TheEncogitationer

Jake:

The Internet can be either a Web connecting a mind to new knowledge and new ideas or it can be spun into a bubble to isolate a mind from anything else.

To borrow from the story line of Mystery Science Theater 3000the Internet definitely foils the Pearl Foresters who seek to rule the World one person at a time, but it doesn’t stop her…[Read more]

Jake:

Now this is what I’ve been wanting to see for the longest time: a technology that could be used to kill pain without killing people, in addition to it’s use on pre-existing addiction. I thought it might take the form of genetic modification of opiates, cocoa, and other drug plants, but this technology is even faster!

My only complaint…[Read more]

Jake:

Forget it, Jake. It’s Bean Town, with all the effluvia and gaseousness that goes with it. Research up on how Bostonians dealt with school integration in the Seventies.

That Principal probably lets every gang have free run of his halls. His school is probably Blackboard Jungle redux and cyber-augmented.

And the Teacher is probably…[Read more]

Jake:

They had a plan and said yes it can. Who put the estoppel on the topple? Would it have worked?

No one had to convince Trump to restrain Israel from taking out the Mullahs. Trump thinks anything can be a “deal” and anyone can be open to negotiation. Trump spared the Mullah regime in 2025, thinking he could get something from them later,…[Read more]

Reg:

Yep, evidently, “Shark Week” isn’t enough to get people scared to death. Now, fearmongers have to use umbrellas.

I still can’t help but think “Central European News” is a Putin Bot-Farm putting out this story to discobobulate Western minds. Putin’s coworkers in the Soviet KGB did use an actual poison-tipped umbrella to assassinate a…[Read more]

Jake:

Yeah Enco,

My kneejerk reaction to the threat of Christian Nationalism is grounded in the notion that our history as a nation has enough in the virtues of democracy and limitation of powers that resistance to Christianity as a governing power, the power, would not get too far. But hell who the fuck knows. I am the one who keeps saying…

[Read more]

Fellow Unbelievers:

A cautionary tale on critically thinking about everything you read from any source, hard copy or electronic:

Do beach umbrellas kill millions? How Google perpetuates a legend
Jun 22, 2026 at 04:46 PM EDT
Mark Keierleber

Do beach umbrellas kill millions? How Google perpetuates a legend

My questions were:…[Read more]

Fellow Unbeliever:

How to refute an antivaxxer.

This is science writing done right! It points out in precise and plain language, the benefits of vaccine and how many lives it has saved and that the risks of vaccine are no greater than the risks of living.

The only thing that disappointed me was that someone sat on this for a year before I and…[Read more]

Jake:

If you use your imagination and project the worst how will Christian Nationalism play out in USA or anywhere in the west? Any chance it will approach the worst of Islamic Nationalism? Lets take the Islamic Republic of Iran as a model. Anyone think USA or any western nation might degenerate to the point where its comparable in its…

[Read more]

Reg:

Fantastic essay! Bill Maher summed it up by pointing out that if The Bible was really anti-slavery, slavery would have been mentioned in The Top Ten.

Reg:

The pressure on the Church of England to ditch its slavery reparations plan.

If someone in the Church of England today held someone as a slave or profits from the slavery that still take place in Saharan Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Red China, this would be a legitimate concern.

Otherwise, don’t be surprised if this is…[Read more]

Jake:

The two most amazing non-match, non-lighter methods are the modern Magnesium Fire Starter Block and the ancient Asian Fire Piston.

Fire Piston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_piston

Either one still functions if wet and the Magnesium Block produces a 5000°F spark, though it still needs dry tinder. But the Fire Piston actually both…[Read more]

Jake:

Our predecessors were smarter than most of us today about what can create fire.

Without human assistance, fire can come from lightning strikes, volcanic lava, and the right rocks and crystals striking just perfectly from an avalanche. Even a drop of water that refracts visible sunlight into a rainbow can also focus sunlight to a point…[Read more]

Fellow Unbelievers:

Someone sadly never told Trump that this not a desireable aspiration to have:

Fellow Unbelievers:

Isreal shouldn’t feel singled-out though. Americans, too are dressed down and Patronized by Junkyard Dog Vance who tells us to “Have a little faith” in Donald “Healing Hands” Jebus!

Fellow Unbelievers:

You know, Israel might be better off without military aid from the U.S. and many wise Israelis have said so as well.

Not only would they have the flexibility to get their arms from many sources instead of just U.S. suppliers (as is required by conditions of U.S. aid), but Israel wouldn’t have to put up with getting dressed…[Read more]