I am not normally a “prepper”. However, I believe the current situation justifies taking some precautions more than normal, especially this December 2025.
I plan to implement this starting 29 November and continue through 1 January 2026. If nothing happens in December, great. I’ll have plenty of rice and beans for 2026.
Watch the movie “Leave the World Behind” and pay attention to what it would really be like to be in that situation. Notice especially the inability to navigate without cell phones. Being separated or lost could be a big problem especially if you happen to be in an unfamiliar place.
Without being a pro, you can improve your situation a LOT with the following:
Be mentally prepared, not shocked, act early.
A basic plan to get everybody home without navigation aids.
Water supply and a plan to filter water.
Food supply.
Some basic communication.
Pre-Trigger Communication and Travel Protocols
Know where all family members are at all times.
Have a meet-up location (usually home, nothing special, just be specific).
If communication goes down (cell phones and internet), proceed immediately home (or to meet-up location). Don’t wait very long for communications to return to operational like we would normally do.
“Trigger” Events
Under normal circumstances, if any of these events were to happen, we would assume an isolated incident and wait for it to pass, possibly watch on TV or follow the news somehow. This December I would expect something longer-term and take action to get home:
If communications go down.
If there is any physical attack anywhere in the US or Europe that appears to be of foreign or of unknown origin.
Cyber attack causing anything physical to happen like a plane or boat crash.
Common sense, anything obviously bad.
Water
Fill up bath tub with water and any other large containers available.
Rule of thumb water quantity requirement is ~1 gallon per person per day, which is quite a lot of water and does not include bathing.
In general, filters are good for large contaminants while disinfectant is good for small contaminants.
The Sawyer filter was recommended to me and notice it can filter up to 100,000 gallons of water. Don’t let it freeze. If you don’t have a dedicated filter, a paper towel is better than nothing.
Disinfect water with Clorox bleach using 8 drops of unscented bleach per gallon of water. Notice this is a very low ratio of bleach to water, less than 1 part bleach per 5,000 parts water. So, a gallon of bleach can disinfect over 5,000 gallons of water. Glass droppers are useful for measuring disinfectant.
Remember if you have well water, you typically need electricity for the pump to work, so use the pump while you can to get usable water up.
Remember water is heavy, so you are unlikely be able to carry enough water to survive on for very long.
Food
If preparing for December, you don’t need to buy expensive food that lasts decades. You can really just have an unusually full pantry of non-perishable food that you can eat whether something happens or not. The following can last a year or two and you can eat it normally if nothing happens.
Bags of dry rice.
Olive oil lasts a year or two and contains a lot of calories.
Beans.
Radios
Radios are useful only if somebody else is communicating on the other end, so best to get common radios that are cheap enough to have 2 of.
Without a ham radio rig, you won’t be able to transmit more than a mile or so. However, would be nice to have receivers to hear transmissions. Receiving requires a lot less battery than transmitting.
This is the most common type of CB radio. I selected the option with an antenna and 15-foot cable because your transmission range is largely dependent on antenna size and height. You don’t have to set up the antenna ahead of time. If something happens there will be plenty of time for antenna set-up.
If the power is out, car batteries will probably still work for a while, at least to power a CB radio or charge USB-charged radios. Would be nice to have one or two USB car chargers available to be able to charge without having the car turned on wasting electricity or gas. If your car doesn’t have accessory mode, you can connect the positive terminal to the point and negative terminal to the side of the cigarette lighter connector to charge directly from the car battery.
Plan to attempt communication at the most recognizable natural events: sunrise and sunset.
Summary
I put all the items I linked to in this post in my Amazon cart and the total is $130 without the CB radio, $330 with the CB radio. Just in writing this I feel a lot better about my family’s preparedness. I hope it helps – but mostly I hope it’s not needed.
Oh yeah, I will probably have some hearing protection available just because of the awful noise in the movie.
I believe we are supposed to note the parallels of the movie Snake Eyes from 1998 with current events.
Charles Kirkland Assassination
Charles Kirkland assassinated, shot in the left side of the neck.
Boxer Lincoln Tyler “Tyler the Executioner” gets knocked down on purpose in the bout to get the crowd to stand and mask the assassin’s shot.
On September 10th
An old guy with long hair in the movie gives the signal for Tyler to go down, and acts as another loud diversion.
Assassination is framed in public as having been carried out by Palestinian extremist Tarik Ben Rabat, who is motivated by the United States’ large-scale defense cooperation and weapons systems transfers to Israel. Tarik Ben Rabat is shot and killed in the movie by Commander Dunne just after the assassination.
Plot
Atlantic City Arena owner Gilbert Powell arranges for the assassination of both Secretary of Defense Charles Kirkland and whistleblower Julia Costello in order to continue his “Air Guard” missile defense system deal where he is supposed to profit enough to cover the cost of converting his arena to a hotel, the new Millenium Hotel and Casino.
Secretary of Defense Charles Kirkland received envelope from whistleblower who told about the “Air Guard” missile defense system that was sold to US by showing fake data and a fireworks show of fake missiles being stopped instead of real data and real missiles.
Arena owner Powell describes the whole scheme ~1:07 in an exchange with Commander Kevin Dunne. At the end of the exchange, he asks Dunne if he is an “acceptable loss” in the plan, and appears to realize at the time he’s worried he might be.
The 14,000 fight attendants not allowed to leave the arena until they were ID’ed because all were potential witnesses of the assassination. In the end, the people are still inside when hurricane Jezebel hits and knocks the globe off the top of the arena. Anthea is outside reporting as the globe falls.
In the original ending, a huge hurricane-Jezebel-induced tidal wave goes through the arena while they are fighting about the assassination. Not good for the home team if this is predictive signaling.
Symbolism
Occurs during Hurricane Jezebel. In the biblical narrative, Jezebel replaced Yahwism with Baal and Asherah worship and was responsible for Naboth’s death. Weather reporter complains that she has “spin the weather” to call it a tropical storm because it’s a holiday weekend and they don’t want to scare away travelers.
Boxing match is the “swan song” for the Atlantic City Arena before it is to be gutted and renovated to become a hotel. The swan song is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death while they have been silent (or alternatively not so musical) for most of their lifetime. In the movie, construction for the renovation begins the next day after the boxing match during the credits in the movie.
“Flying Eye” camera in the movie (mounted on the bottom of a little blimp), has a big eye painted on it that looks like the Eye of Providence, and catches the whole scene on video from above in the arena.
When Gilbert Arena gives an interview on TV after the assassination, he specifically asserts that the missile defense system deal will continue despite the terrorism. Commander Dunne sees the interview and comments, “That’s called the first draft of history. It’s going to hold.”
“Tarik” is a masculine name of Arabic origin, commonly meaning “the morning star” or “he who knocks at the door,” derived from the Arabic verb “taraqa,” meaning “to knock” or “to strike”. It is a variant spelling of “Tariq” and carries connotations of leadership, guidance, and new beginnings.
Other Notes
Donald Trump is not mentioned by name in the movie. However, the character Gilbert Powell, played by John Heard, is widely noted in film trivia and online discussions as being based on Donald Trump. Powell is depicted as a sleazy arena director and defense contractor, and parts of the movie were filmed at the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. While Trump himself does not appear nor is he named in the film, the connection arises from the character’s inspiration and the filming location.
I think the black female reporter in the movie, Anthea played by Tamara Tunie, is supposed to represent Candace Owens. She has to stay out in the rain and report the whole thing. This is consistent with Candace Owens being controlled opposition and being the face of reporting most of the bad things happening.
Force: Most of mankind believes we have been to the Moon, and laughs at people who don’t believe it.
I believed the moon landings were real and I dismissed theories to the contrary for one simple reason: the Apollo missions required the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people and that many people cannot keep a secret. There can’t be a lie that big – I thought.
Hundreds, Not Hundreds of Thousands
The theory was presented to me that the astronauts went to low Earth orbit, and unbeknownst to even ground control (the famous “Houston”), they faked everything beyond low Earth orbit. They faked radio calls, flight data, and some images and videos that had been pre-recorded from the California desert (probably recorded in the summer of 1968). Since ground control couldn’t tell the difference between a real flight and even a training simulation, it may not have been easy but it is doable. Launching and faking the radio calls and imagery reduces the number of people involved in the secret from hundreds of thousands down maybe a hundred or so – much more manageable.
Lie or Die
A hundred still seems like a lot of people to keep a secret until you consider that the ring-leaders, whoever they were, killed people to do it. You don’t have to kill everyone who might speak up. Once you kill a few people who are willing to speak up, the remaining people willingly fall in line and keep the secret, knowing what happened to their friends.
The phrase, “for two people to keep a secret, one of them has to be dead,” should be, “For two or more people to keep a secret, you must kill one of them who speaks.”
Timeline
What follows is a timeline of key events along with videos. Throughout the summary, I make two simple statements to categorize the evidence:
“To believe the moon landings were real, you accept …”
“To believe the moon landings were faked, you accept …”
Both versions of the story are incredible, whether we went to the Moon or we faked it. When I see the evidence laid out, I come to the conclusion that the moon landings are not just an incredible feat, they are truly not credible. They did not happen. Mankind has not yet landed on the Moon – or even left low Earth orbit for that matter.
22 January 1967: Gruff Gus
According to Gus Grissom’s widow, when he was home for the last time before the fire that killed him, Gus picked a large lemon from a tree in their yard and intended to hang it on the rocket to call the rocket a lemon. Grissom was quoted as saying we were at least a decade from going to the Moon, not 2 years as was advertised. His criticism had earned him the nickname “Gruff Gus”.
27 January 1967: Apollo 1 Training Fire
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, the Apollo 1 crew, died in a fire.
(missing video is the audio of Apollo 1 dying in the training capsule fire, it’s awful, can probably still be found somehwere)
https://youtu.be/U3PV0noQ7Mk?si=DKucduUT532oxMEz
The Apollo 1 crew are the only astronauts to die in the whole program. To believe the moon landings were real, you accept the official story that the only deaths in the entire Apollo program happen to have included the most notable critic exactly when his death would have been necessary to transition from a real moon landing effort to faking it – and more importantly put other critics on serious notice to stay quiet.
I believe people would have to have died for either story to be true – real moon landings or fake. I believe the Apollo program could have crash-landed humans on the Moon if that had been an acceptable outcome. However, the the only astronauts to die coincidentally died just when it was required to keep fake moon landings quiet.
21 April 1967: Thomas Baron Report
Thomas Ronald Baron wrote a 275-page report on NASA safety protocol violations, which he gave to Rep. Olin E. Teague’s investigation at Cape Kennedy in Florida, on 21 April 1967.
27 April 1967: Thomas Baron Death
Thomas Ronald Baron died along with his family when their car was struck by a train.
To believe the moon landings were real, you accept that Thomas Baron and his family’s deaths were also coincidental, just 3 months after the Apollo 1 crew’s deaths and 6 days after he released his critical report.
The Apollo Program: 9 IsolatedClaims
There are only 6 total claims of landing humans on the Moon. Furthermore, there are only 9 total claims of humans even leaving low Earth orbit, all the Apollo program. Nobody else even claims to have sent humans beyond low Earth orbit before or since the Apollo program, not Russia, no other NASA program, not China, nobody else in all of mankind. Here is a list of all 9 claims of humans leaving low-Earth orbit:
Mission
Landing Date (UTC)
Landing Time (UTC)
EVA Duration
Moon Phase at Landing
Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin
20 July 1969
20:17:40
2h 31m
Waxing Crescent (28.8% illuminated)
Apollo 12, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean
19 November 1969
06:54:35
7h 45m (2 EVAs)
Waxing Gibbous (80.6% illuminated)
Apollo 14, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell
5 February 1971
09:18:11
9h 24m (2 EVAs)
Waxing Gibbous (approx. 84% illuminated)
Apollo 15, David Scott, James Irwin
30 July 1971
22:16:29
18h 37m (3 EVAs)
First Quarter (51.7% illuminated)
Apollo 16, John Young, Charles Duke
21 April 1972
02:23:35
20h 14m (3 EVAs)
First Quarter (67.7% illuminated)
Apollo 17, Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt
11 December 1972
19:54:57
22h 4m (3 EVAs)
Waxing Gibbous (approx. 80% illuminated)
Apollo 8 claims to have orbited the Moon 24-25 December 1968 with Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders
Apollo 10 “dress rehearsal” claims to have flown within 15.6km of the moon’s surface on 22 May 1969 with Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, Eugene A. Cernan.
Apollo 13 claims to have been a failed moon landing attempt but also claims to have sling-shotted around the Moon in order to return to Earth with James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise
To believe we went to the Moon, you accept the official story that from December 1968 to December 1972, a 4-year period, the Apollo program sent humans beyond low Earth orbit 9 times, and the feat has not been accomplished at all before or since, despite the obvious leaps in technology during the following 53 years and counting.
August 1969: Apollo 11 Press Conference
To believe we went to the Moon, you accept the astronauts’ behavior at this press conference at face value. If the Apollo 1 crew was murdered and these guys went along with the mission because they knew they were next to die if they resigned, then this was a type of hostage situation – which is exactly what it looks like. Why does it look like a hostage situation? There are even teleprompters. Why are there teleprompters on the desk? Supposedly we’re looking at the 2 human beings who had ever been to the Moon (plus Michael Collins) and they all have to read from a teleprompter?
YouTube commenters bring up some poignant questions: were they raped by aliens on the Moon? Did the Moon land on them? This video would not have survived social media in 2025. There would have to have been some explanation and human behavior is timeless, so really, why do they act like that?
11 December 1972 Lunar Module Lift-Off Footage
To believe the moon landings were real, you don’t laugh at this footage of the Apollo 17 “final take-off” from the Moon:
Lunar module flying on Earth:
To believe we landed on the Moon, you accept that that aircraft went “6 for 6” landing on the Moon and taking off again. The Moon has one-sixth Earth’s gravity and no atmosphere, but still. Do it again.
Take another look at that aircraft flying and compare it to what a rocket looks like that can lift off and enter into Earth orbit. Again, 1/6 gravity of the Earth and no atmosphere, but that thing had to land on an unprepared, unknown surface ready to lift off again, escape gravity, and enter into orbit. I understand it supposedly docked with the lunar orbiter where Michael Collins was waiting – but does that make it easier or harder?
No Unfakeable Footage
To believe we went to the Moon, you accept that although none of the imagery brought back can be definitively proven fake, all of the imagery could have been faked, taken in the California desert and altered. While the imagery is impressive if fake, NONE of it is definitively unfakeable.
No Earth Footage from the Moon Surface
To believe we went to the Moon, you accept that the astronauts never panned the TV camera up to see the Earth from the surface of the Moon, despite the following reasons to have taken some video of Earth from the Moon:
They spent a total of 75+ hours on the Moon (combined among all 6 missions).
Neil Armstrong stated that the view of the Earth from the Moon was a source of comfort to him while on the Moon.
The Earth was visible in the lunar sky from their landing sites literally the entire time for all 6 missions, which is an astronomical fact. The Earth does not move in the lunar sky because the Moon is tidal locked to the Earth. Also, the Earth would have been separated from the sun by roughly 90° the entire time. This is also an astronomical fact because they landed near first quarter moon phase every time. The Earth would have appeared as a “half-Earth” because of the position of the sun.
The first famous photograph shown to the public from near the Moon was “earthrise,” supposedly taken from orbit, but they never in 75 hours panned the TV camera up to show the Earth in video.
They never showed the stars or the Earth from the surface of the Moon, especially in a video. The stars may not have shown up, okay, but Earth certainly would have. Showing the Earth from the Moon in a video would have been easy and interesting … but impossible from the California desert with 1960s technology. Why was that footage not taken? Were they too busy playing golf and driving their dune buggy on the Moon to just once point the camera at Earth that was right there in the sky the whole time?
The Van Allen Radiation Belts
To believe the moon landings were real, you have to accept that the 9 Apollo missions got to the other side of the Van Allen radiation belts – somehow – without really mentioning them and when astronauts were questioned about the radiation, they hardly remember dealing with it. Contrast that with plenty of footage of NASA itself and scientists talking about how intense and dangerous the radiation is.
2014 NASA Engineer Kelly Smith on the Van Allen Radiation
22 January 1973
Lyndon B Johnson died the day before the war in Vietnam ended and Nixon mentioned him in his speech. LBJ knew about the moon landings and profited from the Vietnam War as well. We’re not talking about nice people here.
20 July 1994: Neil Armstrong Speech at the White House for NASA’s 25th Anniversary
“Today we have with us a group of students, among America’s best. To you we say: we have only completed a beginning. We leave you much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief.“
-Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1994
To accept the moon landings were real, you have to explain why Neil Armstrong said exactly what someone would say if he had been forced to fake the moon landing against his will and had the opportunity to speak to students 25 years later.
Read what he said. That is not a cryptic statement buried in a long speech among many speeches. The guy most famous for having walked on the Moon became a recluse from media attention for the rest of his life, but in one of the few speeches he gave, that’s what he said. Neil Armstrong was an unwilling participant and he told us what happened the best he could.
A Word on Bart Sibrel
If you believe the moon landings were faked, be warned: you’ll be grouped with Bart Sibrel, the loudest denier of the moon landings. While I happen to believe Sibrel’s theory and I think he does a pretty good job of organizing the evidence, he is unnecessary to come to the conclusion that the Apollo program faked the Moon landings. Also, Bart Sibrel is obnoxious to the astronauts, who were mostly unwilling participants it seems, especially Neil Armstrong. Lastly, Bart Sibrel believes in multi-dimensional aliens that interbreed with humans. So, quote verifiable facts, not Bart Sibrel.
18 July 1969, Apollo 11 Faking Being Halfway to the Moon
Look at this video. Why does Bart Sibrel have this video? He says NASA gave it to him by mistake when he requested footage for a documentary, which sounds fishy but plausible. He has it somehow and it has The video was not seen by the public until the 1990s when Bart Sibrel got it. Unless somebody can tell me how Bart Sibrel doctored this video or modified the date or changed the audio or whatever, it shows Apollo 11 near the Earth faking that the Earth is far away when they are supposed to be halfway to the moon. I understand videos can be faked, but it has Michael Collins’ face in it.
To believe the moon landings were real, you have to explain either how Bart Sibrel has this video, or how the video is something other than what it appears to be, which is Apollo 11 faking being halfway to the moon on 18 July 1969. You have to explain this or they didn’t go. Is the date stamp wrong? Does the audio not actually line up with what’s happening in the video? Is the person seen in the video not actually Michael Collins? Did Bart Sibrel fake the video somehow? Why does an individual with little budget have a video showing Apollo 11 in low-Earth orbit on 18 July 1969, clearly saying things contrary to what was being shown to Houston about where they were?
In Bart Sibrel’s Astronauts Gone Wild, he presents the 18 July 1969 video to Buzz Aldrin and Buzz Aldrin has no explanation. At one point in the confrontation Buzz Aldrin even suggests that Bart Sibrel manufactured the video. Bart Sibrel may be an ass hole in the way he goes about doing what he does, but the astronauts don’t act right either. Bart Sibrel is really putting his life on the line saying what he’s saying. I think the astronauts are the wrong people to confront since I believe they were unwilling participants, but their behavior is consistent with fake moon landings.
Laser Reflecting from the Moon
Supposedly the astronauts put laser reflectors on the Moon facing Earth and lasers can be bounced off of the mirrors back to Earth. To believe the landings were faked, you have to accept that there are in fact no man-made reflectors on the Moon, so the lasers are reflecting off of the surface of the Moon back to Earth. So, you have to accept that the surface of the whole Moon reflects more than Neil Armstrong’s pocket make-up mirror.
Motive? The Usual
The United States spent approximately $25.8 billion on Project Apollo between 1960 and 1973, which is equivalent to about $257 billion when adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars.
Why do people even ask what the motive was? Money.
Russia and China Know We Faked It
If we faked the moon landings, the Soviet Union may have known at the time and both Russia and China certainly know by now. Why haven’t they said anything? To believe the moon landings were faked, you have to explain why Russia and China don’t say anything. One claim is they are blackmailing us to not say anything. Since we collaborate with Russia in space, I tend to think they are happy to work with us on space travel rather than expose us. I don’t totally understand why they don’t say something, but I am sure they know.
Nah, why am I questioning this? They knew. The Soviets knew. Anybody with a space program knew what they saw was not real. The public has nothing to compare it to, no context. The Soviet Union knew in 1969 that the Moon landing was fake. We collaborate with Russia in space, everybody knows that. The only news here is that we were already collaborating with them during Apollo so the Soviets collaborated with us faking the Moon landings. They were happy in second-place with whatever cut they got of the Apollo program to stay quiet.
My Conclusion
I started looking into the moon landings on 21 April 2025 when I realized they could have been faked. Since I started looking into it, I have seen zero compelling evidence that we actually went to the Moon and a lot of compelling evidence it was faked. Am I cherry-picking evidence? Or do people imagine that evidence is compelling that isn’t?
This really shakes my perception of reality, which is why I titled the post “Fact vs Force”. I am sure we did not go to the Moon. For such an extraordinary, incredible claim the lack of evidence is absurd. Especially now with 50+ years of hindsight, the continued fervor with which people defend the validity of this fabrication leads me to realize that when force is applied, force can override fact for a very long time…
However,
facts are stubborn things, and to those who continue to believe in this historically anomalous feat I say, “Cool. Do it again.”
If we do actually go to the Moon, we’re going to:
ferry fuel for the departure from the moon’s gravity
shield against Van Allen radiation
land somewhere where we don’t have to deal with a scorching 350-hour-long day
get some video footage of Earth from the surface of the Moon, which Apollo was apparently too busy playing golf to get done.
The Moon landings were fakeable when the public had nothing real to compare them to. When we do go to the Moon, the contrast with the fakes is going to be hilarious.
I saw 6.9 acres listed “near the Intel plant” for $5.5M and the listing basically said, “go ahead and bull-doze our house,” so I decided to investigate this thing.
The main Intel parcel where the initial buildings are planned / being built is Licking County 095-111846-00.000, click here for the Licking County auditor’s website information. The site is a ~500-acre parcel to the southwest of the intersection of Mink Street and Green Chapel Road. To get there by car, the nearest landmark you can easily navigate to currently is Kyber Run Golf Course. The Intel plant site is a 7.5 mile drive northeast from New Albany.
According to some articles, the City of New Albany will annex the plant, which sounds right because it seems like Les Wexner was involved in attracting Intel.
I believe these are some of the lucky folks who sold their farm to Intel. They got at least $13.4M I think, but hard to follow because multiple parcels got merged to put together 500 acres. The Heimerl’s still own ~75 acres across the street from the plant to the north and various other plots in the area.
“MBJ Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of real estate developer New Albany Company, which was started by L Brands founder Les Wexner and Jack Kessler to develop New Albany. It submitted the application that was drafted by EHM&T engineers.”
No sources, but I am unaware of any dispute in the following quick summary:
Really Bad
Ebola causes internal and even external bleeding.
(The book The Hot Zone describes the virus “liquefying organs,” but this description is widely regarded as overly-sensational to the point of being inaccurate).
Very high fatality rate and recovered patients experience ongoing symptoms.
Ebola is known to lay dormant within individual human organs for many years.
The latest outbreaks are believed to have originated from recovered patients from previous outbreaks in whom the virus lay dormant for years.
Scientists believe it is theoretically possible for an Ebola virus to become airborne.
“Not So Bad”
As yet, Ebola has been contagious only by bodily fluid contact so outbreaks are almost always contained to just a few hundred people.
Infected persons are contagious only when symptomatic and the symptoms are too extreme to ignore. Little or no asymptomatic spread.
It is being played alongside the World Expo in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
They play “kind of” a best-of-15 series. The only difference is a player doesn’t have to reach 8, just 7 ½ because draws are worth ½. They play one game per day (except some free days see schedule at link below), starting 26 Nov.
The games start at 1630 in Dubai, which is 0730 EST. Watch at the link above with commentary. The games last up to about 6 hours.
Note: during the analysis the black / white line to the left of the analysis board shows who the computer says is winning.
Magnus Carlsen from Norway is the Tiger Woods of chess and challenger Ian Nepo___, from Russia, won a tournament in the spring for the opportunity to play against Carlsen.
Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is the Tiger Woods of chess. That’s why chess has become a mainstream sport! OK, that’s extreme, neither mainstream nor sport (debate!?), but Magnus Carlsen was the youngest player to top the world FIDE rankings when he reached the top in January 2010 and he has been on top since.
Chess has a long history. We’ve heard some of the names without being able to place them. Here are some:
Paul Morphy, 1837-1884: dominated in America, then crossed the ocean and dominated in Europe.
Bobby Fischer, 1943-2008: American who won the most widely publicized chess championship of all time, the 1972 World Chess Championship considered a Cold War US versus USSR chess showdown. I have not yet seen the movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer.
Garry Kasparov, 1963-living: longest reign at top of FIDE ratings.
Wet markets, bats, and camels are not the source. We make the animals sick, but we don’t notice sick animals until we get sick, then we blame the animals / markets. While hybridization by dual infection between animals and humans may contribute, it is a distant second-place factor and we are simply refusing to acknowledge the primary factor.
Lab leak? Like the director of the Wuhan Virology Lab herself, I considered it.
Bio-weapon? I thought for sure no until I saw how hard governments and media are pushing genetic injections and learned about binary poison, antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) and their capabilities with genetics.
We will continue to see new coronaviruses periodically unless we fix the conditions that allow coronaviruses to develop. We have barely touched this issue because it would be extremely costly to implement appropriate ventilation standards and by now we may have globally committed beyond the point of no return.
The spread vector of the virus: The virus overwhelmingly spreads indoors, especially in poor ventilation. There has not been a single confirmed spread event associated with only outdoor activity. There have been countless thousands of super-spread events indoors that can account for the entire pandemic.
Prevention should focus almost exclusively on being outdoors and ventilating indoors. City-owned governments and media will not promote this simple idea because it points the finger directly at cities.
The virus spreads by aerosols. Aerosol = micro-droplet. This means the WHO and the CDC had the spread vector wrong, obviously ignoring evidence for almost the entire year. The WHO and the CDC corrected themselves around December. Let that sink in. Wrong on the spread vector all year. They have quietly corrected themselves now on their sites.
There is a very good chance the virus does not spread by droplets at all. The WHO and the CDC are still claiming droplet spread, even though aerosols by themselves could explain the entire pandemic without droplets. Let that sink in. Very possibly still wrong.
Aerosols, micro-droplets, and droplets sound like technical terms to you? Too complex? Let that sink in. After a year of continuous coverage on TV, most are still unfamiliar with the simple terms for the possible spread vectors.
If you have 10 priorities – as lurching governments now do – you have no priority. Classic failure of leadership. Common under stress.
It is probable and even likely that all outdoor “prevention measures” are completely useless and even cause the spread of the virus by encouraging indoor activity.
Genetic immune boost represents an attempt to artificially boost our immune systems against a disease instead of hygienically cleaning the conditions responsible. Realistically, we are nearly ignoring ventilation. This is the first time we have ever openly declined to fix the conditions that cause a disease. I expect genetic immune boost to be unsuccessful long-term against an unrelenting onslaught of virus evolution in the indoor economy.
A dream solution: Fusion energy would solve the virus by making it possible to continue climate control indoors and bring in enough fresh air (AKA “make-up air”). Will we make it to fusion?
Reflection After a Year
I rarely do self-reflections, strike 1.
People are tired of COVID, strike 2.
But this is my outlet, so I’m swinging away.
Reaching the year point reminds me that at the beginning of all this I had not payed attention to any news for several years prior. I need to put this to rest so I can move on and go back to mostly ignoring the “news.” This has to be the last virus post.
With respect to prevention, all year I have done my best to stay outside when possible, ventilate when possible, do my part to slow the spread by not getting sick. Duh. The fresh air has been nice anyway. (I also jumped through the government hoops as required). I still got the virus – I think, I got a cough, fever, and lost my smell for 5 days. I’m obviously not alone. I knew I was taking chances. I predicted I would get it when I did, which is some form of success. I continued to avoid most indoor situations while I knew I was sick. Success. I didn’t clog up the hospital by requiring treatment. Success.
We all remember how we first heard of COVID-19. I received a text message from a friend on 25 January 2020 that referenced a virus in China. I responded more or less, “huh?” A few days later I remembered that a friend had returned to China (4 January) to take care of her sick father. Could it be related? I texted her. Her father had died from a lung infection in Hubei Province.
For better or worse, the pandemic consumed me. From disease history to modern disease prevention to haywire governments in 2020, I researched to the best of my ability and came to the conclusions above. While I cannot rule out most of the various conflicting explanations, the conclusions seem so common sense and the counter-arguments so outlandish that I feel irresponsible if I did not publish.
Deaths data table from the CDC. 5-star data table. US government statistics are usually consistent and honest. COVID-19 cases are difficult to count and classify. Deaths are more straightforward. The last 7 years average annual flu deaths for the US is ~41,000. Reference. The reason the CDC doesn’t compare average past flu and pneumonia death data to COVID-19 is because they don’t have reliable weekly past flu and pneumonia data, only estimates.
I will listen to black people on black people. Martin Luther King Jr. speeches are timeless. Malcolm X speeches are shocking but interesting and well-spoken. Muhammad Ali was controversial, and he was a “draft dodger” but he appears to me to have been bravely speaking his mind, not a coward. I like Thomas Sowell and Larry Elder, you may not. Suggestions?
Internet Free Speech and Privacy
SpreadPrivacy.com: DuckDuckGo is dedicated to privacy and they have a privacy blog. No star rating yet, but I have been using the DuckDuckGo search engine for a long time.
Bovada sports gambling, unfortunately you can’t see the odds anymore without signing up, but if you can find the odds they are accurate. 5-star, is popular in the US and offers odds on political races. Better than the polls. Money is on the line, so their goal is to report the odds as they actually are.
MoFreedomFoundation: 4-star. Rob is the most politically-biased 4-star source on this page. Rob is a one-man polemicist show with consistent message and historical background. Though biased, he makes no bones about it. He is there to state his opinion. I watched almost all his videos from 2016 through 2019 and they remain relevant. Disagree with him? Go ahead, start a video series then! That’s what he did!
Star Rating System
5-star: Near perfect source. Totally unbiased, well cited, self-regulating. I have never found misinformation. Gold standard of information. Often says, “we don’t know …” when they don’t know. Often very boring, require a long time to understand. Demonstrates conscious and consistent attempt to be objective. When there is opinion, clearly labeled as such. Science and statistics used responsibly. Usually reserved for individual stories rather than sources because one must always be wary.
4-star: Great source. No consistent bias, but some misinformation and bias rarely. If opinion, clearly stated as opinion and supported by cited 5 star sources. Consistent, independent, individual opinion makers often receive 4 stars even if biased if they identify as opinion and consistently reveal their sources.
3-star: Usually good information. Information selected with some consistent political bias. Often more entertaining than 4 or 5 star sources.
2-star: clear bias with thin attempt to conceal. Information usually true, but heavily selected to fit a narrative. Often appear to be attempting to create newsworthy thought rather than objectively reporting news or stating opinion. Sources often receive 2 stars rather than 1 star, ironically, because so many people follow these sources that they become news. Often quote science and statistics in a weak superficial manner to support their narrative.
1-star: comical and entertaining. If reality is ridiculous, as it sometimes can be, 1 star sources will be the first to report. 90% of the information reads like historical fiction. Conspiracy theories abound.
3-Star, 2-Star and 1-Star Sources with Explanation
These sources can be useful, but should combine to less than 10% of your information unless you just want entertainment, want a quick explanation of a current “thought” movement, are starting a search for a “4-star plus” source, or you are preparing for war for some reason.
NPR: 3-star. The most publicly-funded US news source. Their bias sometimes goes both ways, so difficult to pin them on one side. Government funded. Though unbiased, they just aren’t that good. Very connected to US universities. My personal peeve is that their necessity to interview the “downtrodden” turns into endless whining and complaining.
BBC News: 4-star or 3-star. Very connected to the British government, but I usually find their stories dispassionate and concise. They must support the British government but English culture is popular – I believe – because the English value truth and transparency.
Joe Rogan, 3-star, is a great source of sources. Joe Rogan often interviews great sources and you can go directly to his interviewees as your source.
US Mainstream Media: 2-star.
Search Thomas Jefferson quotes on newspapers and you will know exactly what I think about mainstream media. The most useful thing the mainstream media has done in my lifetime is help name this post.
Fox News, 2-star.
CNN, 2-star.
New York Times, 2-star.
MSNBC, 2-star.
Washington Post, 2-star.
Their stories are based in truth but they immediately spin them. They sprinkle in just enough truth and “science” to make you feel smart and informed. However, they pick only sources that drive their agenda and usually the most shocking and enraging sources possible. Watching just one side yields a very skewed world view. Watching both sides yields an extreme view that the two sides hate each other and one side is right or the answer is in the middle. None of these things are true. The “right answer” or “solution” appears neither in the battle between these “two sides” nor in the middle. No link here because of the crippling number of ads on their sites. As an American, their bias is pretty easy to pick out but as a foreigner you might just be confused by the chaos.
Media is so negative, Democrats happy to passively allow Trump to remain in hot seat. Not excited about getting slammed with Biden in charge.
Compelling Democrat victory factors
Anybody but Hillary could have beaten Trump in 2016. Hillary was only candidate bad enough Trump could beat
Anti-Trump base is energetic and will vote
Trump support base is complacent.
Trump barely won in 2016, lost popular vote.
COVID-19 killing “Trump’s” economy. Bad for incumbent.
Media is so negative, Trump supporters will be happy to see Democrat return to hot seat. Tired of constant berating.
Twitter, link goes to your Twitter home. Twitter is news by default depending on who you follow. If enough people think it’s news, they’re right. Get it off your chest. Participate. … Update: I don’t know, even good sources turn to trash on Twitter.
DrudgeReport, 1-star, collection of the newest and most alarming stories by link from around the web. Unvetted. Everything that anybody is saying. Entertaining.
