part to complete sham, it's superb because most people do not have any abilities, have any idea how to control them, etc... All of the religions have engaged in shenanigans of some sort which has made things worse for those simply looking for the 'truth'
CrossTalk Bullhorns - On The Case!
- Big Bang Theory/Genesis theory/pre-cog vision could have been 'pure luck' or cognitive bias from seeing a supernova/star explosion? We have instances in ancient history of people seeing this happen in the night sky? When was telescope invented and when was first supernova observed? Possible that you can't warp back further then the beginnings of the Universe because prior to that standard space-time did not exist (and therefore our current laws of science/physics?). This ultimately means that
- one of the things about modern society is that often those who are religious are looked down upon. This is particularly the case of the hard core conservatives who effectively give their lives up for their God. What makes it even more unbelievable is that despite all of the flaws, problems, and holes in the Holy Scriptures as they are they still do their best to serve the supposed 'Word of God'
sunni vs shia vs shiite
Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism

Random Stuff:
- as I said previously my newsfeed at, http://individurls.com/myfeeds/dtbnguyen/ seems to be buggy. I've been looking at alternatives that can be built on freely available infrastructure. Obvious easiest way is to use an RSS feed aggregator/parser which you can then insert into code for any web page that you wish...
building php news aggregator -sql
How To Create an RSS Aggregator with PHP and AJAX
building news aggregator pure php
php parse xml file
rss to html
javascript img= options
remove images via javascript
layout css
formatting html tables
parse remote code javascript
auto rss generator
- deal enough with Windows support issues and you'll eventually have to deal with licensing issues. Even if you have the right/valid license you may not have the right media. Downgrades are one of the options for media as well as current installs
convert windows 7 professional to home premium
- if you're interested in some laughs and giggles there are some pretty funny, smiling animals out there via 'Google Images'. Obviously, some of it them are Photoshopped. Ironically, the funniest ones tend to be the natural ones?
quokka smile
mexican walking fish smile
chimp smile
koala smile
dog smile
cat smile
- not that difficult to take a screenshot on Android...
taking screenshots android phone
These days, you can take screenshots on phones running Android 4.0 or later with the press of a couple buttons. On most Android phones, you can take a screenshot by holding down the Sleep/wake button and the volume-down button simultaneously. Hold these buttons down until your screen flashes.
- does anyone miss the good old days when phones didn't explode? Seriously though, I'd rather a phone be a little bit bigger then look pretty but have the chance of exploding periodically...
- reminds me of the Apple model whereby later versions of OS X and iOS are only available on later versions of their hardware
- latest in ICT world
- if you watch this space for enough time you'll realise that money doesn't necessarily equate to capability
- if you understand what happened after the 'World Wars' it's actually pretty funny. A lot of countries basically couldn't figure things out so they're in 'No Man's Land'. If the US weakens (which seems to be happening in spite of what they may be saying it could be mayhem once more?)
- latest in defense world
Iran claims 'radar evading' fighter jet almost ready

Random Quotes:
- Lenin himself said, “spite in general plays the very worst role in politics.” Putin’s ill-considered plan for an energy war against Turkey demonstrates this maxim in spades.
- Russia wants to punish Turkey.  That should be clear.  And Vladimir Putin definitely has the ability to make things difficult for Turkey.  The balance of trade is pretty clear. Russia purchases $30 billion in goods from Turkey per year. All of those services are easily replaced elsewhere.

But Turkey relies on Russia for $20 billion of natural gas every year.  If that flow is even slightly altered, even for a single day—Turkey will grind to a halt.  That natural gas engines Turkey’s electric grid.

Gas is next. Russia will start pulling it.  They have already cancelled work on the underwater gas pipeline which, together with the nuclear electric plants, would eventually make Turkey more energy independent.

Turkey cannot get that much gas replaced.  They are in public conflict not only with Russia but also with alternative suppliers.  They sided with the Muslim Brotherhood so Egypt will not supply them.  They have been very aggressively critical of Saudi Arabia so they will not supply them.  There is always Israel and Israel could, potentially, help supply Turkey’s natural gas needs—but Turkey, a former ally of the Jewish state, has been openly hostile to Israel.
- What appeals to Islamophobia at home nurtures the image abroad of an America that hates and represses Islam. That image feeds the very Islamist terrorism to which people like Cruz are so anxious to apply their favorite labels. And in that respect the meme about the choice of words in presidential statements is not just inane; it is damaging and dangerous.             
- Ledeen is the source of the eponymous doctrine according to which “Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business.”
- “If Russia were faced with a large-scale conventional attack that exceeded its capacity for defense, it might respond with a limited nuclear strike. To date, Russia has never publicly invoked the possibility of de-escalation in relation to any specific conflict. But Russia’s policy probably limited the West’s options for responding to the 2008 war in Georgia. And it is probably in the back of Western leaders’ minds today, dictating restraint as they formulate their responses to events in Ukraine.”
- So long as our leaders continue to insist on using military power to solve every problem, demanding that all outcomes have to match our preferences, and refusing to work with regional and global powers we might not like, we can count on the ISIS fires to continue burning.  If we want to succeed - fostering a Middle East we can live with – then changes must be made and made quickly.  We continue clinging to spin at our peril.
- Obama is a kind of Fukuyamian. Like Francis Fukuyama, the author of the famed 1989 essay “The End of History,” he believes that powerful, structural forces will lead liberal democracies to triumph over their foes—so long as these democracies don’t do stupid things like persecuting Muslims at home or invading Muslim lands abroad. His Republican opponents, by contrast, believe that powerful and sinister enemies are overwhelming America, either overseas (the Rubio version) or domestically (the Trump version).

For them, the only thing more terrifying than “radical Islam” is the equanimity with which President Obama meets it. And, to their dismay, that equanimity was very much on display on Sunday night.
- Russia is pushing Ukraine and the Europeans to give the separatist territories more autonomy with constitutional amendments, but Kiev and the West insist that Moscow must give back control of the border between Russia and the separatist territories first. The two sides are interpreting the Minsk agreement differently, making it difficult to move toward a lasting resolution of the conflict.
- In Moldova, corruption is endemic and systemic. It is entrenched in the government institutions and at every level of society. Corruption includes the state’s capture of key institutions to benefit private interests.

In the last five years, Moldova has gone from success story to captured state. Any EU support for the country should be linked to the fight against corruption. This is how Moldova’s international and development partners assessed the situation in the country following the so-called robbery of the century—the illegal withdrawal from three Moldovan commercial banks of about $1 billion (€900 million) through underperforming loans.

The case represented an extraordinary example of corruption, whose scale is unequaled in recent history. The amount that disappeared from the Moldovan banking system was equivalent to about 20 percent of the country’s GDP. The heist occurred after ten years of economic, financial, and political assistance from Moldova’s development partners. This aid was aimed in particular at the implementation of the 2005–2010 EU-Moldova Action Plan and at the preparation of Moldova’s signing of an Association Agreement with the EU in 2014.
- The Navy needs something like the TERN, because an enemy like China or Russia will attack the satellites and datalinks that form the sinews of American military power. “If conflict results in the reduction of satellite communications and networking, ships operating distant from the carrier strike group will need the ability to generate these capabilities organically,” McGrath said.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/revealed-how-lethal-flying-robots-will-revolutionize-the-us-14584
Outside analysts seemed to have little doubt about what the Iranians launched on Nov. 21: a Ghadr-110, a version of the country’s Shahab-3 missile. That missile figured in the nuclear negotiations, because of evidence that Iran had conducted studies about how to shrink a nuclear device to fit into the Shahab’s nose cone.

The November test, if confirmed, would be a clear violation of Security Council Resolution 1929, which remains in force until the nuclear accord goes into effect — probably in January. After that, a new Security Council resolution will take effect, in which Iran is “called upon” to stop work for eight years on any ballistic missiles that could deliver a nuclear weapon. But the test would not violate the nuclear accord itself.
- PARIS - Scientists from the United States, Japan and China are racing to perfect satellite technology that could one day measure greenhouse gas emissions from space, potentially transforming the winner into the world’s first climate cop. 
Monitoring a single country’s net emissions from above could not only become an important tool to establish whether it had met its promises to slow global warming, a point of contention at climate talks in Paris, but also help emitters to pinpoint the sources of greenhouse gases more quickly and cheaply.
“The real success of a deal here fundamentally revolves around whether we can see emissions and their removals,” said John-O Niles, director of the US-based Carbon Institute, which studies methods of carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement. 
“We know satellite technology is evolving so that there is an increasing ability to actually tell whether countries are telling the truth.” Most estimates of greenhouse gas emissions are now based on calculations of energy use and other proxy data, rather than on-the-ground measurements, leaving a huge margin of error when nations submit their figures to the United Nations.
- "One of reasons the Soviet Union collapsed so quickly was that the Soviet economic model could not properly feed people," explains Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal.

"There was a real problem with scarce goods. Today, the assortment, the amount of cheese, is shrinking, but it's not a question of starvation or hunger or even a big problem to get some food. And it will not happen because today's Russia can produce food."

When Russians look for someone to blame for their economic problems, many point to the countries that imposed sanctions in the first place -- the U.S. and Europe. Fed by a steady diet of government-controlled anti-western media, they feel their country is under attack economically, politically, and militarily.

"There is a siege mentality," says Maria Lipman. "There are enemies all around, but we stand proud, and we will not bend, we will not surrender to oppression. We are invincible."
- "This was a devastating blow for the U.S. oil industry," Cramer said.

OPEC's decision pushed oil prices lower on Monday, with U.S. crude futures falling over 3 percent in midmorning trade. Internationally traded Brent also hit a 6½-year low.

"There is no cartel," Cramer said of OPEC. "The cartel was meant to keep the price controlled. They ended the cartel, and that's why this is happening."
- Drained by a 17-month crude rout, some U.S. shale oil companies are merely hanging on for life as oil prices lurch further away from levels that allow them to profitably drill new wells and bring in enough cash to keep them in business.

The slump has created dozens of oil and gas "zombies," a term lawyers and restructuring advisers use to describe companies that have just enough money to pay interest on mountains of debt, but not enough to drill enough new wells to replace older ones that are drying out.
- Despite America extracting about 185 billion barrels of oil since our founding, leading researchers at Rice University predict that the U.S. could have 2 trillion barrels of recoverable oil, enough to meet America’s current demand for the next 285 years.

The reserves may be written down, but if prices rise they will come right back.
- Chinese oil major Sinopec is building a filling station on an island in the South China Sea, as China continues to expand its civilian infrastructure in the disputed waterway, entrenching its reach in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

The filling station and accompanying storage tank on Woody Island in the Paracels will take a year to complete, the company, whose listed flagship is Sinopec Corp , said on its microblog on Monday.
- Genuinely independent middle powers are actually attractive partners for friend and putative foe alike. They also have more potential diplomatic leverage than countries whose every move is an all-too-predictable reflection of, and supplement to, that of its principal ally.

Outsourcing effective responsibility for foreign and security policy to the US or anyone else wouldn’t be wise even if we could afford the obligations this involves. It looks even more indefensible, unnecessary and unproductive in the current environment. New Zealand’s experience suggests that Australia’s future defence direction is at least worth debating.
- Firstly, the US’s allegations that the Islamic State is preparing to use chemical weapons must be looked at in light of the US’s incredibly limp-handed offensive against ISIS. Not only have the US’s so- called bombing attacks on the Islamic State been shockingly ineffective, but now that Russia has begun her own bombing of ISIS, the US has gotten hopping mad.

As revealed here,  the US has been behind ISIS for some time now. So if ISIS is now deploying chemical weapons, one must ask if the US is also behind this development.

The US’s repeated claims that other countries are using BW and CW must be viewed in the perspective of its own activities. When the US changed its domestic legislation to give itself immunity from violating its own biological weapons laws,  it was done so apparently to grant itself leeway to deploy a country-wide bio/chem attack, via this delivery system.

The US has now been caught red- handed in another covert program, facilitated by a secret handshake with selected pharmaceutical companies, to supply pre-determined targets with “imposter pharmaceuticals.” These imposter pharmaceuticals, which come in the same packaging as ordinary pills, will cause heart attacks/strokes in those who unwittingly consume them.
- Mainstream Western media usually cast Putin's popularity as the result of Russians' heavy reliance on government-controlled television, i.e. 'brain-washing.' But such a one-sided view may misrepresent the relationship between power and public opinion. Tellingly, only 34 percent of Russians say they trust the media.

The 'brain-washing' theory also misses what is possibly the most significant feature of modern Russia: for the first time since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union (if not the 1917 revolution) government policies reflect the attitudes and opinions of the conservative majority of Russians rather than a Westernizing, neo-liberal (or Marxist) elite.
- Nabiullina has come under criticism from members of the Duma for being far too slow in building the gold reserves of the ruble. Russia today is the world’s second largest gold producer after China, and China has been building its Peoples’ Bank of China gold reserves in recent years at a feverish pace. Western central banks, led by the Federal Reserve, since gold backing for the dollar was abandoned in August, 1971, have done everything, including brazen market manipulation, to discourage gold currency reserves around the world.
- The APCs are being transferred via the Excess Defense Article (EDA) program, which grants excess military equipment from the United States without cost to qualified allied countries. Manila did have to pay 67.5 million pesos ($1.4 million) to cover transport costs, however.
- Screen Australia will suffer its third round of cuts in 18 months while the government scraps the Book Council of Australia as part of $52.5 million in cuts to the Arts and Communications, $47 million of which it will redirect to major Hollywood film studios for Thor and Alien sequels.
- According to the Daily Dot, nearly 5 million usernames and passwords associated with Gmail accounts have been leaked on a Russian Bitcoin forum. Here's what you should know.

The list has since been taken down, and there's no evidence that Gmail itself was hacked—just that these passwords have been leaked. Most sources are saying that lots of the information is quite old, so chances are they were leaked long ago—though others are claiming 60% of the passwords are still valid (not to mention really, really horrible).

5 Million Online Passwords Leaked, Check Yours Now [Updated]

To check if your password was one of the leaked, plug your Gmail address into this trusted tool from KnowEm. Alternatively, if you aren't comfortable giving out your email, you can change all your passwords now.

No matter what you do, make sure you using a strong password on all your accounts and that you've enabled two-factor authentication. Hit the link to read more.
- Most critically, according to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Leviathan has enough gas to yield Israel’s first-ever energy export deals—offsetting the state’s increasing isolation over its reluctance to hold comprehensive peace talks with the Palestinians. “Our ability to export gas enhances the strength of the state of Israel… It makes Israel much more resilient to international pressures,” he recently told the Knesset’s economics committee.
- The threat of a formal declaration of independence by Taiwan is a clear red line for Beijing. In July of 1995, China began an almost yearlong campaign of intimidation in an attempt to unduly influence Taiwan’s first democratic election for its president, which featured a pro-independence candidate Lee Teng-hui. Beijing quite literally fired a series of “warning shot” missile tests less than 40 miles off Taiwan’s bow. This provocation was followed by a second wave of missiles, live ammunition exercises and a “mock Taiwan invasion” in November.

In December, the United States finally responded by sending the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group towards the Taiwan Strait. While several months of quiet followed, China launched additional ballistic missile warning shots in early March and conducted all-out war games with the participation of some 40 naval vessels, 260 aircraft and 150,000 troops—effectively a Chinese Communist blockade of the Taiwan Strait. In response, President Bill Clinton moved the USS Independence aircraft carrier strike group already stationed in the Pacific to waters much closer to Taiwan and then summoned the USS Nimitz from the Persian Gulf, ordering it to proceed at high speed.

To the chagrin of Beijing’s leadership, it intimidation backfired and helped Lee Teng-hui win 54 percent of the vote. Once America’s carrier strike groups steamed into the area, Beijing also realized it had no answer for an American force commanding both the seas and skies above.

In this way, this Third Taiwan Strait Crisis was simultaneously an “ah hah” epiphany and a “never again” moment for Beijing. Since 1996, China has not only sought to develop a world-class navy—along with an anti-access strategy and anti-ship ballistic missiles designed to keep America’s carriers away from Taiwan. China has also steadily transformed its air force from a motley collection of aging aircraft into a modern armada capable of going stealthy toe to missile toe with any rival in the region.
- The Homestead Act of 1862 is one of America’s best-known and beloved laws. By giving away federal land for free to anyone who settled and cultivated it, the act enshrined the governing principle of the newly ascendant Republican Party: government should act to help the average man help himself build a better life. Together with the Land Grant College Act and the Pacific Railroad Acts, the Homestead Act placed the federal government squarely on the side of the average American in his or her quest to live in comfort and with dignity.

Today we have no frontier, no untapped source of federal lands. We do, however, have the same issue the Homestead Act tried to solve. Millions of low-to-moderately skilled, native-born and immigrant Americans live in places where they can’t find decent work while a vast new economic frontier unfolds in Southern and Western states such as Texas, Florida and North Carolina. These wide open spaces are enticing enough to encourage millions of Latin Americans to undertake dangerous and expensive journeys, yet millions of other Americans remain mired in ghettoes, depressed steel towns and struggling regions like Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta.
- In a recent interview on a Russian news program, Konstantin Syvkov said more than 300 artillery pieces concentrated on a half-mile line outside of Hama produced a so-called "fire wave" that greatly aided the Syrian offensive at first. "This method consumes a lot of ammunition, but it is very effective in getting through fortifications," Syvkov said. "This allowed the breakthrough via the enemy defenses."
- If prices continue to fall, there will be losers outside the oil patch. The drive toward renewable energy technologies will be slowed. Median stock prices for solar energy companies have fallen almost 30 percent in a month, tracking the decline in oil prices. Sales of electric cars also move in step with the price of oil.

There will also be winners -- millions of them. For every $10 drop in the price of a barrel of oil, world economic output increases by almost half a percentage point. Prices at the gasoline pump have already dropped about 50 cents a gallon. That translates to about $500 a year in savings for the average gas-guzzling U.S. household.

And if the history of oil prices has taught us anything, it's that these low prices will continue -- until they don't. 
- Though the number of rigs exploring for oil in American fields has collapsed since December, U.S. production remains near historic highs at about 9.3 million barrels a day.

Shale muscled into the middle of the cost curve in the $30 to $70 cost level, but the price of producing a barrel of oil is still heading downward, Lee said.

"Cost deflation in the sector is pretty spectacular due to low utilization in the services sector, but also productivity gains," he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." 
- Launched in 2001, the SCO is composed of China, Russia, former Soviet republics Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with the aim of strengthening political, trade, intelligence, security and military ties between the border-sharing members. Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, India and Pakistan are currently observers, but the latter two are expected to be official members by next year. 
- “The transition phase between communist and post-communist Poland was very painful for a large part of the population,” Mr. Smolar said. “For a lot of people, especially the older population, it was perceived as a catastrophe.”

Now there are concerns that the party, simmering in opposition for so long, will seek to redress a litany of grievances, even if it means bending the Constitution.

“This is not the problem in Poland only,” said Aleksander Kwasniewski, Poland’s left-wing president from 1995 to 2005. “This is happening in countries across Europe. This is the problem of democracy in general. Traditional democracy is in crisis.”
- Poland’s Defense Ministry officials raided NATO’s Counter-Intelligence Center of Excellence in Warsaw early Friday morning in the assistance of military police to replace the center's head, Colonel Krzysztof Dusza. Ministry and counter-espionage service officials later returned to proceed with their takeover of the center, which is staffed by Polish and Slovak military personnel, and refused to let Dusza inside, the colonel told local daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

The move is part of efforts by the country’s right-wing government that took power last month to replace senior military officials it considers as backed by the previous center-right government. The Defense Ministry claims its decision was consulted with the Slovak government.

"What is important is that this was agreed with the Slovak side. Slovakia's Defense Minister was warned about our actions. I personally discussed this with Slovakia's military attaché in Warsaw. He approved our actions," Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz told local news weekly Gazeta Polska.
- "I would like to grab any opportunity I can to prove I am a human being and if I don’t have that opportunity, I refuse to live anywhere I don’t feel like a human," Hamo said late Thursday via a translator. "If they will only call me (a) refugee and they will treat me only as a refugee,  I don’t want to be here. I'd rather go back. I want to be a good citizen here."
“It just comes down to what’s wrong and what’s right,” Walker said in an interview with the Times. “You can’t squint hard enough to make this gray.”
- Spain's economy is expanding by around 3 percent a year — one of the fastest growth rates in Europe. But 95 percent of new jobs are temporary ones — summertime tourism work or so-called zero-hour contracts, under which you're always on call but only paid when you work.

"Sometimes it's a nine-month contract or sometimes it's a permanent contract but with nine months of probation — so they fire you on the very last day," Laura explains. "That has happened to me, too."
- Unconnected with the micro-requirement, the Royal Navy has been working with Southampton University on a small and cheap unmanned aircraft created on a 3D printer by the academics.

The 3 kg vehicle was test-launched from a Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel in July and the Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft vehicle is now onboard the ice patrol ship HMS Protector ahead of an operational demonstration in the Antarctic in the first quarter of next year.
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Saving Money (without Sacrificing), Random Stuff, and More

- use price matching when you can to get an extra discount. Note, a lot of companies advertise low prices just to get you through the door. ...