Volume 23, Number 18 - 9/15/20 | Arlington Institute

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Volume 23, Number 18 – 9/15/20

FUTURE FACTS – FROM THINK LINKS DID YOU KNOW THAT–

The digital Chinese yuan is on track to be the world’s first sovereign digital currency and is currently in pilot mode with four state-owned commercial banks.
The average grocery megamart is made possible by staggering feats of logistics, the mad science of Big Ag, and the marketing genius of the snack-industrial complex.
A full-size, fully-autonomous research ship is ready to make one of the world’s first autonomous transatlantic voyages.
Slowly, but surely, the moon is rusting.

Our Mysterious Human Origins:
Regina Meredith in Berkeley Springs, October 17th
Always riveting, Regina’s talk brings an alternative view of human origin that touches upon the polarized nature of being Human. Regina Meredith will discuss an alternative view of human origin that touches upon the polarized nature of being Human. We will explore the subject from a pre-historic vantage point, from the point where highly aware and creative non-physical beings blended with the best version of animal man on the earth in an unintended experiment. There are hints of Edgar Cayce’s transmissions in this story but it is further fleshed out. This will lead into the implications of how our multi-dimensional mind functions within the 3D context and explains how Humans can be so easily influenced mentally and emotionally.

I spoke with Regina the other day about what she’s been up to and what she will be discussing with us in Berkeley Springs. Click below to watch.

If you can’t make it in person you may enjoy the livestream option. You will also have access to a replay that will be available for two weeks following the event! Click below for full information.

TRANSITION TALKS MAGAZINE

THINK LINKS

NY Times: Nine Out of Ten COVID19 Tests are Wrong – (Principia Scientific – September 2, 2020)
The New York Times reports that as many as nine out of ten coronavirus tests are wrong. The newspaper tells us: “The most widely used diagnostic test for the new coronavirus, called a PCR test, provides a simple yes-no answer to the question of whether a patient is infected…. The results may include a rough estimate of the amount of virus in the patient’s body…. In three sets of testing data that include cycle thresholds, compiled by officials in Massachusetts, New York and Nevada, up to 90% of people testing positive carried barely any virus, a review by The Times found.” The author of the article, Apoorva Mandavilli, admits that these tests rely heavily on an amplification technique that attempts to increase the likelihood of detection the slightest amount of the telltale protein that scientists have been claiming is proof of the presence of the novel coronavirus. Indeed, at the very best a positive test can show that there is ‘some’ coronavirus in a patient – it could be ANY coronavirus – even a trace of common cold. The standard test, itself, is not designed to measure the viral load, the key to determining disease causation. As Apoorva puts it: “The PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample. The greater the viral load, the more likely the patient is to be contagious. This number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called the cycle threshold, is never included in the results sent to doctors and coronavirus patients, although it could tell them how infectious the patients are.” The NY Times article then quotes one virologist, Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York, “It’s just kind of mind-blowing to me that people are not recording the C.T. (cycle threshold) values from all these tests — that they’re just returning a positive or a negative. It would be useful information to know if somebody’s positive, whether they have a high viral load or a low viral load.”

COVID-19 Lockdowns Over 10 Times More Deadly Than Pandemic Itself – (Revolver News – August 31, 2020)
A groundbreaking new study commissioned by Revolver News concludes that COVID-19 lockdowns are ten times more deadly than the actual COVID-19 virus in terms of years of life lost by American citizens. Up until this point there had been no simple, rigorous analysis that accurately and definitively conveys the true costs of the COVID-19 lockdowns. The study drew upon existing economic studies on the health effects of unemployment to calculate an estimate of how many years of life will have been lost due to the lockdowns in the United States, and have weighed this against an estimate of how many years of life will have been saved by the lockdowns. The results are nothing short of staggering, and suggest that the lockdowns will end up costing Americans over 10 times as many years of life as they will save from the virus itself. Partial summary of findings: Most of the publicized cost-benefit analyses of COVID-19 lockdowns have used coarse measures like lives as units rather than life-years, which misleads politicians and the general public. COVID-19 deaths disproportionately impact the oldest members of the population, whereas the economic impacts of lockdowns disproportionately harm the youngest of the working population, who have far greater life expectancies at the time of impact. Using prior research on workforce entrants and recent graduates entering into a market marred by an economic recession, empirical estimates of life-years lost can be determined. Extensive research on job displacement can be used to estimate the economic impact in life-years of starkly increased unemployment for mid-to-late career workers. Combining these analyses, we found that an estimated 18.7 million life-years will be lost in the United States due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. Comparative data analysis between nations shows that the lockdowns in the United States likely had a minimal effect in saving life-years. Using two different comparison groups, we estimate that the COVID-19 lockdowns in the U.S. saved between a quarter to three quarters of a million life-years.

Fabricating a Pandemic – Who Could Organize It and Why – (OffGuardian – September 6, 2020)
Out of any proportion to reality, the mass media continues to drone on ominously that this is the New Normal, and that we might as well get used to it, that the world will never be as it was before the coronavirus. This is nothing more and nothing less than classic psychological warfare. Why would a viral outbreak require “psy-ops”, that is, unless something larger was afoot? The mainstream media as usual labels everybody who objects to their version of events a “Conspiracy Theorist.” However, in addition to usual roster of skeptics like James Corbett or Del Bigtree, we now have many established scientists and doctors publicly questioning the version of events that is being presented by the mainstream media and governments. The question is…is this campaign of fear a spontaneous overreaction to a new virus, or was it organized by somebody to achieve some malicious goals? If we conclude that the pandemic indeed is fake, the worldwide media campaign manufactured, government officials and WHO bribed or coerced, then further questions arise. Is there anyone who has the ability to pull this off? If yes, then why did they do it, and how? This article suggests answers to those questions.

Approval of Injectable Biochip Implants for COVID Detection, Linked to Computers — (Steemit – August 28, 2020)
The Department of Defense, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have partnered with a Silicon Valley company, Profusa, to implement a technology which could control our minds and bodies. What may seem like science fiction, is in fact happening in real-time. A permanent chip made of an advanced material called hydrogel irreversibly ties humans to the Internet “cloud.” The chip, about the size of a grain of rice, provides feedback to a database on changes in body chemistry and other biometrics. The company says technology will be used to detect COVID in the general population, before symptoms show. A defense industry website Defense One reports that the chip implant could win FDA approval by early 2021: “Profusa, says the sensor is on track to try for FDA approval by early next year.” The hydrogel chip, which is injected with a syringe, could be injected along with any COVID vaccination. Mandatory vaccination would be the key to any widespread deployment of the project. A Profusa Press Release from March 19, 2018 states: “today scientists are presenting results showing tiny biosensors that become one with the body…and stream data to a mobile phone and to the cloud….tiny biosensors composed of a tissue-like hydrogel, similar to a soft contact lens, that are painlessly placed under the skin with a single injection. Biooptics World, an industry magazine, describe Profusa sensors as “Injectable biosensors that become one with the body’s tissue”. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant which is partially funding the research described the research goal as “Implantable multi-analyte sensors for the continuous monitoring of body chemistries”. A widely deployed mass surveillance platform would require enormously increased bandwidth in cellphone and wifi networks. Some say this is one reason governments are driving so hard replace current networks with 5G. For more information about the Profusa product/technology, see this article from the company’s website: Profusa and Partners Announce Initiation of Study to Measure Early Signs of Influenza Through Biosensor Technology. This press release from the company explains their currently available product in fairly accessible terms.

Internet Search Results Predict US COVID-19 Hotspots Weeks Later, Study Reveals – (Science Alert – September 14, 2020)
In a recent study, researchers measured the popularity of medical symptom searches on Google and discovered that the volume of such searches can subsequently help predict the incidence of COVID-19 cases arising weeks later in the area. While the most common symptoms associated with coronavirus might be things like cough, fever, and difficulty breathing, in this case, researchers wanted to examine whether there was correlation between COVID-19 cases and surges in searches for a more distinct subset of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms caused by the disease, such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. While this is an important and potentially helpful insight, it’s not an entirely surprising link. For several years, it’s been well known that search engine queries can help alert us to things like influenza outbreaks. So the main takeaway here is that the same technique can also help inform us on the spread of COVID-19, potentially signaling which suburbs might be about to become hotspots. The hope is that, with elevated access to search interest and trends for more than 400 medical symptoms, signs, and conditions, it will be easier for health professionals to visualize and forecast ahead of time likely areas of coronavirus impact in the US.

Smart Stimulus: Cash as Code – (Technology Review – September 9, 2020)

Over the past six months, central banks and governments have unlocked financial floodgates to deal with the economic fallout of covid-19. As early as April, 106 countries had introduced or adapted social protection programs, mostly cash transfers, to help those affected by the pandemic. A McKinsey analysis of 54 countries estimates that governments had committed $10 trillion by June, through grants, loans, and furlough payments to unemployment benefits and welfare. Running parallel to this state spending spree is a full-bodied embrace of digital finance by citizens. Paper cash and coins are potential vectors for the virus (one municipal authority in India even banned the use of paper cash for home deliveries). The movement to online commerce helped millions of consumers grow accustomed to digital spending, and they will not likely return. Some forward-looking governments and central banks are combining the two, by using digital technology to disburse funds quickly and efficiently, and unlocking more data about the shape of the economic recovery. Experimental policymakers are using this once-in-a-generation cash infusion to reimagine how governments make payments to citizens. In Hangzhou, China, municipal authorities are working with Alibaba, headquartered there, to launch a digital-coupon stimulus program via the Alipay platform. Coupon-based recovery initiatives are not new—the city used a paper scheme during the 2008 crisis—but releasing them digitally, in a real-time lottery, allows the government to analyze how coupons are spent, unearthing data about the economic recovery. China was already a frontrunner in digital finance. The digital yuan is on track to be the world’s first sovereign digital currency and is currently in pilot mode with four state-owned commercial banks. (Editor’s note: Digital currency is a form of currency that is available only in digital or electronic form, and not in physical form. It is only accessible with computers or mobile phones, as it only exists in electronic form. We recommend this article.)

NASA Is Tracking a Vast, Growing Anomaly in Earth’s Magnetic Field – (Science – August 18, 2020)
NASA is actively monitoring a strange anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field: a giant region of lower magnetic intensity in the skies above the planet, stretching out between South America and southwest Africa. This vast, developing phenomenon, called the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), has intrigued and concerned scientists for years, and perhaps none more so than NASA researchers. The space agency’s satellites and spacecraft are particularly vulnerable to the weakened magnetic field strength within the anomaly, and the resulting exposure to charged particles from the Sun. During these encounters, the reduced magnetic field strength inside the anomaly means technological systems onboard satellites can short-circuit and malfunction if they become struck by high-energy protons emanating from the Sun. “The magnetic field is actually a superposition of fields from many current sources,” explains geophysicist Terry Sabaka from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The primary source is considered to be a swirling ocean of molten iron inside Earth’s outer core, thousands of kilometers below the ground. The movement of that mass generates electrical currents that create Earth’s magnetic field, but not necessarily uniformly, it seems. A huge reservoir of dense rock called the African Large Low Shear Velocity Province, located about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the African continent, disturbs the field’s generation, resulting in the dramatic weakening effect – which is aided by the tilt of the planet’s magnetic axis. The SAA is drifting slowly in a north-westerly direction and it seems to be in the process of splitting in two. Just what that means for the future of the SAA remains unknown, but in any case, there’s evidence to suggest that the anomaly is not a new appearance. A study published last month suggested the phenomenon is not a freak event of recent times, but a recurrent magnetic event that may have affected Earth since as far back as 11 million years ago. If so, that could signal that the South Atlantic Anomaly is not a trigger or precursor to the entire planet’s magnetic field flipping.

Physicists Just Found a New Quantum Paradox That Casts Doubt on a Pillar of Reality – (Science Alert – August 28, 2020)
Take a look at these three statements: 1)When someone observes an event happening, it really happened. 2)It is possible to make free choices, or at least, statistically random choices. 3)A choice made in one place can’t instantly affect a distant event. (Physicists call this “locality”.) These are all intuitive ideas, and widely believed even by physicists. But research, published in Nature Physics, shows they cannot all be true – or quantum mechanics itself must break down at some level. Article explains the model of the experiments in some depth. Although a conclusive test may be decades away, if the quantum mechanical predictions continue to hold, this has strong implications for our understanding of reality. For one, the correlations that were discovered cannot be explained just by saying that physical properties don’t exist until they are measured. Now the absolute reality of measurement outcomes themselves is called into question. The experimental results force physicists to deal with the measurement problem head on: either the experiment doesn’t scale up, and quantum mechanics gives way to a so-called “objective collapse theory”, or one of our three common-sense assumptions must be rejected. There are theories, like de Broglie-Bohm, that postulate “action at a distance”, in which actions can have instantaneous effects elsewhere in the universe. However, this is in direct conflict with Einstein’s theory of relativity. Some search for a theory that rejects freedom of choice, but they either require backwards causality, or a seemingly conspiratorial form of fatalism called “superdeterminism”.

One of Quantum Physics’ Greatest Paradoxes May Have Lost Its Leading Explanation – (Science – September 7, 2020)
It’s one of the oddest tenets of quantum theory: a particle can be in two places at once—yet we only ever see it here or there. Textbooks state that the act of observing the particle “collapses” it, such that it appears at random in only of its two locations. But physicists quarrel over why that would happen, if indeed it does. Now, one of the most plausible mechanisms for quantum collapse—gravity—has suffered a setback. The basic idea is that the gravitational field of any object stands outside quantum theory. If a particle is made to be both here and there, its gravitational field tries to do the same—but the field cannot endure the tension for long; it collapses and takes the particle with it. University of Oxford mathematician Roger Penrose championed the hypothesis in the late 1980s because, he says, it removes the anthropocentric notion that the measurement itself somehow causes the collapse. “It takes place in the physics, and it’s not because somebody comes and looks at it.” Unfortunately the hypothesis seemed impossible to probe with any realistic technology. New methods now make this doable. Article explains process. The experiment suggests gravity is not, in fact, shaking particles out of their quantum superpositions. The experiment also constrained, though did not rule out, collapse mechanisms that do not involve gravity.

Scientists Puzzled at Discovery of Rust on the Moon – (BGR – September 4, 2020)
The Moon is rusting. The Moon’s surface has a lot of iron, but no atmosphere. Mars, the iconic Red Planet, is orange for the same reason, but it’s had a long history and, at one point, a much more robust atmosphere that combined oxygen and water to turn the planet’s surface orange. The Moon doesn’t have that kind of history, but it’s beginning to rust nonetheless. The discovery was made using data from the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. The spacecraft, which was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), studied the makeup of the Moon’s surface from a distance. It found that areas of the Moon appeared to have a mineral called hematite, a form of rust. With no oxygen or liquid water on its surface, the Moon’s iron shouldn’t have a chance to rust, but it appears to be doing so anyway. The researchers considered many possibilities for why this could be the case and came up with one that seems quite plausible. So where is the oxygen coming from? As it turns out, despite a lack of atmosphere, the Moon does have a tiny bit of oxygen floating around, courtesy of its host planet, Earth. “Earth’s magnetic field trails behind the planet like a windsock,” Abigail Fraeman of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains. “In 2007, Japan’s Kaguya orbiter discovered that oxygen from Earth’s upper atmosphere can hitch a ride on this trailing magnetotail, as it’s officially known, traveling the 239,000 miles (385,00 kilometers) to the Moon.” But this is just one half of the puzzle, and the other big ingredient to be accounted for is water. The researchers propose that water ice particles scattered about on the Moon may briefly turn to water when impacted by the dust and debris that routinely slam into its surface. The timing of this marriage of iron, water, and oxygen would have to be perfect, but it’s possible that this is the source of the Moon’s rust.

Hubble Discovery Hints at a Serious Problem With Our Understanding of Dark Matter – (Science Alert – September 10, 2020)
It would be greatly overstating it to suggest that we have a good handle on dark matter. But even the slight grasp we do have may be missing something important. New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope have found much higher concentrations of dark matter than expected in some galaxies, by over an order of magnitude. These concentrations are inconsistent with theoretical models, suggesting that there’s a big gap in our understanding – the simulations could be incorrect, or there could be a property of dark matter we don’t fully understand, according to the research team. “We have done a lot of careful testing in comparing the simulations and data in this study, and our finding of the mismatch persists,” said astrophysicist Massimo Meneghetti of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy. “One possible origin for this discrepancy is that we may be missing some key physics in the simulations.” Dark matter is one of the biggest thorns in our understanding of the Universe. Simply put, we don’t know what it is. It does not absorb, reflect, or emit any electromagnetic radiation, making it completely undetectable in a direct way. However, it does interact with the Universe’s visible matter via gravity.

Significant Leap Forward in Method for Cancer Treatment – (PhysOrg – September 11, 2020)
Eindhoven University of Technology Professor Jan C.M. van Hest has announced a breakthrough in non-invasive cancer treatment. His Institute for Complex Molecular Systems partnered with several Chinese research institutions to test a nanotechnology that addresses the drawbacks to photodynamic therapy, an emerging cancer treatment. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a non-toxic, non-surgical cancer treatment that’s on the rise in several countries, notably in the U.S. and in China. A patient is injected with a compound called a photosensitizer, which reacts to light. Once the photosensitizer is near tumorous cells, it is activated by a laser. The reaction creates singlet oxygen, which destroys nearby cells. Targeting the laser and photosensitizer allows them to destroy tumorous cells. PDT also indirectly activates the immune system, which then attacks the cancer as well. PDT has the potential to be a game-changer for the treatment of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lymphomas and other tumors close enough to the skin for the laser to reach. It doesn’t have the side effects of chemo or the risks of surgery. To work well, however, three problems need to be solved. First, the photosensitizer needs to be directed to accumulate around the tumor. Second, the reaction needs oxygen molecules in order to create singlet oxygen, and tumors create low-oxygen environments. Third, tumors have a defensive substance that breaks down singlet oxygen. Professor van Hest’s team of biomedical engineers designed a single nanoparticle that could solve all three problems.

L’Oreal Launches Make-up Recycling Across UK Shops – (BBC News – September 10, 2020)
Cosmetics giant L’Oreal is introducing make-up recycling bins across 1,000 UK stores in an environmental push. Its Maybelline brand and recycling firm TerraCycle will install the recycling points in branches of some major UK chains. L’Oreal’s UK boss said the firm wants to “lead the way” in creating beauty recycling habits. Compacts, eyeshadow palettes, foundation or concealer tubes, mascara, eyeliner and lip products will be accepted, although make-up brushes, nail polish and aerosols will not. The used items will be collected from the shops, sorted, cleaned and recycled into plastic pellets, which can be used to make other products, such as outdoor furniture. Chains such as The Body Shop and skincare specialist Kiehl’s, which is also owned by L’Oreal, already offer customers rewards for returning empty products to stores to be recycled. However, Greenpeace said without reducing single-use plastic production, firms “cannot claim they are doing enough”.

How to Minimize That Mountain of Take-out Trash – (Washington Post – September 14, 2020)
Blame the global health crisis for our Godzilla-size appetite for takeout. Few of us are equipped or inclined to cook three meals a day for ourselves, and takeout and delivery have come to our rescue on a colossal scale. Market research company NPD Group reports that for the second quarter, covering the full impact of shelter-in-place and mandated dine-in closures, digital orders spiked by 127 percent compared with the same time last year. Grubhub, one of many players in the delivery game, ended its second quarter with 27.5 million active diners, up 35 percent year over year. National Geographic last year spelled it out alarming terms: The United States uses more than 36 billion disposable utensils a year. Laid end to end, they could wrap around the globe 139 times. Consider this a call to ditch plastic utensils and use your own cutlery when you get takeout. Restaurants account for 78% of all disposable packaging, including an estimated 282 billion napkins, says David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic, a market research firm. “But once it leaves the restaurant, the operator has lost control of it.” Given that “takeout and off-premises business is here to stay,” for fast-food providers and Michelin-starred dining operations alike, he sees opportunity for restaurants to radically rethink their packaging. Regardless of where consumers live, there’s plenty we can do to cut back on food packaging waste, starting with a Just Say No campaign reimagined for 2020 and beyond. “Do you need napkins, utensils, condiments?” asks Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who appreciates restaurants whose online ordering forms give customers the option to decline the extras. She encourages consumers to ask restaurants whether their packaging is recyclable or compostable. “Let them know you want the option.”

The Brain Implants That Could Change Humanity – (New York Times – August 28, 2020)
For decades, we’ve communicated with computers mostly by using our fingers and our eyes, by interfacing via keyboards and screens. Voice recognition is a further step toward more seamless integration of human and machine. The next step, one that scientists around the world are pursuing, is technology that allows people to control computers — and everything connected to them, including cars, robotic arms and drones — merely by thinking. What technologies will power the brain-computer interface of the future is still unclear. And if it’s unclear how we’ll “read” the brain, it’s even less clear how we’ll “write” to it. This is the other holy grail of brain-machine research: technology that can transmit information to the brain directly. Even so, solutions to these challenges are beginning to emerge. Rafael Yuste, a neurobiologist at Columbia University, notes that, “What’s coming with this new tech can change humanity.” Article goes on to recap research having been done and review new research underway. This progress isn’t solely driven by advances in brain-sensing technology — by the physical meeting point of flesh and machine. The AI matters as much, if not more. What’s on the horizon is impressive – for example a technology that can read and write to the brain with unprecedented precision, and it doesn’t require surgery. But it does require genetic engineering. (Editor’s note: We recommend this article for a glimpse of what the new humans will be able to do.)

Ten Eco-friendly Dwellings Where Residents Live off the Grid – (Dezeen – September 12, 2020)
These 10 off-grid homes allow residents to live in more remote locations, or were designed by eco-minded designers to facilitate low-impact lifestyles. Article includes one photo of each house and a link to a separate feature of that house. Using innovative construction techniques, the structures range from a futuristic cabin without power or water to a family’s elegant off-grid retreat.

Otto Aviation Reveals Submarine-Shaped Business Airplane – (Business Jet Traveler – August, 2020)
Otto Aviation recently unveiled the Celera 500L, a six-passenger pusher-prop business aircraft powered by a single 500-hp Red A03 diesel engine. The company’s full-scale prototype has completed 31 test flights. Otto expects FAA certification in 2023, with service entry to follow in 2025. According to the company, the submarine-shaped aircraft will have a maximum cruise speed of 391 knots and a range exceeding 3,900 nautical miles, while offering a stand-up cabin and fuel economy of 16 to 22 nautical miles per gallon. To achieve this efficiency, Otto said, the Celera 500L employs “extensive” laminar flow over the fuselage, wings, and tail surfaces. The company also claims that the airplane’s carbon emissions will be about 80% lower than those of comparable business aircraft and 40% lower than those of current airline aircraft. (Editor’s note: Check out the photo – see what a 21st century zeppelin with wings looks like.)

Dahir Insaat: Highway Repair Technology – (YouTube – May 25, 2017)
This is a 3-D rendering of a pothole repairing device/process as envisioned by Dahir Insaat. The company was founded in Istanbul by Russian engineer and inventor Dahir Kurmanbievich Semenov and is known for its futuristic design concepts, including concepts for large quadcopters, automation, and prefabrication. It’s a fabulous concept. Here is a clip of the most mechanized paving process that we know of currently in use.

Ship with No Crew to Sail across the Atlantic – (BBC News – September 14, 2020)
A full-size, fully-autonomous research ship is to make one of the world’s first autonomous transatlantic voyages. Promare, a non-profit marine research organization, has worked with IBM, the University of Plymouth and other scientific organizations to build the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS). Launching from Plymouth in the UK on 16 September 2020, the ship will travel to Plymouth, Massachusetts, after spending six months gathering data about the state of the ocean. With no crew on board, Andy Stanford-Clark, chief technology officer for IBM in the UK, explains in the attached video clip how an AI ‘captain’ will plot the ship’s course.

The Sweat, Stench and Staggering Logistics of the American Supermarket – (New York Times – September 8, 2020)
When you stand before the teeming arrays of cereals and shishito peppers in the average megamart, you understand that they are made possible by staggering feats of logistics, by the mad science of Big Ag and the marketing genius of the snack-industrial complex. The “dark miracle” of the modern American grocery store is the subject of Benjamin Lorr’s new book, The Secret Life of Groceries, The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket which would have cleared the fascination bar even before the panic shopping of early Covid reminded us not to take these spectacular behemoths for granted. The subject is sprawling, and Lorr spent five years filling up his reportorial cart: debriefing grocerymen, eating his way through specialty food expos, riding shotgun with a long-haul trucker, even working undercover in the seafood department of a downtown Whole Foods. The process left Lorr horrified and awed, often at the same time. You might imagine that of the five senses, taste and sight would be the most frequently invoked in a book about groceries, but Lorr’s book hits you hardest through the nose. He opens with the unforgettable stench of an upscale seafood display case getting its once-every-two-months deep clean. Lorr, though, is not on an Upton Sinclair quest to nauseate readers into changing their consumption habits. Instead, The Secret Life of Groceries is a deeply curious and evenhanded report on our national appetites.

The Controversial Company Using DNA to Sketch the Faces of Criminals – (Nature – September 9, 2020)
Just as the prominence of forensic genetic profiling has grown, so has its notoriety. Ethicists have raised concerns over China’s use of genetic profiling to target the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority population in the country’s northwestern provinces. In the past year, the US government has launched two programs that have begun taking DNA samples from immigrant detainees and some asylum seekers. The US Department of Justice issued guidelines last November that tried to set boundaries on the use of forensic genetic genealogy, but concerns about police brutality and systemic racism against Black Americans have raised questions as to whether these guidelines provide enough protection to people of color, who are disproportionately stopped by police and overrepresented in criminal DNA databases. These legal, ethical and social concerns have left industry experts wondering what’s next for forensic genomics. This article traces the trajectory of one company, Parabon Nanolabs, which was, at one time, the most famous forensic-genetics company on the planet. New restrictions on the use of a major genetic database have forced Parabon to chart a new path forward by returning to one of its earlier business strategies: attempting to use DNA to reconstruct faces. (Editor’s note: We recommend this article for its exploration of the current directions of forensic genomics and the legal and ethical issues involved.)

Google ‘Geofence’ Warrants Keep Locking Up Innocent People Who Were in Proximity of a Crime Scene – (ZeroHedge – September 12, 2020)
Months ago we detailed an incredibly scary and Orwellian tool in the local police arsenal known as a “geofence warrant”. As described at the time it’s essentially a virtual dragnet over crime scenes where police request to sweep up Google location data drawn from users’ GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular connections from everyone who happened to be near a crime scene. From this blanket of surveillance law enforcement then try to figure out which phones may be tied to suspects or possible witnesses. Already this type of blanket surveillance warrant, which works as a kind of ‘guilt by proximity’ at the time a crime occurred, has been used by police to arrest what turned out to be innocent bystanders who were suddenly surprised to find themselves prime suspects. It’s perhaps been used only dozens of times in some states, but will likely only increase alongside similar “pre-crime” algorithm technologies. In one instance earlier this year, a Gainesville, Florida man was caught up in a legal nightmare because he merely rode his bicycle unbeknownst near a home burglary at around the same time it happened. And it was in 2018 that for the first time a man had been falsely accused and arrested based on a controversial geofence warrant for the crime of murder. Jorge Molina was arrested and jailed for six days on suspicion of killing another man. Police in Avondale, Arizona, about 20 miles from Phoenix, held Molina for questioning. According to a police report, officers told him they knew “one hundred percent, without a doubt” his phone was at the scene of the crime, based on data from Google. In fact, Molina wasn’t there. He’d simply lent an old phone to the man police later arrested. The phone was still signed into his Google account.

Trump and Biden Could Face Dramatic Post-election Battle — Here’s What Might Happen – (Fox News – September 6, 2020)
Let’s start with this: The procedural rules for sorting out an inconclusive election are very complex. This article does the clearest job of laying out all the many – and yes, there are many – “if this, then what” possibilities that we’ve seen.

US Prisons: Outrageously Unjust – (Globalist – September 9, 2020)
The over-policing of the United States, which results in the disproportionate incarceration of people of color, and the numerous flaws in the judicial system, most particularly highlighted in sentencing disparities by race and class, and habitual offender (aka three-strikes) laws, have contributed greatly to the travesty of the U.S. prison system. It is time for the whole country to demand extensive prison reforms and remove the stigma of the current prison system that dishonors the United States and puts it to shame. Indeed, the state of our prison system is bewildering and most alarming. The U.S. population of over 330 million is 4.25% of the total world population, but its prison population of nearly 2.3 million people is approximately 20% of the global prison population. If each U.S. state were its own country, no other country would rank in the top 10 countries for rates of incarceration, nor in the top 20 or 30 — the next highest is El Salvador, 33rd on the list compared to individual U.S. states. In 2016, the Brennan Center for Justice reported that as high as 40% of prisoners should not be in prison. They are ”behind bars with no compelling public safety reason.”

The World 9/11 Took From Us – (New York Times – September 11, 2020)
Around my neighborhood in New York many children have started the new school year. I see them walking to school in the morning, hand-in-hand with their parents, chattering happily. They will not know what I know: that the world in which they are growing up is indelibly marked by this singular tragedy. They will only ever know the paranoid and terrorized world that the Sept. 11 attacks gave us. Only know getting onto an airplane as a hellish experience. The hyper-militarized borders and selective detentions and enhanced interrogations, all to be taken as ordinary. The constant surveillance of the national security state. The endless secret wars, waged in the cover of night, in distant places where the victims are invisible. We were told that America would make no distinction between terrorists and the nations that harbored them. But 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and there is credible evidence that at least parts of the Saudi government — business partners of both the Bush and Trump families — were aware of the coming attacks. Nothing but more business deals were done. (Editor’s note: We recommend this article – it is good to be reminded occasionally that we have slowly come to accept as “normal” is very far from “how it always was”.)

Move Over, Sustainable Travel. Regenerative Travel Has Arrived. – (New York Times – August 27, 2020)
Tourism, which grew faster than the global gross domestic product for the past nine years, has been decimated by the pandemic. Once accounting for 10% of employment worldwide, the sector is poised to shed 121 million jobs, with losses projected at a minimum of $3.4 trillion, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. If sustainable tourism, which aims to counterbalance the social and environmental impacts associated with travel, was the aspirational outer limit of ecotourism before the pandemic, the new frontier is “regenerative travel,” or leaving a place better than you found it. “Sustainable tourism is sort of a low bar. At the end of the day, it’s just not making a mess of the place,” said Jonathon Day, an associate professor focused on sustainable tourism at Purdue University. “Regenerative tourism says, let’s make it better for future generations.” For example, travel leaders in Hawaii are discussing repositioning the state as a cultural destination in hopes of re-engaging islanders, many of whom are fed up with overtourism. Having a truly regenerative travel experience may be a unicorn, but a few operators are pointing the way. OneSeed Expeditions, an adventure tour operator based in Denver, aims to couple travel with economic development. It uses 10% of its proceeds to provide zero-interest loans to local nongovernmental organizations where it operates in places like Nepal and Peru. The local groups then issue microloans to community entrepreneurs in businesses such as farming and retail. “The areas of greatest need are not necessarily in areas of the greatest tourism attractions,” said Chris Baker, the founder of OneSeed Expeditions. “We want to use tourism to be able to benefit people outside of those areas.”

How the Pandemic Has Changed Our Grocery Shopping Habits Forever – (Washington Post – September 1, 2020)
Contactless shopping and the elimination of free samples. Less browsing and “product discovery” and more focus on the expediency of repurchasing. The pandemic has altered what products people purchase, when and where, who is buying them, and how much time is devoted to the endeavor. Americans are spending more, yet increasingly they are being offered fewer choices, both online and in person, slowing a years-long trend toward innovations that put “good for you” and “environmentally friendly” spins on established and much-loved products. With customers’ selections reinforced by online advertising, repeat ordering and other algorithms, the food system is becoming bifurcated as consumers who have expressed enthusiasm for healthful or artisanal foods are offered more of the same, while those with a penchant for highly processed comfort foods are inundated with opportunities to restock. Based on research conducted for the food industry trade group FMI by an analytics firm, FMI Senior Vice President Mark Baum says many consumers are increasing the amount of money spent per trip and simultaneously decreasing the amount of time spent in the store. Shoppers are more likely to have a list of critical tried-and-true items and are less inclined to browse and let serendipity guide them to something new. He says more men are claiming to be the primary shopper during the pandemic, and “they do buy different things and buy differently.” Men, Baum says, tend to favor efficiency: shopping club stores for bulk purchases, convenience stores and online. They report making fewer, larger, quicker trips for a narrower range of items. Grocery stores, marking these behavioral changes, have chosen to focus more on restocking their top-selling 1,000 items — things like Barilla pasta, Tide and Oreos. The purchasing of some items — coffee, water, pet food — will pivot to auto-replenishment or online subscriptions, and that there has been “a tremendous slowdown of new product introductions” in stores. (Editor’s note: We recommend this article for its exploration of the effects of algorithms that drive online sales and track purchasing habits.) See also: 7 Ways the Pandemic Has Changed How We Shop for Food. Surprisingly, there is very little overlap in the two articles.

Wineries and Farms Decimated by Coronavirus Are Turning Their Land into Campsites with Hipcamp – (CNBC – September 6, 2020)
Whether it’s wineries, cattle ranches or vegetable farms, owners of rural estates are confronting an unprecedented crisis due to the near-collapse of the tourism and hospitality industries and plunge in restaurant sales. Properties that count on consumer traffic to move their products have been stunted by social distancing rules and restrictions on indoor activities, while food producers are stuck with excess supply from the sudden closure of restaurants and cancellation of festivals and live events. Hipcamp is often referred to as the Airbnb for camping, an analogy that helps explain how the company operates and also underscores the dramatic changes taking place in the travel economy. Airbnb’s business, which for years flourished in big cities, has suffered this year from cancellations and the economic shutdowns in big cities. However, hosts in rural areas are seeing a 25% increase in revenue compared to 2019, as city-dwellers look for quick getaways. Hipcamp, which takes a 10% commission on each transaction along with a small booking fee, says it’s sending hosts more than triple the amount of money at this point in 2020 as it did a year ago. Hipcamp, which was founded in 2013, first got traction in California but is expanding rapidly in states like Texas, where there’s a dearth of public camping space, said founder and CEO Alyssa Ravasio, who lives north of San Francisco. Sites are popping up in Oregon and Colorado as well as Florida and upstate New York. And in late August, Hipcamp made its first jump outside of the U.S., acquiring Australia’s Youcamp, and pushing into Canada. “People are looking for the opposite of being locked in an apartment,” said Ravasio. “They don’t want to go to hotels, they don’t want to go to airports. They want to stay safe.”

Clif High: How We Remote Viewed Trump On Joe Rogan – (YouTube – September 14, 2020)
This YouTube clip is of a conversation between Clif High and Dick Allgire. Clif High created the Web Bot, a program that crawls the vast expanses of the internet and looks for certain spikes or changes in language, based on his algorithm’s protocols. Clif considers that this works based on a principle he calls Predictive Linguistics. The idea is that humans have a natural, often times unconscious, psychic leak and that these subtle changes in the words we choose to use, can be useful for making future predictions. Allgire is a professional remote viewer who works for a firm called Cryptoviewing and was hired in July to do a remote viewing on target “A1X4-M5Y1”. High’s algorithms, starting back in 2009, predicted that some event would signal a fundamental turning point for the US and, effectively, the world. From that point on, High data points started converging. What Allgire picked up was that Joe Rogan would do a podcast interview with Trump who would talk about UFOs. And then on 09/17, the news hit that Joe Rogan had offered to moderate a debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. High predicts that the debate won’t actually happen – but that Trump will do an interview with Rogan. To say that this is a story currently unfolding understates it considerably. Stay tuned!

Andromeda Galaxy’s ‘Halo’ Is Nudging the Milky Way – (CNN – August 28, 2020)
The Andromeda galaxy, our Milky Way galaxy’s largest and nearest neighbor, is surrounded by a massive halo that is actually bumping up against our own galaxy’s halo, according to new research using the Hubble Space Telescope. A halo is the large envelope of gas that surrounds a galaxy. Scientists used Hubble to comprehensively study and map Andromeda’s halo and were surprised to discover its unique structure, as well as its massive size. The halo extends out 1.3 million light-years from the galaxy, almost halfway to our galaxy, and as much as 2 million light-years in other directions. These galaxies are actually on a collision course that will cause them to merge 4 billion years from now. This merger will form one giant elliptical galaxy. And given the extension of Andromeda’s halo in our direction, it’s already nudging the Milky Way’s galactic halo. Andromeda’s halo also has two nested layers of gas that form distinct shells. “We find the inner shell that extends to about a half million light-years is far more complex and dynamic” than the outer shell, said Nicolas Lehner, lead study author and research professor of astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame. “The outer shell is smoother and hotter. This difference is a likely result from the impact of supernova activity in the galaxy’s disk more directly affecting the inner halo.”

Breakthrough Narrows Intelligent Life Search in Milky Way – (PhysOrg – September 2, 2020)
In new research published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a team of researchers team at the University of Manchester demonstrate a reanalysis of existing data that represents a new milestone in the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Combing through the catalogue produced by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia spacecraft, which measured the distances to over a billion stars, the researchers recalculated limits on the prevalence of transmitters around additional stars within the radio telescope’s fields of view. By selecting stars out to much larger distances (up to about 33,000 light years) than the original sample of nearby stars, they were able to expand the number of stars studied from 1,327 to 288,315.The result suggests that less than 0.04% of stellar systems have the potential of hosting advanced civilizations with the equivalent or slightly more advanced radio technology than 21st century humans. As well as improving the limits for nearby stars, the team for the first time actually placed limits on more distant stars with the caveat that any potential lifeforms inhabiting the outer limits of the galaxy would need even more powerful transmitters in order to be detectable. The analysis, say researchers, can only locate intelligent and technically advanced civilizations that use radio waves as a form of communication—they could not, for example, detect “simple” life or non-technical civilizations. (Editor’s note: Nor, for that matter, could they detect highly advanced lifeforms that do not use radio waves as a form of communication.)

Particles As Big as Softballs Ejected From Asteroid Bennu Seem to Do the Impossible – Now Astrophysicists Know Why – (SciTech Daily – September 10, 2020)
In January 2019, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was orbiting the asteroid Bennu when the spacecraft’s cameras caught something unexpected: Thousands of tiny bits of material, some just the size of marbles, began to bounce off the surface of the asteroid—like a game of ping-pong in space. Since then, many more such particle ejection events have been observed at Bennu’s surface. “We’ve been studying asteroids for a long time and no one had ever seen this phenomenon before—these little particles getting shot off of the surface,” said Daniel Scheeres, distinguished professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. In research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, Scheeres, CU Boulder’s Jay McMahon, and their colleagues report that such seemingly small occurrences may add up over time—perhaps even helping to give the asteroid its telltale shape, which is often compared to a spinning top. McMahon added that the life of some asteroids can be pretty chaotic. One class of these bodies, which scientists call “active” asteroids, loses a significant amount of material on an ongoing basis. That’s precisely the case on Bennu. Based on OSIRIS-REx’s observations, the particles ejected from Bennu can be as big as softballs and hit speeds of about 7 miles an hour. Even more surprising, McMahon said, a small number of these bits of debris seemed to do the impossible: They flew off the surface of Bennu, then orbited the asteroid for several days or longer. But, basic orbital calculations suggest that all of these particles should do one of two things: Jump off the surface and fall right back down or escape from Bennu’s gravity and never come back. However, McMahon explained that as these objects leap off the asteroid, they are exposed to heat and radiation coming from the sun and from Bennu itself—just a little bit, but enough to occasionally give them a slight boost in speed. With the right push, those particles can, essentially, fail at falling.

Up Is Down in This Fun Physics Experiment – (New York Times – September 3, 2020)
A team of French scientists showed that not only could they make a layer of viscous liquid hover in midair but that a little toy boat would also bob on the bottom side of the liquid layer in the same way that one would normally float on top. “That was a fun experiment,” said Emmanuel Fort, a professor at France’s ESPCI Paris and an author of a paper published in the journal Nature that describes this seemingly impossible feat. Article describes the experiment. A search through the scientific literature revealed levitating liquids with vibrations was not new knowledge; other scientists had discovered the phenomenon decades ago. But Dr. Fort’s team identified something unusual: that objects could float along that bottom layer of a levitating liquid. Because of the weight of the liquid, the air underneath the levitating layer is denser, and that denser air is pushing the boat up into the liquid, counteracting the downward force of gravity. The net effect is that it floats upside down. “The global vibration helps you to stabilize this equilibrium position,” Dr. Fort said. “It’s not intuitive.”

A New Study Analyses the Murky World of Fake Amazon Reviews – (Economist – September 3, 2020)
Are you looking for a new electric toothbrush? A cordless vacuum cleaner? A foot massager? Amazon has just the product for you. It has been highly rated by scores of “verified purchasers”, with receipts proving that they bought the item. Some of these satisfied customers have left five-star ratings; others have also composed lengthy reviews with photos. No doubt you will be happy with your new gadget, too. Unless, that is, these glowing recommendations are fraudulent. A new working paper by economists at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles explores an elaborate scheme by sellers to hoodwink Amazon’s customers into buying their mediocre products. The authors conclude that companies can cheat their way into extra sales, temporarily at least, by paying for fake reviews.

Millennials to Redistribute Wealth from Older Generations to the Young in New ‘Age of Disorder,’ Warns Deutsche Bank Strategist – (MarketWatch – September 9, 2020)
The “Age of Disorder” is the title of a new Deutsche Bank research note, which says the world is entering its sixth distinct era of modern times. So say goodbye to the “era of globalization” and brace yourself for the “age of disorder” where millennials, (those between the ages of 22 and 38 years old in 2019), firmly established as the generation of ‘have nots’, take their revenge and redistribute wealth from the old to young. How? “In fact, an issue that is quickly emerging as a political force is the intergenerational gap,” the report says. “Assuming life does not become more economically favorable for Millennials as they age (many find house prices increasingly out of reach), this could be a potential turning point for society and start to change election results and thus change policy.” “Such a shift in the balance of power could include a harsher inheritance tax regime, less income protection for pensioners, more property taxes, along with greater income and corporate taxes . . . and all-round more redistributive policies”, the Deutsche Bank report said. The report summarizes: What will this new age bring? Deteriorating US/China relations and the reversal of unfettered globalization; A make-or-break decade for Europe, with muddle-through less likely; following the economic shock of COVID-19; Even higher debt; Inequality worsening before a backlash and reversal takes place; The intergenerational divide widening before millennials and younger voters soon start having the numbers to win elections and, in turn, reverse decades of policy; Linked to the above, the climate debate will build, with more voters sympathetic and thus creating disorder. (Editor’s note: This article was aimed at older, wealthier readers, and so pitched as a “warning”, but leaving aside who “wins” and who “loses”, we think the report is astute in terms of trends noted, particularly in view of the newer members of the US House of Representatives.) See also: The Millennials Are Coming for the Boomers’ Money: One Bank Sees Generational Conflict Breaking Out This Decade which offers many more graphs and data points to support the thesis of the main article.

Physicist: The Entire Universe Might Be a Neural Network – (Futurism – September 9, 2020)
In a provocative preprint uploaded to arXiv this summer, a physics professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth named Vitaly Vanchurin attempts to reframe reality in a particularly eye-opening way — suggesting that we’re living inside a massive neural network that governs everything around us. In other words, he wrote in the paper, it’s a “possibility that the entire universe on its most fundamental level is a neural network.” For years, physicists have attempted to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. The first posits that time is universal and absolute, while the latter argues that time is relative, linked to the fabric of space-time. In his paper, Vanchurin argues that artificial neural networks can “exhibit approximate behaviors” of both universal theories. Since quantum mechanics “is a remarkably successful paradigm for modeling physical phenomena on a wide range of scales,” he writes, “it is widely believed that on the most fundamental level the entire universe is governed by the rules of quantum mechanics and even gravity should somehow emerge from it.” “We are not just saying that the artificial neural networks can be useful for analyzing physical systems or for discovering physical laws, we are saying that this is how the world around us actually works,” reads the paper’s discussion. “With this respect it could be considered as a proposal for the theory of everything, and as such it should be easy to prove it wrong.” The concept is so bold that most physicists and machine learning experts Futurism reached out to declined to comment on the record, citing skepticism about the paper’s conclusions. The idea is definitely crazy, but what if it is crazy enough to be true? That remains to be seen.

Louis Vuitton Released a $961 Monogram Face Shield – (InStyle – September 11, 2020)
Louis Vuitton has launched a $961 PVC shield that features the brand’s monogram on the headband and around the shield and comes complete with gold studs. The piece is part of the LV’s 2021 Cruise collection and will be available in stores worldwide on Oct. 30.

100 Most Creative Street Art Projects – (YouTube – August 26, 2018)
Here is a compendium of 100 pieces of street art from around the world. In the video clip, each image gets only 6 seconds. Some of the images are so interesting that you may wish to pause the video and look longer. Enjoy.

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