Settled Science
Weight Loss Drugs
Nearly 12 percent of Americans have used GLP-1 agonists, such as Ozempic, for weight loss. This includes about one in five women between the ages of 50 and 64.
That’s according to a nationally representative RAND survey of nearly 9,000 adults. It’s the largest and most recent survey to explore Americans’ use of this new class of weight loss drugs.
Beyond the 12 percent of respondents who are already using GLP-1 drugs, another 14 percent said they are interested in using these medications.
The survey also asked about side effects. About half of those who use the drugs reported experiencing nausea, and about one-third experienced diarrhea. (These are the two most common side effects associated with GLP-1s.)
Since 2020, the number of prescriptions for GLP-1 agonists has more than tripled. Because they have penetrated the market so quickly, research about these drugs is still in its early stages. Studies like RAND’s can provide essential insights into the use and side effects of GLP-1 at the population level.
Luddites Unite!
“Labor unions are mounting a push to restrict the deployment of fully autonomous robotaxis, particularly in Democratic-led states and cities. For instance, Boston officials, alarmed by Waymo’s recent mapping tests (with safety drivers onboard), convened a marathon four-hour hearing on July 24 to scrutinize the implications for local drivers and labor.
Across the U.S., union-backed legislation—from Washington to Massachusetts—seeks to mandate human safety operators in all autonomous vehicles, effectively blocking the deployment of driverless operations. The unfolding policy battle could result in a patchwork of divergent rules: permissive in Republican jurisdictions, but heavily regulated—or even prohibited—in Democrat ones.”
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Bullet Points:
** Shopping for a new car with WSF.
** Booking an overseas flight…it can be an ordeal, but they apologize.
** For more than 25 years, the CIA operated a secret airline that met the vast majority of the Agency’s requirements for covert logistical, tactical, and denied-area operations across Asia. Read about Air America and how it delivered “Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, Professionally.”
** Finding the perfect man.
** How to make a woman laugh.
** (h/t Claudio) Unfortunately, most current counter-drone systems resemble someone strapping $500,000 worth of sensors to a laser pointer and hoping for the best. (VM rant) My pet peeve is the overuse of the term “drone.” Not all unmanned systems behave the same way, are guided the same way, are propelled the same way, have the exact deliverables, cost the same, or can be defeated in the same way. I further predict that as soon as a wise person devises a way to defeat an autonomous moving machine (crawling, burrowing, flying, or walking), another wise person or AI will devise an alternative method.
** How to be black.
** Do you feel bad for terrorists? “If one wonders why The Associated Press would publish such a piece, let’s not forget that they worked in the same building that housed Hamas intelligence operatives in Gaza for 15 years. They didn’t notice anything. Please.”
** Air Force? Lethal
Three-Dimensional Time
(h/t Claudio) (link here) We still have a very imperfect view of how the universe works. We’ve come a long way since the Church purged/”inquired”, etc., scientists for challenging conventional wisdom about stellar mechanics, we’ve split the atom for good and ill, but much of what we do is an examination of cause and effect rather than a fundamental understanding.
The referenced article is an abstract of the whole paper – “The necessity for exactly three temporal dimensions arises from observed quantum-classical-cosmological transitions that manifest at three distinct scales: Planck-scale quantum phenomena, interaction-scale processes, and cosmological evolution. These temporal scales directly generate three particle generations through eigenvalue equations of the temporal metric, naturally explaining both the number of generations and their mass hierarchy. The framework introduces a metric structure with three temporal and three spatial dimensions, preserving causality and unitarity while extending standard quantum mechanics and field theory. While earlier work explored three-dimensional time in Kaluza–Klein theory, this paper’s approach provides specific experimental predictions and a complete particle spectrum. This approach offers elegant solutions to long-standing problems in particle physics.”
A New Census?
President Trump’s 7 August 2025 directive instructing the Commerce Department to prepare a new census that excludes illegal immigrants is a needed “course-correction.”
The directive sent Democrats into a meltdown, and thanks to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, we know why. Without illegal aliens counted in the U.S. Census, which determines congressional representation in Washington, D.C., Democrats would be in the minority.
“They stole 20 or 30 House seats by counting illegal aliens in the census, and now you have Democrats talking about, ‘Oh, Republicans can’t change their congressional maps!’
You have brought invaders into this country by the tens of millions to RIG the results of the census, and the apportionment of congressional seats!” Miller says.
“And then on top of that, of course, you have a situation where even though Republicans won a landslide in the House popular vote, Democrats have so thoroughly rigged and gerrymandered and manipulated their districts beyond all recognition that Republicans only gained a 4-seat majority, despite winning a much smaller majority in the popular vote in 2010 and getting 63 seats.”
Creatures from the Black Lagoon
This shouldn’t surprise anyone. New whistleblower evidence reveals Bill Barr (a low barr indeed) as an active participant in the Fulton County RICO case against President Trump.
Documents, texts, and handwritten meeting notes show that from 2021 to 2023, Barr met repeatedly with Fulton County DA Fani Willis, special prosecutor Jack Smith, and political operative Armstrong Williams. These weren’t casual chats — they were strategy sessions to coordinate legal attacks on Trump in multiple jurisdictions.
On January 19, 2023, Williams texted confirming a Barr–Willis meeting. By February 27, 2023, meeting notes reveal Barr urging Willis to hit Trump with Georgia’s RICO statute, calling it the most effective way to entangle him in court. The whistleblower claims that Barr and Willis discussed the timing of charges and how to ensure they stick.
And that’s just one part of it. The same whistleblower accuses Barr of running an illegal visa operation — fast-tracking work visas for foreign nationals through political backchannels, bypassing oversight, and leveraging his connections to shield the scheme from scrutiny. This wasn’t about helping people — it was about profits and power.
If true, this means the former Attorney General of the United States — the man once responsible for ensuring equal justice — was actively weaponizing the law against a political opponent while breaking it for personal gain.
This is the swamp in its purest form: insiders colluding to destroy a former President while cashing in on the side.
Covid
The following information is from Children’s Health Defense.
A whistleblower lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California, Fresno County, accuses Community Regional Medical Center of covering up a dramatic rise in stillbirths following COVID-19 vaccination.
Nurse Michelle Spencer, who has worked at the hospital since 2017, says the spike began in spring 2021, shortly after the rollout of COVID shots. Prior to that, the hospital reportedly saw about one stillbirth per month. After the vaccine push, that number jumped to approximately 20 each month — and has remained high ever since.
According to the complaint, hospital management had access to internal data showing that nearly all the stillbirths occurred among vaccinated mothers, but suppressed that information. Spencer says the hospital left official files blank when asked to provide the data to regulators and continued to promote COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant women.
When she raised concerns, management dismissed them and blamed the spike in fetal deaths on unrelated factors like pesticides.
Spencer retained a copy of an internal email from nurse manager Julie Christopherson, who acknowledged the rising number of “demise patients” — including 22 stillbirths in one month — but made no reference to the vaccine. The email also included instructions following an incident where fetal remains were mishandled, underscoring the chaos and trauma faced by staff.
“The essence of this case is that the truth shall set you free. The hospital possessed vaccinated versus unvaccinated comparison data. The numbers proved the vaccines were causing miscarriages and more in the vaccinated group.”
— Greg Glaser, attorney for Spencer
The hospital retaliated by launching an internal investigation into Spencer, denying her a $5,000 retention bonus, and reprimanding her for informing patients about vaccine risks. Management attributed the spike in fetal deaths to unproven causes like pesticides, rather than investigating a possible link to the vaccine.
She remains employed at the Fresno hospital but says the concealment of vaccine-related data has prevented her from fulfilling her professional duty to inform patients properly. Spencer is asking the court to compel an independent investigation into the deaths and is seeking lost wages and punitive damages.
For more information, read the full article here.
Identify the Aircraft
1
From the Golden Age of Biplanes
2
Identify the Armor
3
Identify the Ships
4,5 & 6
End
4 is HMS Rothesay the lead ship of the Rothesay or Type 12M frigates
5 is HMS Diomede (F16) a Leander frigate
6 is HMS Londonderry a Rothesay frigate
By the background Falkland Islands after the war.
Yes on all three. Photo at Capetown.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. He 51
2. Republic F-105 Thunderchief
Identify the Armor:
3. Later model CV 90
Identify the Ships:
4. HMS Rothesay
5. HMS Diomede, actually was able to board her whilst on a vacation years ago.
6. HMS Londonderry
Excellent – you get around Surly.
Drug side effects – as one meme asks, why are they always bad. Where are things like invisibility?
Considering not a single person has gone to jail or paid a civil penalty for the ill effects of The Clot Shot or any of the Covid restrictions, the invisibility effect is working just fine for those rat-bastards.
Darn.
“Research about these drugs is still in its early stages.”
So like Covid we have to approve it so we can find out what’s wrong with it. And make sure it is covered by Medicaid, i.e. taxpayers.
“Research about these drugs is still in its early stage.”
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Which means that we, the people, ARE the test subjects.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if Ivermectin helped control weight. It’s literally the everything drug anymore.
Being married to a veterinarian has its benefits and privileges. [reaches for the horse paste]
Featherbedding-the requirement of firemen in the railroad engine cab of a diesel locomotive is the 1960-1970’s example of the Luddite’s at work.
So is having a conductor on a freight train where everything’s automatic and you only need 2 engineers (one on, one off while traveling) to do the work.
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The Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC,) which runs from Miami (used to run to Key West but a hurricane took out that section a long time ago) to Jacksonville, successfully fought the railroad unions in the 60’s, and got rid of the requirements for both firemen and for conductors on the FEC freight trains. All those car carrier railcars that are semi-enclosed are because of the union crapheads who shot at FEC trains during the de-unionization of the FEC.
Bill Barr sure is a scumbag. Had such a good press halo assigned to him, but I suppose that’s the first sign of being one.
Yup. A long time deep state fixer. For anyone here who might not know, run a search on Bill Barr and Lon Horiuchi.
Pompeo his ol self is now on the Board of Ukraine’s biggest cell phone provider . The hookups never stop . Suppose it has always been that way really , I know the phrase is over used , but , “it is a big club and I ain’t in it ” something like that .
The Swamp rewards its own. Didn’t Hunter Biden “earn” on the order of $80K/month for doing nothing but blow and whores? (less 10% for the Big Guy)
All of them without any understanding of the industry position they find themselves. Pretty good gig if you can swing it. Total poseurs.
“This philosophical reframing, viewing time as the fundamental substance of reality rather than as a background parameter leads to surprising mathematical consistency and experimental predictions”
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
I think that as one matures (ages?) this becomes more evident: provided one has 20/20 hyperopia.
I’m impressed with the maneuvering skills of the three frigates to pose for that photo.
Me too , thought the same thing , all hanging out on the decks in their sporty tropical whites , with the shorts , probably doing a simple line transfer of evening beer rats , lucky bastards , shorts and beer rats . Jealous Me ? ….Yeah
I’ve never seen a goat locker that lacked contraband beer.
Well ….I’ve heard of grape juice yeast and sugar , with a condom on top of a boiled sanitized glass bottle in the chain locker, seven decks down where it is cool . But never beer rats in the U.S . Nav , but did get the chance to cross deck for two days to a NOAA (?) ship to do some shtt , had a little Jack . Also had some long haired bearded cats , come alongside driving a Martin Marietta designed experimental fast boat with a 50 cal mounted on the bow to get some mo gas , don’t know what they were doing exactly , but they threw up some T Shirts , caught one , lost it over time , wish I had it . Think they called it the “Marauder” , would’ve loved to drive it . Also picked up a lot of long haired bearded dudes off subs that would surface , snag them in the RHIB , they’d go to the Capts cabin , then get whisked away on a 60 or hoisted up on a 53 . Crazy shit out there, Earth is more water than land . Neat shit .
We made “Balloon Wine” in college that was the same. Grape juice, sugar, and yeast in a washed out milk jug. Mix well, put the balloon on the spout, and wait. The balloon inflates from the CO2, and when the balloon deflates, FILTER it and enjoy.
Hell of a hangover, though……
During your tete-a-tete with Mike_C the other day you mentioned a Montien hotel. Do you mean the Montien Hotel in Pattaya or The Montien Hotel, Bangkok? I have not been to the Montien Hotel, Pattaya, but, when I was working full-time, many years ago, I used to regularly stay at The Montien Hotel, Bangkok, when in town for work. It is located across Surawong Road, just a short stroll from the Patpong Road bar area. The Montien Hotel, Bangkok, was, and is, the last time I checked, one of the high-end hotels. Not as glitzy, chrome, and flashy, as some of the newer one on Sukhumvit Road but still classy in a subtle, nuanced, manner. There were ladies there, in the lobby bar who, as you describe, offered conversation and other services. Like the hotel these ladies were also high-end. In my latter years, when in town for work, I stayed at The Davis Hotel, on Sukhumvit Soi 24. If you did not mind a short walk in the warmth and humidity it was a short stroll to the Phrom Phong BTS station. Likewise, a short stroll from the BTS station to the now long gone The Office Bar, a sports bar run by Bob Everett, an Australian, which used to be on a small side soi off Sukhumvit Soi 33.
Montien Pattaya , and that would’ve been the day after the stomach upset , I wrote wrong . Very nice hotel , spent the day shopping buying stuff for the wife…just taking it easy , nursed a couple of beers later in the day. very reasonably priced , it is easy to save up money on deployment , haz duty pay, combat pay,hostile fire pay, imminent danger pay ….all tax free if you’re in the right spot . That is why a lot of guys reenlist in the tax free zone , bonus is/was tax free . Mike C , I don’t know him from Adam , seems like a nice guy . I just make comments as they pop in my head , with age memories come and go . I had a good time in the Navy mostly , I was outside in the weather , not stuck in some cold room looking at a screen getting a moon tan . I read every tech manual on my equipment out of boredom , nothing else to do sometimes , PMS Cards , Jane’s book of fighting ships, hell even the Ships SORM LOL !!! I get long winded when I post , need to chill on that , usually coffee in the morning and usually a little Jim Beam in the evening . The gentleman Surly is amazing at figuring out those pics , even the old stuff. This is just a cool blog , I like the layout and I learn quite a bit . See I wrote a paragraph instead of a comment . Damn !!
😊
I’m not. Frigates are supposed to be that maneuverable.
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Now, the famous “Murderer’s Row” photo of 7 Essec class carriers all dolled up in their camouflage anchored relatively closely, now that is good maneuvering.
Weight loss. The late comedian John Pinette related growing up in an Irish neighborhood and at one point receiving some advice about the “Irish diet” from a relative. He was told to write down: “Stop your fookin’ eatin’.”
Half a sandwich has fewer calories than a full sandwich.
Pinette was epically hilarious….”I was on a forced diet by my doctor, door bell rings and it’s a Girl Scout selling cookies. Ohh, honey, I think you’re going to win the trip to Hawaii.” Was laughing so hard, about passed out. (RIP, John…miss your take on things.)
He was hilarious. Every time I go past a Chines restaurant, I say “YOU HERE FOUR HOUR!!”…..
Not too worried about the jet Shahed. It underperforms a P-39, and the P-39 was reusable.
The P-39 was not an unstoppable superweapon. We have known how to deal with this sort
of crap for almost 100 years, it’s just that nobody wants to spend the money.
– Kle.
**Across the U.S., union-backed legislation—from Washington to Massachusetts—seeks to mandate human safety operators in all autonomous vehicles, effectively blocking the deployment of driverless operations.**
It sure sounds like the buggy whip makers way back when could have used a union!
Yes, it does.
I have a cousin that retired from the railroad with 35 years. He worked in the engine. He was the Fireman. It was a union mandated job position.
Even though he didn’t shovel coal, isn’t the fireman an assistant engineer who also assists the conductor tieing off brakes on cars, etc?
I had a friend who was a conductor and the son of a conductor.
I remember his dad telling him that if you crash into a car or truck, that you don’t pull the air until the caboose is safely past it.
One of my uncles was a Fireman. They mostly ran the boiler for the Engineer. I don’t recall what he did after Diesels came in, but he always brought us a bag of multiple colors flares to use on Independence Day, along with some ‘torpedoes’ you could throw on the ground to set off.
Secret Airline; excellent description in ” Exiles from Eden.” Just a kindly reminder to leave another review for a great novel that is true to life in so many ways!
Regarding the Church (the Roman Catholic Church) and science, it’s the Church that has been at the forefront of astronomy, physics and particle science.
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It gets a bad rap because of some dumb things done by the Inquisition after they ran out of hidden Jews and Muslims in the then-now only Catholic Spain. And a bad rap because Galileo was an asshole. Nobody remembers that he excoriated and physically assaulted a scientist who proposed the heliocentric view of the solar system years before Galileo proposed it. And he was dumped on by the Church because he basically said “I thunk it, therefore it is so” about the heliocentric theory and didn’t want to share his work with everyone else.
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The Church has pretty much from the 800s on really been on the forefront of scientific research. And unlike what people think of due to stupid stories and movies, the Church was the place that saved so much written history, science and the arts during the Dark Ages and the fall of Rome.
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But “muh Spanish Inquisition” was bad, amiright? No, the Spanish Inq came about because the Spaniards and the Catholic Church just spent 700 years reconquoring the Spanish (and Portuguese) peninsula. And were dealing with people who said they were Catholic and who decidedly weren’t. Yes, there were Conversos, converted Jews and muslims, but there were also a lot who said they were and weren’t.
The Census was always mean to count the people of this country. That would be ‘legal immigrants and actual citizens.’ It was the Dems that borked the Census in order to ensure winning elections and it’s painfully obvious, like LL said, that without the borked Census and other massive cheats are the only reason the Donks have been in power.
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As to ‘youth movements’ and ‘anti-capitalism’ movements, they’ve, since after WWII, always been paid actors. The Soviets funded the American anti-war and anti-nuke movements of the 50’s and 60’s and kept funding other anti-US organizations right up until the collapse of the Soviets. Other countries have been funding anti-US movements, along with outside NGOs and billionaires like Soros.
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Occupy Wallstreet (remember them) was one of these funded groups.
Lazy slobs without proper jobs. A pox on all of those types.
Did China recently steal how-to-navigate-in-crowded-condition manuals from the US? Thought crashing into other ships was our thing…