SOTT Focus:


Fireball 5

SOTT Focus: 2013 saw a dramatic increase in meteor fireballs - What does 2014 have in store?

Fireball City
So many new comets were discovered last year that astronomers named 2013 the 'Year of the Comet'. Less popularlized was the noticeable increase in fireball meteors observed in the Earth's atmosphere. Another year has passed and fireballs are still raining down like never before, with their rate apparently increasing exponentially.

SOTT.net has been cataloguing fireball events since 2002, and a couple of other websites have sprung up since then, but in general the lack of record-keeping and media coverage of this phenomenon is shocking, especially given how extraordinary the phenomenon is (or rather, was - apparently it's 'normal' now!) and whatever it may portend for civilization, sometime in the future, if not immediately.

One relatively new resource is the American Meteor Society's 'Fireball Logs', a database where eyewitnesses have been submitting reports of fireball events in the U.S. The AMS does subsequent checks to verify events with the All-Sky Fireball Camera Network set up by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) and other observation networks. Their stats are remarkable, yet they do fit with what we've noticed at SOTT.net in recent years: the numbers just keep going up and up, and at an ever increasing rate!

Using the AMS data, which begins in 2005, I've created the following tables to give readers a visual for what's going on. Check this out:

Fireball Increase 3.0
© SOTT

Comment: See also:




Fireball 2

SOTT Focus: Take cover! Meteor fireballs rain down across U.S. - Outbreaks of wildfires reported

Reports are pouring in from across the United States of multiple meteor fireballs streaking across the sky yesterday evening, January 12th, 2014, from approximately 5pm through 7pm, Eastern Standard Time. Over 170 observation reports were submitted to the American Meteor Society website, in addition to dozens of reports submitted on the Lunar Meteorite Hunters website, from eyewitnesses in northeastern and western states.

Streaks appearing on NOAA's online radar service apparently indicate that the fireballs came in from a northeast-southwest direction:

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© NOAAThe Pacific coast of the US earlier today. Note the blue streak over Washington state and similar on the Nevada-Utah border.

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© NOAANote the streaks over the ocean west of Washington state and Oregon.

Comment: Update 16 January 2014

A reader sent us the link to this video report from 'Fire in the Sky News' on the above meteor 'outburst':




Sherlock

SOTT Focus: Were The Boston Marathon Bombers 'Mind Controlled'?

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Just your average dysfunctional immigrant American family...with "spontaneous, self-radicalized marathon bombers"
Were the 'Boston Bombers' mind controlled?

If it were possible to ask the elder of the two Tsarnaev brothers, Tamerlan, this question, it seems he would answer in the affirmative.

One of the stories that disappeared down the media memory hole late last year was a report about a five month-long Boston Globe investigation into the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and their alleged perpetrators.

A December 16th 2013 story on the investigation nonchalantly stated:
"Suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev heard voices inside his head and had an alter-ego."

As part of a five-month investigation, the Globe spoke to a number of sources close to the elder Tsarnaev. One of them was Donald Larking. Larking said that Tamerlan believed the voices were part of a "majestic mind control", which was "a way of breaking down a person and creating an alternative personality with which they must coexist."
Alrighty then. Not much of interest there.

Bad Guys

SOTT Focus: U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to 'protect women'? Really?

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© Bill Podlich and Jon NyswongeAfghanistan: before and after
As an Afghan woman, I find the propaganda line used by the Yankees and the Brits that they must stay in Afghanistan to 'protect the wimmins' to be particularly breathtaking in its pathological audacity. We know they're really there for the oil and gas pipelines, the rare-earth minerals and the opium, so please, spare us this BS!

This recent Reuters article is a prime example of how the mainstream media distorts reality to fit the imperial agenda:
Violent crime against women in Afghanistan hit record levels and became increasingly brutal in 2013, the head of its human rights commission said on Saturday, a sign that hard won rights are being rolled back as foreign troops prepare to withdraw.
"Hard won rights"? Which rights, exactly? Ever since the appearance of the 'Taliban' and the U.S. invasion and occupation, Afghanistan has been pushed into a downward spiral of destruction, death and misery. You would think that if the U.S. had any intention of improving the situation in Afghanistan during these past 12 years, things would have been... well, improving. But, obviously, that's not the case. In short, if violent crime against women in Afghanistan has hit record levels, it is a direct result of the 12 years of US and British occupation of my home country.

But before we wade further through the mire of this particular Reuters article, let's look back at how media reports described violence against women and women's rights in Afghanistan under U.S. military occupation:

Treasure Chest

SOTT Focus: There Will Be No Economic Recovery. Prepare Yourself Accordingly - Beware of the Libertarian Agenda

Stefan Molyneux is a Canadian blogger, essayist, author, philosopher and host of the Freedomain Radio series of podcasts on political philosophy, atheism, personal and relationship issues, and related topics. He is an anarcho-capitalist and atheist. He has written numerous articles and smaller essays which have been published on libertarian websites including LewRockwell.com, antiwar.com, and Strike The Root, and has recorded numerous podcasts and videos, and self-published several books. Molyneux holds a B.A. in History from McGill University and an M.A. in history from University of Toronto. The following is his podcast entitled "There Will Be No Economic Recovery. Prepare Yourself Accordingly."


All in all, an excellent example of how a well-educated person can have a fine command of (certain) facts and figures, yet be unable to see the wider picture due to ideological blinders. This guy definitely does not have the whole banana though, from his thousands of podcasts with "The Truth About..." in the titles, one suspects that he thinks he does. Allow me to explain what is going on in this video.

Nebula

SOTT Focus: Co(s)mic Influences in Nuclear Decay?

Cosmic Rays
© Simon Swordy (U. Chicago), NASA
This article is a continuation of the previous one "Cosmos reflecting on a nuclear level". Here I will deal with some details of the whole co(s)mic story. Indeed, it has cosmic proportions, but it also has a bit of a comic side.

Just few days ago I finished writing a preliminary version of a chapter for my book on Quantum Fractals. The title of this particular chapter is "Stochastic nature of quantum measurement processes." "Stochastic" is just a different name for "random", and "random" is just a different word for "we do not understand why things happen and we can't predict the outcomes, though we seem to be able to predict averages". There are many things around us that may be considered as "random", not only lottery numbers. But are they really random? This is the subject of the chapter that I wrote, where I had in mind "quantum events" that are often considered as "truly random" - no one can predict, for instance when a given radioactive atom is going to split into parts. Or so we think. But is that really so?

Che Guevara

SOTT Focus: Dieudonné M'bala M'bala and the Quenellization of France

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Dieudonné M'bala M'bala
The government of France has declared all-out war against Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, a French comedian whose comedy sketches are performed at large, sold-out venues and remain popular with French audiences despite the fact that he has long since been banned from appearing on national television. The comedian stands accused of 'anti-semitism', particularly in relation to a gesture he makes in his comedy sketches, 'La Quenelle', which has become widely popular in France.

Many charges have been brought against the comedian in recent years - some were successful and resulted in fines, others were thrown out of court. What's different this time around is that the French state itself is going after Dieudonné. Up until recently, French Jewish organizations have pressed charges 'on behalf of French Jews', on the grounds that Dieudonné's public comments and comedy sketches broke France's strict 'hate crimes' laws forbidding expressions of 'anti-semitism'.

The French state's strategy to date of ignoring Dieudonné and minimizing his access to mass audiences apparently changed between Christmas and the New Year when top government officials, including President François Hollande, publicly declared their intention to shut the comedian out of French public life altogether. The Interior Minister, Manuel Valls, declared he would "thoroughly examine all legal options that would allow a ban on Dieudonné's public gatherings, which no longer belong to the artistic domain, but rather amount to a public safety risk."

Bad Guys

SOTT Focus: Caesar's Rome and today

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© UnknownSilver Denarius of Caesar (44BC)
In ancient Rome, money was gold, silver, and various other metals in ingot or struck form. The silver Denarius coin was one of the common currencies of the people for commercial trade. The gold Aureus coin was generally valued at 25 denarii (unequal weights), and was used for large payments and a stable store of value (savings).

By Caesar's time (b.100BC) it was well-understood that a growing empire required a growing economy, and thus, a growing money supply. Much of this money entered the empire in the form of booty through its conquests all around the Mediterranean. By mid-century, Caesar added Gaul (Western Europe) to the conquests, and consequently, more money to the Republic's treasury and economy.

The Populares and the Optimates

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© UnknownGold Aureus of Caesar
But there was also an artificial way to increase the money supply in the form of paper debt. The moneyed oligarchs (Optimates) of the Roman Republic often engaged in money lending to increase their wealth via interest (usury). The paper debts they created could also be traded for metal money and could act as a form of fiat currency. This debt-money creation works fine so long as economic growth provides the means to pay the interest on the debt. When the debt burden in Rome became excessive, the economy would slow, and the risk of mass default would climb. This is why debt cancellation/reduction was often a "hot" political topic among candidates for high office where the struggle would often manifest between leaders in the Populares (of the people) camp versus the Optimates camp in the Roman Senate. Caesar was solidly in the Populares camp from start to finish.

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© UnknownMurder of Caesar on the Senate floor
The Optimates in the Senate and the Roman oligarchs knew much about boom/bust economic cycles and how debt could be used to vastly increase their wealth at the expense of the people. A debt default would allow the capture of much property at low cost - and after the economy improved - net wealth increased dramatically and far beyond what would have been gained in interest on the debt. This is why the Optimates in the Senate very much hated any talk of legislation directed toward debt cancellation/reduction. Debt cancellation/reduction cut their legs out from under them in direct favor of the Populares. And this struggle between the Populares and the Optimates is what led to the murder of Caesar on the Senate floor [and apparently Brutus was particularly vile among the big moneylenders].

Does any of this sound familiar with respect to the situation we find our collective selves (the Populares) in today? Paper debt instruments are completely out of control and real money (gold and silver) have been relegated to the status of "barbaric relic". We are in the middle of a vast transfer of wealth from the Populares to the Optimates/oligarchs of today. Has there been any serious legislative talk of debt reduction/cancellation? No. Instead we have experienced the legislative groundwork for "bail-in" of the people's assets to service the debt. The Optimates of today want everything.

Fireball

SOTT Focus: Happy New Year 2014?

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Happy 2014?
On December 31st of 2011, I wrote a short article predicting that the world was not going to end in 2012 as so many people wanted it to. I pointed out that there had been a lot of "Ends of the World" predicted throughout history and the 2012 bouhaha wasn't much different. In fact, you can almost take it to the bank that if somebody is predicting it, it isn't going to happen because once a prediction is made, people begin to act differently and that changes the outcome. Just think about Jonah prophesying destruction on the city of Nineveh and how upset he was when God supposedly changed his mind because the people got their act together and repented of their evil-doing, whatever it was.

On the other hand, there does seem to be something to this predicting business, but not many people get it right. Just think about the Fundie cult that was predicting the end of the world to happen in mid-March of 2011. The world, as a whole, didn't end, of course, but life as they knew it did end for a whole lot of people in Japan thanks to an impressive earthquake and tsunami.

So, we made it through 2012 and now, we've got another year notched on our belt in addition: we made it through 2013 and the world still hasn't ended. Or has it?

Comment: More food for thought...

Finally catching up - Could the Black Death actually have been an Ebola-like virus?


New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection

Black Death found to be Ebola-like virus

For the sake of you and your family's health, ditch the sugar and start eating animal fats. See:

Are you prepping your diet?

The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview


Laptop

SOTT Focus: The State of Technology Address at the End of 2013

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Oh 2013, what a high-tech year you were!

From the general recognition (finally) that the US government was spying on everyone, everyone's dog, and everyone's dog's lawn presents, to the almighty Mobile Revolution, to the 64-bit iPhone with 2X the awesome, to the complete abortion that is Windows 8/8.1...

Yes, it was a year to remember in the tech world.

Pay no attention to all those fireballs everyone was talking about.

As 2014 rolls in, I thought I would take a brief, syrupy-sweet and fluffy look at The State of Technology.

President Scottie: My fellow humans, the State of Technology is STROOOONG!

Adoring Public: [APPLAUSE, STANDING OVATION]