36 thoughts on “Humanity Hopeful, Hapless or Helpless?”

  1. but who is this guy AL? why and how is he about to take over my life?

    well, not to knock the great or not so great contribution of the prize winners, here’s some of what wiki has to say about the original Al, Alfred Nobel, who founded the prize alluded to in the ‘toon:

    There is a popular story about how, in 1888, Nobel was astonished to read his own obituary, titled “The Merchant of Death Is Dead”, in a French newspaper. It was Alfred’s brother Ludvig who had died; the obituary was eight years premature. The article disconcerted Nobel and made him apprehensive about how he would be remembered. This inspired him to change his will. Historians have been unable to verify this story and some dismiss the story as a myth. On 10 December 1896, Alfred Nobel died in his villa in San Remo, Italy, from a cerebral haemorrhage. He was 63 years old.

    Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime. He composed the last over a year before he died, signing it at the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895.To widespread astonishment, Nobel’s last will specified that his fortune be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the “greatest benefit on mankind” in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.

    I do hope they’re right about this particular AL being the “greatest benefit on mankind” but at times I do have my doubts about it. Any thoughts from the Trail?

  3. other news and issues about human intelligence

    More than 3 million residents of Florida are without power after Hurricane Milton made its way through, Trumpers have been blaming the White House for the mess even though two weeks ago 11 House Republicans from Florida voted against keeping the Government and FEMA fully funded, Marjorie Taylor Greene is pushing this bonkers idea that Democrats can somehow control the weather to target Republican voting districts, a group of funny guys called The Good Liars were in Reading, Pennsylvania where they met a woman who actually believes this, we have reached the point of the campaign where Kamala Harris’ emails are making Jimmy feel like he’s going through a break-up, Trump is going all-in on these absolutely bogus stories about forced gender-swaps in schools, is letting out gas onstage, spent some time in Detroit badmouthing Detroit, he’s mad at Whoopi Goldberg for using foul language even though he uses profanity all the time, Jimmy has a new theory that Trump is King Midas and he thinks everything he touches will turn into gold, Mr. Made in the USA is out there promising tariffs on China even though many of the items he is hawking are made there, and there is a new non-official Trump product called Trumpy Trout.

  4. something different while we’re contemplating our future

    Hi, it’s Azrya. Cofounding steward of KAVANÂ. This spoken word poem “The Final Frontier” which I wrote and performed for the attendees of unDavos (the ecosystem surrounding the World Economic Forum) is a call to action for daring, devoted leadership. Inspired by the legendary Zach Bush, who – over miso soup – urged me to wear my artist hat to Davos instead of my business hat…this poem is a sincere attempt to capture the complexity of our modern times. It’s a sincere invitation to make the daring leap from head to heart. From “intellectual intelligence” to “ancient intelligence.” Our future generations depend on it.

  5. It’s too late. Terminator, Judgment day predicted this in 1991. From Terminator Wiki:

    Skynet, a highly-advanced computer system possessing artificial intelligence, the world’s first Automated Defense Network, processing information at ninety teraflops, begins to learn rapidly and eventually becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m., EDT, on August 29, 1997. Once it became self-aware, it saw humanity as a threat to its existence due to the attempts of the Cyberdyne scientists to shut it down. Hence, Skynet decided to trigger the nuclear holocaust…

    Note, the foregoing is a mélange of quotes, woven together for brevity’s sake.

  8. Historic, first Presidential candidate ever on the cover of Vogue. Annie Leibovitz photo.

    VOGUE:

    “Only rarely are individuals summoned for acts of national rescue, but in July, Vice President Kamala Harris received one of those calls. With President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign, the world looked to Harris with hopes and doubts.”

  9. New York Times on how Elon Musk is trying to buy the election for Trump:
    – Spending $140-180MM on Trump super PAC
    – Twitter coordinating with the Trump camp to throttle links to leaked campaign documents
    – Musk rallying other billionaires to support Trump
    – Musk temporarily moving to PA

    Musk to Tucker Carlson on Trump: “If he loses I’m fucked”

  11. Thanks Pogo…  that was an interesting read!  The comments were priceless.  
    Haven’t hiked in the White Mountains in ages… but when I did… the views were stunning!  And I love Vermont… we have family that lives in the northern part of the state and we visit every now and then.  Rick and I live only an hour’s drive from Brattleboro.  Wouldn’t go anywhere near it this weekend…  gonna be leaf peepers galore!

  16. Between the  “eating the dawgs” lie, and the misinformation campaign against FEMA, Orange Adolf seems to have ousted himself from the home front.  Much more pleasant now. Hope the same has happened with some neighbors. 
     

  18. Trump does not always fly in his private TRUMP jet. My son-in-law manages private jet corporations in Florida and himself is a long-time pilot. He has had many chances to be the pilot of a private jet flying Trump. He always declined, not wanting all the rigmarole associated with a Trump flight.  Trump always tips the pilot and F.O. a hundred dollar bill with his chicken scratchings across the face of the money.

  22. Such a wonderful way for Gruppenführer Miller to usher in Yom Kippur. He has a lot to atone for. 

  23. Of course CS wants all those things – they are the trappings of a dictatorship.  
     
    LOL – Mrs. P and I were talking this morning as we headed out the door. Just before I turned off the TV someone said Donald Trump won’t debate Kamala Harris again.  Ms. P said “He’s such a Chicken Shit.” I told her that’s my new nickname for him, shortened to CS for public consumption.  Looks like after 32 years she can either read my mind or we just think along the same lines I hope it’s the latter).

  31. https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/starlink-charges-helene-survivors-equipment-fees-for-free-starlink-internet/
    “The Fine Print Reveals Something Different for Elon Musk’s ‘Free’ Starlink Offering”
     
    “On Oct. 1, Musk tweeted that SpaceX is enforcing a system update allowing “all Starlinks in the affected areas to work, regardless of payment.”
    “…many people didn’t factor in the costs of the $349 equipment purchase.”
    “Although Starlink also announced that around 500 Starlink kits were being deployed to Appalachia — a region particularly devastated by Hurricane Helene— those not receiving the kits from an organization will have to foot the equipment bill themselves. After 30 days, Starlink will move you to a paid subscription and bill you the standard $120 monthly service fee.”
     
     
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/11/hurricane-milton-elon-musk-natural-disasters
    “Musk himself shared what he said was a note from a SpaceX engineer falsely claiming that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) was “actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping … ” Don’t worry, only 41m people have viewed the post.”
     
    “In addition to oligarchs such as Musk, Another Planet has its own politicians who advance its interests, most notably Donald Trump, who has had what the polls suggest was a good storm. And don’t forget the foot soldiers. On TikTok, you could scroll through miles of fake videos of flooded Florida cities before Milton had even hit the areas purporting to be shown. After Helene last month, Fema launched a dedicated “rumour response” page.”
     

  34. Milley: Trump is a complete fascist.The most dangerous man in the U.S.
    Stock markets closed at an all time high again. WSJ confirms a soft landing from feds manipulating rates. Inflation leveled… no recession. All is well.

Leave a Reply