impotent men hide behind power 11/28/2017 0 Comments   by E.L. Christianson Jr. Impotence is a common problem among men.  The common definition of impotence has 2 parts, each describing an inability that men have difficulty facing.  First it describes an inability to take effective action or a helplessness.  Second it describes an inability to achieve an erection or an orgasm.  The first is a generalized inability.  The second is a sexual inability.  What feelings are produced in men who are impotent and how do those men interact with others in society? Heard the one about the old man who is listening to an evangelist on the radio, when the evangelist proclaims, "Put one hand on your afflicted part and your other hand on the radio and you shall be healed"? So the old man puts his left hand on his penis and his right hand on the radio, at which point his wife looks over and says: "He said he was going to heal the sick, not raise the dead." Jokes and stifled sniggers are the usual response to the subject of impotence. But beneath the facade of humour lies a widespread, serious problem. "Nothing equals the devastation wrought by the lack of an erection at the right time.Nothing except the loss of his job can make a man feel more worthless. Men have tied their self-respect to the upward mobility of their penises and when their penises do not rise to the occasion, they do not feel like men," We are well aware that when one feels inadequate, for whatever reason, that person attempts to compensate for that feeling. When the inadequacy is a sexual problem, in some men, the compensation must be extreme and convincing.  This drives many men to want to appear overly powerful and dominant?  When men recognize that they lack something in certain areas of life they try to achieve goals that make them feel superior in others.  This need for compensation is exaggerated when the inadequacy is sexual. In the 'battle of the sexes', the 'weak' male is constantly being exposed as less than the fictitious all-powerful, superior, 'might makes right' person he self created in the American dream.  As women have moved upward in the social structure of the country, the position of men has been challenged.  For the weakened male, suffering from impotence, it becomes unbearable.  Violence of one form or another becomes the compensation that satisfies. In the United States, objectifying girls and women is a major part of our national character.  We capture the image of girls and women in our advertising campaigns and market that image as an accessory for male power.  The male's sanctimonious preaching pretends to 'worship' the female.  The deception is so complete as to almost be believable.   But, nobody who is paying attention could be fooled.  We all stand aside as those inadequate males force themselves on all of us in every manner imaginable. The violence becomes natural - almost genetic.  It seems as if 'man' was created with these tendencies toward violence.  It is domestic violence in the home and it is war in the international scene.  In the home, the woman becomes the victim.  Our entire culture is oriented toward keeping her 'in her place'.  On the world-front, it is the bullying of less strong nations that supports the ego of the impotent. Nothing beats standing at the front of an army of troops in a 'victory' parade. To be the 'envy of every guy' doesn't require actual accomplishment or actual ability, it only requires the deception of mirrors and screens... the appearance of... and, 'all of the girls will swoon'... ​Men who see themselves as inadequate are completely dependent on illusionary imagery to bolster there 'sagging egos'.  They need a bigger gun, a bigger car, a supposedly powerful position, a bigger lie.  Bragging and grandiose displays of importance are tools used to make up for their own awareness of the truth they keep hidden, that they are impotent - unable to perform. We knew about the evils of sexual exploitation all along, but we kept it hidden for as long as the victims didn't make too much noise.  Even when a raped woman attempted to complain, she was most often victimized a second time by public condemnation. Finally, we have reached a point where many women are coming forward and identifying the sexual villains.  The list is long.  Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed and/or assaulted multiple women over decades.  The image of Bill Cosby has been refocused.  Pussy grabbing Donald Trump bragged about his assaults on women.   The truth is easy to understand.  'Real men', that is men who are potent, that is men who are capable sexually and in other important ways do not need to compensate for inadequacies.  They are able to have relationships with women as genuine equals.  A capable man need not resort to force, or to rely on a position of power to associate with the 'weaker sex' or with anyone else, and that's the truth !!! (Image by izquotes.com) Permission Details DMCA That Gun in Men's Pockets: ​Sexual Assault & Our Militarized Culture from OpEdNews by Mike Rivage-Seul I'm waiting for the day when the female-led sea-change we're now witnessing around the gun in men's pockets might attach itself to the weapons in their holsters and on missile launch pads.That would truly revolutionize our world. Recent furor around the sexual harassment of women by famous men has reminded me of the old Mae West tag, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" It's made me wish that all of us were as perceptive as Ms. West in implicitly connecting aggressive male sexuality and gun violence -- especially in our militarized culture. Such sensitivity might help rid us of danger posed by real guns, which is far greater than "the boss" flashing or fondling his metaphorical counterpart in front of understandably shocked and repulsed female underlings. In other words, I'm waiting for the day when the female-led sea-change we're now witnessing around the gun in men's pockets might attach itself to the weapons in their holsters and on missile launch pads. It would revolutionize our world. There mostly white misogynists currently shape not only Hollywood stories, news reporting, music, and comedy, but also our country's domestic and foreign policy. There the male solution to everything seems to involve guns, bombing, and threats of violence. Think about it: Both the gun referenced by Mae West and real guns are pretty strictly male things. Anatomically, women simply can't exhibit the pocket gun. And strutting about with a Glock on their hips or an AK 47 on their shoulders seems fairly distant from most women's reality. I find it hard to even imagine a mass shooting perpetrated by a woman. Has one ever occurred? (In fact, mass shooters tend to be white middle aged men with actual records of domestic abuse.) Why this male fixation? Feminist commentators as far back as the '70s had It figured out. They said that male exhibitionism and aggressiveness with that gun in their pockets isn't really about sex. No: it's about power. After World War II, men resented the entry of women into the public sphere. Harassing them sexually was one way of putting them back in their place. "You don't belong here; get out" was one message. Another was, "Unless you 'put out' for me, you won't be hired or advanced." Both messages drove many women away or into jobs like teaching or nursing where female community was easier to find. In other words, sexual harassment represented male response to female threat to their traditional territory and power. Might something similar be said for men's love affair with real guns -- for their fascination with their size and power and capacity for multiple bursts? Is it a response to a world where women and other outsiders have entered white male bastions? Consider the evidence provided by the most testosterone-soaked bastion of all, the U.S. military. There at least 25% of women report having been sexually assaulted; 80% say they have been sexually harassed. And, of course, rape of "enemy" women has long represented one of the spoils of war -- including for U.S. servicemen. If they are so willing to sexually assault their colleagues, what do you think our soldiers do with enemy women? The answer for all of this is a profound change of patriarchal systems designed to denigrate, harass, intimidate, silence, devalue and assault not only women, but anyone who threatens male privilege. The answer is for men to take the lead in betraying our fondest ideas of masculinity and our reliance on weapons to solve political problems. It is to deconstruct completely our misogynist culture. That means imagining and crafting a world run by women -- or at least where without harassment or assault, women are allowed to achieve proportional representation in national assemblies. In such a world, diplomacy, dialog, and compromise, would predictably represent the default diplomatic position rather than immediate resort to military hardware. Simply put, our militarized patriarchy isn't working on any level. Predatory masculinity has been exposed in the workplace. For those willing to see, the disastrous failure of its martial equivalent also stands evident in the world at large. Acknowledging that exposition and countering it with female energy would change everything. Mike Rivage-Seul is a liberation theologian and former Roman Catholic priest. Recently retired, he taught at Berea College in Kentucky for 40 years where he directed Berea's Peace and Social Justice Studies Program.  Mike blogs at http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/

freedom...

11/28/2017

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by E.L. Christianson Jr.

It is all so confusing.  What exactly is 'freedom'?  Is it freedom to do something or is it freedom from something?  Is one free to harm another or is one free from being harmed by another?  The subject of 'freedom' is in our slogans, in our songs, in our literature, on our billboards and virtually anywhere we look.  As a nation, we roam the world spreading 'freedom' and will destroy any other nation that attempts to impede our effort.  We use the word 'freedom' so much that it is difficult to understand much about the meaning.  

In the United States, our freedoms are 'enshrined' in the 'Bill of Rights'.  In addition to freedoms for the people, the 'Bill of Rights' limits government powers. 

​People have been attempting to secure freedom for as long as we have been 'civilized'.  In colonial America, The Virginia Declaration of Rights was an early attempt.  The American revolution was for 'freedom' from England.  'African Americans (both slaves and free) fought on both sides.  Colonialists fought to be free and also to keep their slaves from being free.

Scotland has been seeking freedom from England from the beginning.  England itself tried freedom with a Bill of Rights in 1689, which followed an earlier attempt in 1215, The Magna Carta.  In France, the storming of the Bastille was part of a revolution for freedom.

These are a few of the more recent attempts at freedom in the western world.  The Sumerians recognized the need for freedom 4,000 years ago and instituted reforms to grant freedoms to the people.
​
Women have been struggling for freedom since forever.

Here in the United States, in spite of the 'Bill of Rights', we haven't gotten it right.  The powerful keep the less powerful under their thumb.  The wealthy dominate the poor.  The laws create criminals un-necessarily among 'lower classes' while legitimatizing unspeakable corruption and evil among the elite.

One example, of the many possible examples, is the arrest of those engaging in the criminal activity of 'dancing' at the Jefferson Memorial.  One can watch video of the police body slamming the villains during the arrest process.  If it was unknown previously, it is known now, for sure... dancing is not one of your freedoms.

Be careful when crossing the street.  ​Don't worry about traffic, look both ways for the police.  Scott Miller was rushing across the street when a police officer noticed that he hadn’t used a crosswalk.  The officer took Miller to the ground (police seem to love that take 'em to the ground part), handcuffed him and arrested him.

Forget about having 'freedom of speech'... Wesley Force of New Bern, North Carolina, found out last year when he was arrested and taken to jail for saying the word “fuck” in public.  A judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail.

A mother was arrested in South Carolina earlier this year for swearing in front of her children at a supermarket.

Two young sisters with an "entrepreneurial spirit" set up a lemonade stand in Overton, Texas, to raise money for their dad's Father's day gift, their mom said.  But Andria and Zoey Green's business closed abruptly Monday after police came by to tell them their stand was illegal.

School districts in Meridian, Mississippi, incarcerated students for things like “dress code violations, flatulence, profanity and disrespect.”

Don't stand on the street corner.  For decades, cops have used arrests for loitering to target homeless people.   Arrest for loitering may sound both ridiculous and relatively insignificant, but the time in jail for this “crime” can be significant.  In one notorious case in Florida in the ‘80s, a man spent 13 months in jail after an arrest for loitering.

It goes on and on.  The examples are virtually everywhere one looks.  Freedom is like 'justice', it does not exist.  Here's one more example - this child would like to have freedom from stupid police mistakes that threaten his life - 2-Year-Old Hospitalized After Police Raid Wrong Home, Threw Grenade into His Bedroom.

Freedom is one of those philosophical concepts that sounds good but has yet to be achieved, even after eons of people struggling to gain their freedom.  Those in charge systematically squash any attempt to do anything other than that which they tell us to do.  Simply put, you are free to do what you are told to do - and that's the truth !!!

Good Samaritans Shutdown, ​Ticketed for Feeding Homeless During Thanksgiving Holiday Feeding the homeless is now illegal in Atlanta and you will be ticketed and extorted unless you pay the state for permission beforehand. from the Daily Sheeple by Matt Agorist Atlanta, GA — According to the official historical record, in 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For over a century, families have gathered to proclaim what they are thankful for while others have taken to shelters and charities to help those who cannot help themselves. However, thanks to the state, helping others during this most giving time is now illegal—unless you pay the government for permission. During this Thanksgiving week, Adele Maclean and Marlon Kautz took to the streets to begin handing out food to the homeless—like they do every week. However, this time, instead of receiving praise for their services, they were issued a notice of extortion by police in the form of a citation. ​ “We’re looking at a citation,” Maclean said. As WSB-TV notes, Atlanta police have been handing out the flyers across the city telling people that a permit is needed to give food to the homeless. The fliers are being used as a warning by the police to stop people from feeding the homeless without first paying the state for permission to do so. “I mean outrageous, right? Of all the things to be punished for, giving free food to people who are hungry?”  Maclean told Channel 2’s Justin Wilfon. The pair has been handing out food in the same spot for weeks and they told WSB-TV that they have never heard of needing a permit to feed the needy. “It seems ridiculous to me that they would be spending their time and resources on stopping people from feeding the homeless,” said Maclean said. Indeed, it is ridiculous considering the murders and rapes taking place in Atlanta and the low rate at which they are solved. However, issuing notices of extortion, aka citation, to people for feeding the homeless is far easier and much more profitable than catching a murderer. As WSB-TV reports: Wilfon contacted the city to find out what was going on. A city representative said the Fulton and DeKalb County boards of health both require permits to give food to the homeless and the city of Atlanta enforces those requirements. While the requirements aren’t new, Atlanta police told Wilfon they recently started more strictly enforcing them for several reasons. The city believes there are better ways to help the homeless, like getting them into programs and shelters. They are also taking issue with the litter the food distributions leave behind. Naturally, leaving behind waste for the city to clean up is wrong — but littering is already a crime. Why not just enforce that law? Instead, good people, who don’t litter, are being punished for helping their hungry and less fortunate counterparts. Unfortunately, in the land of the free, feeding the homeless has become a revolutionary act. Cities across the country are cracking down on good people who want to feed the needy. Last December, the Dallas, Texas city council enacted Ordinance No. 29595, which makes it illegal to serve food to the homeless without jumping through a statist myriad of bureaucratic hoops, including a fee, training classes, and written notices. However, the folks over at the aptly named organization Don’t Comply, took to the streets just outside the Austin Street Shelter in Dallas, while well armed, and successfully fed thousands of homeless people. Sadly, the state’s endless desire to generate revenue has led to a system which requires permits for just about every activity not just feeding the homeless. In May, the Alameda County Sheriff’s department posted a photo of a deputy arresting a man for selling fruits and vegetables on the roadside and attempted to justify the arrest. When people read the department’s justification, they lashed out — peacefully — to let them know what they were doing is wrong.

What they sought was freedom from the Carolina Journal by John Hood In what had once been a land of opportunity and progress, the state had grown large and oppressive. Its leaders lost their way. Its people nearly lost their freedom. How oppressive had the state become? No matter how you chose to make your living, government officials made constant demands on you. Every major transaction was taxed, at escalating rates. If you couldn’t pay the taxes, your goods and property were seized. In many cases, you had to have special permission from the state to enter your chosen occupation. How did the government grow to be so oppressive? It didn’t happen overnight. Instead, the encroachments were gradual, each one too small on its own to provoke large-scale opposition. Many of the taxes were originally enacted as “temporary” measures, in response to emergencies, but then lingered on in seeming perpetuity. It was a great deal for the political class — at first. In earlier times, state revenues had been used primarily to fund critical infrastructure and maintain law and order. But as the money poured in, bureaucrats hired other bureaucrats, which boosted their power and stature. Government didn’t just pay them directly. Precisely because government had become so burdensome, corruption was rampant. It was cheaper for merchants to pay off public officials than to comply fully with the taxes and regulations. Over time, however, the abuses of the political class proved counterproductive. To the extent land confiscation moved taxable property into government ownership, the tax base shrank. To the extent government made it harder to start and run businesses, there were fewer businesses generating revenues and employing people — which led to financial problems for the state as well as idleness and discontent among the population. Finally, a new leader emerged. He was honest and ethical. Most importantly, he was observant. He recognized that the expansion of government had discouraged private enterprise and bred public contempt. He resolved to fix the problem. The new leader slashed taxes. He eliminated regulations, and the jobs of regulators who had enforced them. He ended abusive confiscations of land, reserving that power for parcels the state truly needed for infrastructure. He fought public corruption and ensured that rich, powerful interests did not receive special treatment when the state adjudicated legal disputes. The government didn’t wither away. Instead, the new leader refocused its attention on law and order. He codified and simplified the legal code. He increased penalties, particularly for violent offenses. Crime rates dropped, which made existing residents feel more secure about starting new businesses and encouraged new people to immigrate to the area. Care to hazard a guess about the identity of this political reformer and the state he led? No, I’m not talking about an American state, or recent events in a foreign land. The leader’s name was Urukagina. He ruled the Sumerian state of Lagash, which included a capital and several nearby towns, more than 2000 years before the birth of Christ. The site is in what is now southern Iraq. The official chronicle of Urukagina’s reforms contains the first use of the word “freedom” in recorded history. The Sumerian term was “amargi,” literally “a return to the mother.” The idea being conveyed was that human beings were naturally born into a state of freedom, not a state of subservience. Another way of saying that, I guess, is that humans are endowed by their Creator with certain rights that are not lost — alienated from them — just because they live in societies with governments. Urukagina returned his people’s birthright to them, their freedom. It worked for a time. Unfortunately, he didn’t tend sufficiently to a core function of government, national defense, and Lagash fell prey to invaders. But his tale wasn’t forgotten, then or now. In 1960, the founders of the Liberty Fund in Indianapolis chose the cuneiform version of “amargi” as the centerpiece of their logo. When it comes to protecting and expanding freedom, there have been plenty of modern innovations. But there’s nothing new about the underlying concept. It’s ancient, and essential. ​ John Hood is chairman of the John Locke Foundation and appears on the talk show “NC SPIN.” You can follow him @JohnHoodNC.

In June, a 38-year-old homeless man was attempting to earn some honest money by providing a much-desired service to the residents of Kennewick, Washington when he was threatened with extortion and arrest by the local police department, which effectively ended his enterprise. After the Kennewick Police Department threatened the homeless man and prevented him from making a living, they took to Facebook to shamelessly brag about it.

​The man was told that while it was illegal for him to fix bicycles, he could certainly beg for money.

the fabulous human brain... 11/27/2017 0 Comments   a 3,700-year old Babylonian clay tablet is the world’s oldest and most accurate trigonometric table. --- The Babylonian tablet Plimpton 322 at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University in New York. (Photo: UNSW/Andrew Kelly) by E.L. Christianson Jr. The human mind is absolutely amazing.  Utilizing a process of thoughts, along with analyzing observations, we have accomplished things that could accurately be described as 'miracles'.  Examples abound.  We have explored our existence in the large scale and small scale forms.  We have looked down at that which is much too small to be seen except for 'in the mind'.  Also, we have looked up at that which is so far away as to be beyond our vision - except for in the vision of our mind. And right here in our own scale (the human scale) we have contemplated the many realms in Earth scale and considered the reasons 'why'.  We have sought explanations as to 'how'.  We have always done so.  Humans took the time away from the pursuit of necessities - food, shelter, etc. - to attempt to understand that which was around  us.  One simple observation led to another observation and we learned to connect those various observations into theories and principles.  Those theories and principles guide much of our lives today. It is awesome to think that as we developed from the 'ape stage' to the 'human stage' and advanced from the 'stone age' through the 'bronze age' and up through the 'iron age' that those thoughts and ideas would guide us in the 'industrial age' and the 'nuclear age'. It would appear that we haven't learned all that much more in the last few thousand years.  What it seems that we have done is to prove the truth of old ideas and to apply those thoughts and ideas to solving today's problems. The existence of unseen microbiological life was postulated by Jainism which is based on Mahavira’s teachings as early as 6th century BCE.  Mahavira asserted the existence of unseen microbiological creatures living in earth, water, air and fire.  Jain scriptures also describe 'nigodas' which are sub-microscopic creatures living in large clusters and having a very short life and are said to pervade each and every part of the universe, even in tissues of plants and flesh of animals. Imagine the mental acumen that allowed an individual 600 years BC to think in terms of 'microbiology'. From a practical point of view, microbiology saves lives every day.  Laboratory medicine is a vital part of public health because it detects disease in individuals and in whole populations. It is also valuable in the detection of various environmental dangers.  Thank you Mahavira. On the large scale, we've been looking up and out throughout our development as humans.  With the efforts of our mental brilliance, today, our equipment is traveling above the planet Jupiter at more than 130,000 miles-per-hour.   NASA's $1 billion Juno probe took its ninth set of stunning flyby images.  The photo-show, the 'perijove' as the spacecraft's flybys are called, is transmitted to Earth from Jupiter.   It was interrupted briefly as the sun got in between Earth and Jupiter.   Researchers posted it all online and a community of amateurs and professionals has been busily processing the data to yield colorful and stunning new pictures of Jupiter. NASA will eventually destroy the $1 billion robot. That way, it can't accidentally crash into Jupiter's icy moon Europa, possibly contaminating its ocean and any alien life.   And, as we look back and study the past, we see that in the field of mathematics, people sat around calculating and creating systems of calculations nearly four thousand years ago (and certainly, even before that).  That we had developed our patterns of civilization to the extent that people could immerse themselves in the study of mathematical formulas seem unbelievable.  But, there we were, in the 'bronze age', believing in all sorts of superstition and paying homage to all kinds of 'gods', and correctly working out the intricacies of trigonometry. Right now, today, we are on the verge of creating an entirely new life form - AI, or artificial intelligence.  As it reaches fruition it will be independent of human life.  Created by human life but living on its own. Our early successes are already moving among us... self driving cars and computerized robotics are the infant level of this development. The human brain.  Wow !! Who could have imagined? It seems almost limitless. Thinking and analyzing are human traits.  Thinking and analyzing... we also seem to be 'non-thinking', in a big way... Something is definitely amiss.  We are concerned with accidentally polluting a body in the solar system that is millions of miles away from Earth, while, at the same time, we don't seem to have that same level of concern here at home.  We are careful not to destroy life on a moon of Jupiter, but we don't have that same concern about life here on our own planet. And those robotic machines in some forms are 'guided missiles' designed to destroy 'some' of us.  We look at the world of bacteria and viruses and we create weapons designed to exterminate our enemies... other human beings.  Those ventures to other planets are, in part, to find a living space elsewhere after we have destroyed the living space we have now, here at home.   If only we could get ourselves 'together' and throw off that genetic baggage of eons ago wherein war and killing was the only thing we knew - the only universal practice of human-kind.  The very same brain that does that 'war thing' is the brain doing the 'genius thing'.  If we can't create the proper separation, soon, it will be too late.  Our brilliance will be our un-doing. That other life form that we are creating, the 'artificial intelligence', if we are successful, may be the only life left on our planet, and that's the truth !!! Churning storms at the poles of Jupiter constantly change their appearance. Some storms are the size of Earth. Ancient Babylonian Tablet May Hold Earliest Examples of Trigonometry If true, it would mean the ancient culture figured out this mathematical field more than a millennia before its known creation. from the Smithsonian by Ben Panko A new analysis of a long-studied Babylonian tablet suggests that trigonometry, the subject so many of us struggled through in high school, may actually be a lot older than previously thought. The small clay tablet, which dates back to the year 1800 B.C.E., is dubbed Plimpton 322 after George Arthur Plimpton, a New York publisher who purchased it in the 192o’s.  He donated the tablet with its scrawled rows of numbers to Columbia University in 1936—where it still remains today, researchers of the new study Daniel Mansfield and Norman Wildberger write for The Conversation. In the decades since its discovery, researchers have debated about the meaning of those numbers, reports Carl Engelking for Discover magazine. In his 1945 book, mathematician and historian Otto Neugebauer first suggested that Plimpton 322 represents a glimpse at early trigonometry, a field of math concerning the relationship of the sides and angles in triangles. The numbers on the tablet represented Pythagorean triples in Neugebauer’s mind, which are sets of three numbers that can be used to solve the Pythagorean theorem (a2+b2=c2), writes Engelking. Later researchers, such as mathematical historian Eleanor Robson, threw cold water on that idea, arguing that Plimpton 322 was more simply a teaching aid. Robson argued that the chosen numbers didn’t seem to align with groundbreaking research. Science historians have long regarded the creator of trigonometry to be the Greek astronomer Hipparchus and his contemporaries. They are believed to develop the system around the second century C.E. to precisely calculate the movement of the zodiac signs in the sky. But in the new study, published in the journal Historia Mathematica, Mansfield and Wildberger lend some credence to Neugebauer’s thinking, reports Ron Cowen for Science Magazine. The key is to get a new angle on the tablet’s numbers. Instead of the traditional method of trigonometry based on the angles of triangles, Cowen reports, Plimpton 322 actually uses calculations based on the ratios of the lengths of sides of right triangles, rather than relationships based on their angles. And instead of the base-10 system of numbers used today, the study suggests that the Babylonian tablet uses a base-60 system (similar to how we count time). Using this tablet and its system of numbers, the Babylonians could precisely calculate figures to a whole number more accurately than we could today with traditional trigonometry, Mansfield and Wildberger argue. The write: “The sexagesimal system is better suited for exact calculation. For example, if you divide one hour by three then you get exactly 20 minutes. But if you divide one dollar by three then you get 33 cents, with 1 cent left over. The fundamental difference is the convention to treat hours and dollars in different number systems: time is sexagesimal and dollars are decimal.” Researchers Crack Mathematical Code of ​3,700-Year-Old Babylonian Tablet from My Modern Met by Jessica Stewart The code has been cracked on a 3,700-year-old clay tablet dug up in southern Iraq almost a century ago. It was Edgar J. Banks, the inspiration behind Indiana Jones, who discovered the ancient Babylonian tablet later named Plimpton 322. He eventually sold it to publisher and collector George Plimpton for $10, and it was later bequeathed by Plimpton to Columbia University in the 1930s. It's only now that its full meaning, and importance to mathematics, is coming to light. Thanks to the work of Dr. Mansfield and Associate Professor Norman Wildberger, both from the University of New South Wales, we have discovered that it was actually the ancient Babylonians who discovered trigonometry, not the Greeks as is commonly thought. The researchers argue that the 4 columns and 15 rows of cuneiform numbers are actually part of a highly accurate trigonometric table, not a teacher's aid to checking student solutions to math problems—the previously accepted explanation. “Our research reveals that Plimpton 322 describes the shapes of right-angle triangles using a novel kind of trigonometry based on ratios, not angles and circles. It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius,” the researchers reveal in a UNSW statement. Trigonometry, which involves the study of relationships between the lengths and angles of triangles, was thought to have been invented in ancient Greece. Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who lives around 120 BC, is regarded as the father of the field. Yet, the Plimpton 322 predates his work by more than 1,000 years. ​ The discovery is an important one, as most Babylonian tablets have never been closely studied. “It opens up new possibilities not just for modern mathematics research, but also for mathematics education,” shares Dr. Wildberger. “With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trigonometry that has clear advantages over our own.” By delving into the history of mathematics, we open up avenues to understand how ancient societies functioned. The tablet, for instance, could have been used for surveying fields or in architectural constructions of palaces or step pyramids. “It opens up new possibilities not just for modern mathematics research, but also for mathematics education,” Wildberger says in a statement. “With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trigonometry that has clear advantages over our own.” The tablet could have had practical use in surveying or construction, writes Sarah Gibbens for National Geographic, allowing builders to take the heights and lengths of buildings and calculate the slope of a roof. Other mathematicians urge caution in the latest Plimpton 322 interpretation, writes Cowen at Science. Babylonian mathematics expert Jöran Friberg is skeptical that the culture had any knowledge of ratios advanced enough to create this form of math, while mathematical historian Christine Proust says there is no evidence in other surviving texts that tablets like this could have been used in the way the authors suggest. Meanwhile, mathematician Donald Allen tells Gibbens that it’s hard to really know whether Mansfield and Wildberger’s theory is right because they had to recreate a broken section of the tablet, making any conclusion “conjecture.” However, the Australian mathematicians hope to see more research done on the insights that the Babylonians might have for modern-day people, as they write for The Conversation. “We are only beginning to understand this ancient civilization, which is likely to hold many more secrets waiting to be discovered.” Those Sumerians knew a thing or two !!! Urukagina ruled the Sumerian state of Lagash more than 2000 years before the birth of Christ. The official chronicle of Urukagina’s reforms contains the first use of the word “freedom” in recorded history.

prison labor...

11/25/2017

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Prison Labor is the New American Slavery (Image by YouTube, Channel: LIVEFREE ORDIE) 

by E.L. Christianson Jr.

Whitney Benns tells some truths for The Atlantic in the article "American Slavery, Reinvented".

[here's] proof of a truth that America has worked hard to ignore: In a sense, slavery never ended... it was reinvented.​  Convict leasing was cheaper than slavery, since farm owners and companies did not have to worry about the health of their workers.

In this new era of prison industry, the criminal “justice” system, the state determined the size of the worker pool. Scores of recently freed slaves and their descendants now labored to generate revenue for the state under a Jim Crow regime.

More than a century later, our prison labor system has only grown. We now incarcerate more than 2.2 million people, with the largest prison population in the world...  Our prison populations remain racially skewed. With few exceptions, inmates are required to work if cleared by medical professionals at the prison. Punishments for refusing to do so include solitary confinement, loss of earned good time, and revocation of family visitation. For this forced labor, prisoners earn pennies per hour, if anything at all.

The major issue, among the many issues involved, is that the phrase "The criminal justice system of the United States" has absolutely no relationship to the concept of "justice".  No matter what other things that can be said about this system, justice is not any part of the system.

When a normal human being things of the concept of 'justice', one envisions something on the order of 'fairness'.

In the United States of America, justice only refers to the administration of law, nothing more. The various legislatures, national and local have written laws that need interpretation regarding their application in practical situations within the society.  Any idea about 'right' or 'wrong' is, in many instances, not even allowed in the deliberations before the courts.  The only factors that count deal exclusively with what the 'law' states or does not state and whether or not that 'law' takes precedence over some other 'law'.

The United States Supreme Court allows jail time for minor offenses.

5-Year Old in California Nabbed for Selling Lemonade without a License.
Someone spotted a law-breaking 5-year old selling lemonade and snacks without a license in Porterville, California.  The little girl, Autumn Thomasson, worked to earn enough money for a new bicycle.   Her mother said, “It meant so much to know she earned her own money.  She got to bring her own wallet and buy it herself and pay at the cash register.”

A man died following a brutal arrest in which NYPD choked him and slammed his head against the sidewalk. Police say they suspected him of selling cigarettes without government permission.

Eric Garner begged for air 8 times before falling silent. (Source: Ramsey Orta)

​The Vast Divide Between Too-Big-to-Jail and Too-Poor-to-Fight-Back in Reason and written by
Matt Welch shares the facts with us about Matt Taibbi's "The Divide", primarily concerned with the grotesquely unequal application of American justice, between the too-big-to-jail Wall Street elite and the too-poor-to-fight minority underclass. "The cleaving of the country into two completely different states--one a small archipelago of hyperacquisitive untouchables, the other a vast ghetto of expendables with only theoretical rights," Mr. Taibbi maintains, "is a terrible story, and a crazy one."

The banksters ripped us off for trillions of dollars... and nobody went to jail.  That is worth repeating... we witnessed the largest bank heist that could be imagined, the crooks didn't even attempt to claim innocence... and nobody went to jail.

Fairness and American justice are completely unrelated.  Things are so bad that the word "justice" cannot be used to describe any situation within the American legal system.  There is the 'law' and nothing else.  Good law or bad law cannot be distinguished in our system of 'laws'.

Those stuck working doing prison labor are simply those who are victimized by the 'law'.

Since it has no meaning, the word "justice" should be stricken from the language, and that's the truth !!!

Prison Labor Camps Are Not Progressive

​from OpEdNews By John Kiriakou
​
In the DARP program, prisoners work full-time jobs in factories and chicken processing plants, companies pay a discounted rate to the rehabs for the labor, and literally none of that money is passed on to the prisoners, either as salary or for counseling. It's slave labor. If they refuse to do the work, they are moved from the drug rehab to a state prison.
​
Prison Labor is the New American Slavery

One of Arkansas's top politicians, State Senate Majority Leader Jim Hendren, a Republican, is using unpaid, forced inmate labor to work at his plastics company, which makes dock floats for Home Depot and Walmart, according to Prison Legal News. Shocking? Sure. Illegal? Well, it depends on whom you ask. Prison labor, where inmates earn nothing or close to nothing, is used to man call centers, manufacture equipment for the US military, and otherwise put small businesses around the country out of business because they simply can't compete with an entity that has few or no labor costs. It's the American way of doing business.

The odd thing about the program that Hendren is taking advantage of is that many judges and politicians, especially in the south, consider it to be "progressive." For example, courts in Oklahoma and Arkansas send men to the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program (DARP) as an alternative to prison, and there they are supposed to receive drug treatment and counseling. A recent investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting, however, found that there is no treatment or counseling and that prisoners serve simply as free labor for private industry.

Indeed, in the DARP program, prisoners work full-time jobs in factories and chicken processing plants, companies pay a discounted rate to the rehabs for the labor, and literally none of that money is passed on to the prisoners, either as salary or for counseling. It's slave labor. If they refuse to do the work, they are moved from the drug rehab to a state prison.

Hendren, for his part, isn't shying away from what he's doing. He bragged to the press recently, "I've been creating jobs for over 20 years. A country cannot survive if it cannot feed itself and make things." He added that he's "proud to give kids in drug rehab programs a second chance."

A lawsuit may soon change all that. Mark Fochtman, a former rehab prisoner, filed suit in an Arkansas court, saying that he was forced to work in Hendren's company on a production line that melted plastic into dock floats and boat slips. In his affidavit, he said, "The environment was very caustic working around melted plastics. Because of the work environment, the turnover rate during my time was high." He said that if DARP workers got hurt on the job and couldn't work, they were kicked out of the program and sent to prison. Others just worked through the pain to avoid prison.

Another prisoner, Dylan Willis, who is also a plaintiff in the suit, said that his face, arms, and legs are still covered with burn scars from molten plastic that shot out of a machine. Willis said his supervisors shrugged off his injuries as "cosmetic" and gave him some Neosporin.

Hendren is well connected in Arkansas politics. Besides being the Senate Majority Leader, he is Governor Asa Hutchinson's nephew. His father, Kim, with whom he started the company, also is a Republican state legislator.
If all of this sounds illegal, it likely is. In 2014, the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections revoked DARP's license to house parolees after discovering that the program refused to pay workers the minimum wage. As a result, Arkansas prisons are no longer supposed to send parolees to the program. The courts, however, continue to do so in violation of the law, but with no consequences.

Of course, the same thing happens in the federal prison system, too. Federal Prison Industries, also known as UNICOR, a wholly-owned US government corporation, was created in 1934 as a labor program for federal prisoners. Like Hendren's company, it forces prisoners to manufacture goods for sale to a variety of US government agencies and departments.

When I was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Loretto, Pennsylvania, we had a UNICOR factory that manufactured high-speed cable for the US Navy. So much of it was deemed to be substandard that the plant was closed twice during my short 23-month stay there.

The most obvious problems, then, are twofold: slave labor doesn't make for quality production, and private manufacturers can't compete with an organization that has a payroll of almost nothing.

Using forced labor in private industry ought to be illegal everywhere in the country. Indeed, society would be better off if prisoners were paid a real wage. They could then pay whatever restitution they may have, whether to victims or to the government, and they could save money that they then could use to get back on their feet once they're released from prison.

But that won't happen. There is no "prisoner lobby" on Capitol Hill. And no member of Congress or the state legislatures will win any votes by advocating that convicted criminals be paid even the minimum wage. It's a vicious cycle that will repeat itself until a courageous judge finally puts an end to it.
​
John Kiriakou spent 14 years at the CIA and two years in a federal prison for blowing the whistle on the agency's use of torture. He served on John Kerry's Senate Foreign Relations Committee for two years as senior investigator into the Middle East. He writes and speaks about national security, whistleblowing, the prison-industrial complex, and foreign policy, and is an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and winner of the 2015 PEN Center USA First Amendment award. Twitter: @johnkiriakou

one of many examples - in 'our' country, the 'real' criminals are running the country...

the truth, thanksgiving, and thanks... 11/23/2017 0 Comments   Still Under Attack... The people of Standing Rock, including the Dakota, the Lakota and all Sioux are attempting to block the evil 1,170 mile, $3.7 billion Dakota Access Oil Pipeline which will dig through the three-mile-wide Missouri River, poisoning the water and desecrating the sacred land of the indigenous people. by E.L. Christianson Jr. Well, for starters, we know for certain that the popular American myth of 'that first Thanksgiving' is exactly that, a myth.  One can get a more truthful version of what really happened if they can expand their perception to include the Wampanoag Side of the Story​. ​​The pilgrims (who did not call themselves pilgrims) did not come here seeking religious freedom; they already had that in Holland.  The history of religion in the Netherlands has been characterized by considerable diversity of religious thought and practice going back even before Roman times. ​Since the 1960s the Netherlands has become one of the most non-religious countries in the western world. In a December 2014 survey by the VU University Amsterdam was concluded that for the first time there are more atheists (25%) than theists (17%) in the Netherlands. The majority of the population being agnostic (31%) or ietsist (27%). They weren't fleeing religious persecution, but were seeking a place where they had the freedom to conduct their own religious persecution. Also, some on the Mayflower were not escaping from religious persecution in England, but rather the tolerant Dutch Republic that they feared was influencing their children. After illegally breaking from the Church of England, the Separatists settled in the Netherlands under the relatively lenient Dutch laws.  Due to economic difficulties, as well as fears that they would lose their English language and heritage, they began to make plans to settle in the New World. In 1620, the 'pilgrims' joined a London stock company that would finance their trip aboard the Mayflower, a three-masted merchant ship.   They came here as part of a commercial venture. ​The term Indians as applied to Native Americans, or the indigenous peoples of the Americas, is thought to have originated in a misconception on the part of the Europeans who arrived in Central America in 1492.  Since Christopher Columbus began his journey to America with the intent of finding an alternate route to Southeast Asia.  Columbus carried a passport in Latin from the Spanish monarchs that dispatched him 'ad partes Indie' ("toward the regions of India") on their behalf. When he landed in the Antilles, Columbus referred to the resident peoples he encountered there as "Indians" reflecting his purported belief that he had reached the Indian Ocean.  Although Columbus soon recognized that he had not reached the Indies,  the islands in Central America came to be called the "West Indies", as opposed to the "East Indies" that Columbus originally had in mind as his destination. --wisegeek and wikipedia In the 1970s, the academic world began promoting the term Native Americans as a politically correct alternative to Indians. Some people feel that Native Americans is more accurate and less stigmatizing. However, Native Americans also has some issues, as anyone born in the Americas, indigenous or not, could be considered "Native American" if the term is taken literally. "Indigenous peoples of the Americas" is the most accurate term, but too cumbersome to be used regularly in everyday speech. Native Americans caught on to some degree, especially in the media, but the term Indians is still widely used. ​The arrival of the Europeans in the New World was the beginning of the end of Indian life. Many settlers thought they were superior to the Indians and tried to force them to take on their way of life. Land became the main problem between the Europeans and the Indians. Settlers wanted land for farming and mining.  As time went on, more and more Indians were forced off their land as new settlers arrived and travelled west. At first settlers and Indians were friendly towards each other but when they started to protect their land fighting broke out.   In 1830 a law was passed that allowed the government to move Indian tribes to the land west of the Mississippi. When gold was found in California in the 1850s settlers rushed west as quickly as possible and destroyed the land that the Indians depended on for hunting and fishing. At the beginning of the 20th century the American government started putting Indian tribes on reservations in the western part of the United States.  That program fails when valuable resources are discovered on 'Indian reservations'.  Similarly there is failure when the American government reneges promises.  The Dakota pipeline, for example, crosses disputed Sioux land that was promised to the tribe in the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie but was later taken away. About 2.5 million Native Americans live in the USA today. The biggest tribes are the Cherokee, Chippewa, Navajo and Sioux. About a third of the Indians in the US live on reservations where 'Indian culture' is still preserved to the largest extent they are able. Native Americans still face many problems in today’s America. Unemployment on reservations is about 50%. The income of an Indian family is much lower than that of a white family. Suicide rates are higher than in other places. Some Indians try to reduce their problems by drinking alcohol and taking drugs. "In honor of our future generations, we fight this pipeline to protect our water, our sacred places, and all living beings." ​The Oceti Sakowin Camp is a historic gathering of tribes, allies, and people from all walks of life standing in solidarity to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline. If you really want to 'give thanks', Stand with Standing Rock.  Everyone in this country, for a variety of reasons, will benefit from stopping that pipeline from repeatedly crossing miles of the Missouri River, and that's the truth !!! The typical interaction between Europeans and Indigenous Americans...The massacre at Pavonia - A little-known but bloody episode on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River - enraged and united the rival Native American tribes throughout New Netherland against the Dutch colonists.