Don't Be Surprised if Zelensky Attacks Moscow May 9th

 Just so people won't be surprised that aren't following the war, Ukraine Martial Law President Zelensky is planning an attack on May the 9th to soil Russia's World War Two Victory parade on 9 May. President Trump could only suspend U.S. Intelligence and support to Ukraine to defrappe the likely attack.

President Trump apparently doesn't understand that Ukraine's war leader who has plans to bring women, young and old people (over 60) into battle readiness is simply playing him for time. He utilizes the 'how do you keep a Turkey in suspense comedic tactic'  to stall for time to let Europe and N.A.T.O. members have time to resupply Ukraine with weapons. 

Sweden for example is sending a pair of flying radar platforms and other jet fighters to let Ukraine coordinate better against Russia offensively and defensively. Zelensky already has U.S. supplied HIMARS and ATACMS that have ranges of a couple hundred miles more or less, Patriot missiles etc. Zelensky hopes to continue the war as long as possible and to bring the world to war if necessary to keep from needing to concede any land already lost to the Russian reconquista.

Zelensky has developed Neptune cruise missiles (a pagan name choice) that is launched from an advanced location might be able to close the 600 miles from Ukraine to Moscow. The Ukraine air force has F-16s that could launch Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missiles supplied by Germany or Sweden if they surreptitiously supplied Zelensky with several. Britain has said they would supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles. Several weapons systems exist for F-16 that can travel more than 300 miles. So a jet flying low protected by Swedish radar might get close enough to launch a few ground hugging cruise missiles.

The question is how Russia would respond? They could nuke Kiev and Stockholm yet that probably isn't in the cards to play yet. Zelensky hopes to provoke Russia into retaliating in a way that will invoke a N.A.T.O. treaty response including that of the United States. That is why I wrote this post; so a few people would be aware of the lunacy of the European Ukraine war situation and to be squared away in case civilization ends after a global nuclear conflict May 9th-12th.

So long as President Trump support Ukraine militarily in any way Mr. Zelensky and European N.A.T.O. members will continue to press forward. The obvious realistic way to end the war is for the U.S. to quit supplying anything military to Ukraine, to stop negotiating with Ukraine, and let the war play out. President Trump could let it be known that he would resume a negotiating role if Ukraine agrees to several stipulations that Russia would be happy to accept, and then a cease fire could be implemented. It only takes one bad judgment or mistake to cascade World War Three into blossoming. One of the bold new N.A.T.O. members leaping to sustain and elevate the conflict militarily- like Sweden, or even old members like England liking the power of driving the Russians back farther east and using the U.S. in a Master-Blaster way to further British interests, could misunderestimate its position and Russian response and spark the fire of nuclear holocaust. Russian might tend toward overestimating the U.S. and N.A.T.O. response to a decision it makes to retailiate against some N.A.T.O. member for sending missiles to punish a weapons and intelligence supplier because if N.A.T.O. gets involved that does mean nuclear war. N.A.T.O. seems badly structured for preventing nuclear war. It was better at fighting some NAZI-style invasion without facing an adversary loaded with nuclear weapons. It is not surprising that the Cold War 1.0 ended peacefully since there was no rational alternative. Modern N.A.T.O. swells forgot the lessons of history that allowed the survival of global civilization.

President Trump did get a minor official under Zelensky to sign off on a Ukrainian minerals deal. Yet that could be fools gold since the U.S. probably would be required to defend the mines as Russia is on the verge of capturing them-especially around the City of Pokrovsk. So Zelensky played Trump into supporting him militarily in exchange for a mess of pottage in effect, since the mines were to be lost anyway. The contract says that the United Stated could get some money after ten years and if the Ukraine Congress approves it, maybe.

The Brits are spinning the deal as a move for peace. In other words it puts the U.S. in a position of being on the front line of a war to defend financial interests. It was maladroit timing. If that works out positively I will be quite surprised.  Ukraine announced victory in the battle for Pokrovsk several hours ago. That must be because the U.S. decided to get involved there. In fact the Russians are closing in around Pokrovsk forming a giant, methodical effective encirclement starting with advancing closer and cutting off supply roads etc.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-minerals-deal-ukraine-russia-b2742685.html

The minerals deal should never have occurred because it is one of those escalations of a conflict through the greed of a third party. Perhaps President Trump becomes myopic when money is concerned. Of course it would be good if Ukraine could repay the hundreds of billions it got from U.S. to support its war with Russia. The war though is more than about money or even land; it is about Europe's will to have power and hegemony over Eurasia and it could well reach the point of the final war of civilization. There is no clever deal that will solve the problem.

Black Hole Information Loss Paradox Solved?

 Physics is always changing, as Heraclitus might have observed, in contrast to Parmenides who said nothing changes. Of course equations made on the foundation of GR may be wrong if GR and that space-time paradigm turns out to be wrong as some physicists speculate. I don't believe that black holes have ever been observed to evaporate to nothing yet since it takes several trillion years approximately. Thus in effect a mathematically consistent account in a particular paradigm has been found to work, yet it is nonetheless just a theory.

 Einstein was brilliant man of his era. It seems to many that there definitely is a lot more to the Universe than GR and the unified space-time paradigm. A deeper account is going to be found. Of course there are many candidates for that already that also seem less than decisive and final. Some believe black holes are connected via quantum tunneling to white holes, and if that is so then any information going to another universe or place would be lost in the present Universe of origin and instead end up someplace else- perhaps in offshore accounts in the Cayman Island Galaxy.

https://www.sciencealert.com/gravity-may-be-a-clue-that-the-universe-is-a-giant-computer

As I understand it there is no real wave function collapse- that is it is rather a mathematical and measuring result of the math of calculation. The collapse is mathematical. One cannot measure the speed and location of a particle simultaneously; the measurement occurs at a particular place, and the particle is not moving or speeding at that location. The particle is really a sample of a wave and the measurement at a particular place figuratively 'collapses' the wave to be measured as a discrete particle. 

Perhaps its comparable to the way a particle or structure can have no dimensions from some reference frames and one or more in others. Superposition could be the infinite number of hypothetical places beyond the point particle location a wave could be. Entanglement might be accomplished by massless information shared via a lower dimensional primeval two dimension host Universe supporting the existence of four dimensions. Who knows? 

 Personally I believe God has all the information and no information is lost except that God wants erased.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/black-hole-information-paradox-solved/#:~:text=Black%20holes%20encode%20information%20on,the%20question%20remains%20fundamentally%20unresolved.

AI Generative Video Prompts and AI Imagination

A brief, productive chat with Open AI about images made for video by AI and AI's imagination. I will post what it said about creativity and imagination below, as well as a cheat sheet on how to make good prompts for AI video makers.

Later this year Open AI will have a video generator named Sora for people to use via the same website. Initially- pro users first, then perhaps available free to a limited extent later.

There is actually a business for people called 'prompt engineers'. Good prompts have lots of detail like a movie screenplay.

  First though, what it said about the imagination of generative AI;

ChatGpt- "The Big Philosophical Idea: Will AI Ever Truly Imagine?

Right now, AI only recombines what it already knows.

It doesn’t want anything. It doesn't wonder. It doesn't dream.

True imagination (like in humans) comes from:

Desire (I want to express something.)

Conflict (I struggle to create something new.)

Freedom (I can choose to break every rule.)

For AI to have real imagination, two things would need to happen:

🔹 It would need a self.

(Some inner "I" that can feel, desire, be dissatisfied.)

🔹 It would need the ability to value the unknown.

(Choosing to create something not just based on probability, but because it longs for it.)

Speculation:

Some scientists believe that future AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) could simulate an inner life, with synthetic "desires" and "curiosity."

If that happens, it might start dreaming not because it was told to, but because it wants to — and then?

We could see AI art that shocks, mystifies, and even teaches us new beauty we couldn't imagine ourselves. 😲

But that’s still science fiction right now.

For today:

✨ The imagination is still ours.

✨ The AI is the mirror we bend to reflect it."

I had asked the AI about making a video with a basketball player spinning a planet on a finger. ChatGpt explained how to make it more detailed. Following is data that the machine code had to say about making good prompts for generative AI videos...

ChatGpt- "Pro Sora Prompt Formula (Cheat Sheet)

Here’s your one-page guide to crafting epic prompts for AI video generation like Sora:

1. Start with WHO / WHAT

Main subject (person, creature, object).

Style hints (young, futuristic, ancient, surreal, realistic, cartoonish).

Example:

"A tall basketball player in a silver uniform."

2. Set the WHERE

Environment, setting, atmosphere (natural world, fantasy, space, city, dreamscape).

Include era if relevant (future, ancient, 1980s, etc).

Example:

"Inside a dark cosmic arena floating in space, stars glowing in the distance."

3. Describe the ACTION

What’s happening? How does it move?

Single action or multiple actions.

Example:

"He spins a glowing blue planet rapidly on his finger."

4. Guide the CAMERA

How should the viewer see it?

Zoom in, tracking shot, slow-motion, handheld, cinematic swoop, wide panorama?

Example:

"Camera slowly zooms in close to the spinning planet, slight orbiting motion around the subject."

5. Add MOOD & STYLE

Lighting (bright, dramatic, soft, neon, dark).

Colors (golden, purple, deep blue, pastel, monochrome).

Vibe (dreamlike, intense, relaxed, chaotic).

Example:

"Cinematic, dramatic lighting with shimmering blue and purple hues, slow ambient background motion."

Bonus Tips:

Even one sentence per section is enough if you’re fast prompting!

Use vivid sensory words: glowing, shimmering, swirling, crackling, ancient, ethereal.

Think like a movie director, not a list-maker."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcKxwBuOIoI

Lakers are on the Edge of Oblivion for the 2024-25 Playoffs

 The Los Angeles Lakers are facing expulsion from the first round of the N.B. A. playoffs after consecutive losses in Minnesota to the Timberwolves. It isn’t that they are a bad team or badly coached. The problem is that they didn’t give the elite rim protector and monster of the paint Christian Koloko a regular veteran minimum contract to play in the playoffs and so they have only one tall guy who is fairly slim and a roll player best used against select teams. Another problem is the rookie Coach Reddick. He is good enough yet makes rookie mistakes like playing a 40 year old virtually the entire game so the elite closure scored zero points in the fourth quarter due to exhaustion.

Sitting on the bench was an elite three point shooting rookie Dalton Knecht. His defense is not so hot yet the shooting option was needed for the series. One can’t always know how certain players will perform a priori; one must give them a chance. Coach Reddick wasn’t willing to bring Koloko and Jemenson aboard for the playoff run, and wouldn’t risk winning or losing with a rookie having a supporting role who had similar stats to first year Kobe Bryant, and instead let his team slip to one win versus three losses and the exit door in the floor for the long drop and plop into next season.

The Lakers should keep the coach for he will with luck learn from the experience, not trade Dalton Knecht for a used center, and shop about for a journeyman center without desparation since they have Koloko, Hayes and Maxi Kleber already. If it’s not broke don’t fix it. There isn’t anyone on the team the Lakers should be willing to trade for a center. Alternatively, if a good one appears it wouldn’t hurt to bring a journeyman aboard.

No It Wasn't Fair Dinkum for Trump to Kill Zelensky at the Vatican

 If President Trump had killed Volodimir Zelensky at the Vatican with the secret Spock death-grip- when Zelensky approached him as a head of state attending the Pope's funeral, he would have been guilty of killing 'an internationally protected person'. Those are government officials, diplomats, guests and so forth. President Trump might have been tempted to end the war directly by removing the main obstacle to peace. 

Zelensky seem to be playing the President, disrespected the Vatican to conduct business, and appears to be making a subtle wise-guy style joke of President Trump.

President Trump apparently hasn't realized that Mr. Zelensky will spam and sham his entire administration as the Democrats did with charges against him in his first term. Euros and Democrats support the war in Ukraine no matter how long it takes. As in denying Trump a Nobel Peace Prize the first term they have no intention of allowing Donald Trump to get anywhere in his second term in regard to public acknowledgment of achievement. President Trump will need to settle the Ukraine War without the help of Zelensky, the Democrat Party or Euro diplomats.

Even if the next Pope forgave President Trump for his offence and persuaded Vatican lawyers not to bring charges, U.S. law would have been broken so far as Zelensky is considered to be an internationally protected person. It is possible that since Zelensky's subscription expired and he is there by martial law that he isn't an internationally protected individual- like everyone else outside the protected class. The Pope would however be required to name Zelensky as an uninvited guest in order to remove his protected status.

Effect on Prices Globally for Increases of Chinese Minimum Wage

 The minimum wage of the United States today is about 7.25 per hour. When I had my first job parking cars the minimum wage was $1.60 hourly. A minimum wage increase of several million or hundreds of millions of people is a large chunk of change. The U.S. minimum wage hasn't gone up much in a half century.

China hasn't got a nation-wide minimum wage. The minimum wage is set at a provincial level and of course people living in cities need and get higher minimum wages than country folk. About 470 million Chinese work in cities. I believe the minimum wage in Shanghai is about $1.20 an hour. It is less for the 270 million rural workers generally.  The scale of even modest, nation-wide increases in minimum wages in China has immediate, large effects on the cost of made in China products sold globally.

Maybe western ideologues will expect Chinese communist leadership to duplicate western models of sending proplits of rising prosperity to CEOs instead of workers and to keep minimum wages down. I believe that's unreasonable. In the west the voters have need trained to be like good communists and accept low minimum wages and submit to low tax flummery  and profit lion shares for the rich. In China the communist leadership may not only worry about being replaced if they don't raise worker minimums and increase average standard of living; they could be accused of counter-revolutionary activity.

Chinese workers, like Americans, want an increase in minimum wages. For about 77 million people to have meaningful wage increase means costs need be passed on to consumers. In other words, even without tariffs the cost of made-in-China goods was destined to increase in order to increase the Chinese standard of living. The U.S.A. did need to eventually return to material production many of the items outsourced to China in order to raise U.S. minimum wages much.

Chinese workers, like Americans, want an increase in minimum wages. For about 77 million people to have meaningful wage increase means costs need be passed on to consumers. In other words, even without tariffs the cost of made-in-China goods was destined to increase in order to increase the Chinese standard of living. The U.S.A. did need to eventually return to material production many of the items outsourced to China in order to raise U.S. minimum wages much.

The growth in the U.S. economy since the 1970s sent a disproportionate percent of profit to the rich instead of sharing proportionately with workers via minimum wage increases. Instead of minimum wage increases consumers following the end of the Cold War 1.0 got deflation on the cost of select consumer goods made in China, Thailand, Vietnam etc. It is likely that Chinese wages will rise even as the labor participation rate declines because of aging of the Chinese population. For the U.S. minimum wage to triple ( a small yet significant reparation for the relative stagnation of minimum wage the past half century) domestic production would need to increase, taxation on capital gains increase and the cost of government be reduced with increased efficiency. 

Needless to say environmental protections need be strongly reinforced because of the extreme stress on the environment created by the vast global demographic facts of population and countless deleterious economic environmental externalities (i.e. microplastics).

Challenges of Ecclesiastic and Social Organizations in the Formative Stage

Early in church history there was a challenge to organize and share the same beliefs  Many doctrinal questions arose that needed to be addressed.  Even leadership itself was an issue. There were five important cities for a time, including Jerusalem, that had important church centers.

Human social organizations including church organizations have unmathematical vectors of growth and proliferation. They are not clean, simple, linear structures easy to formulate. Post cold war Russia faced a comparable challenge, as did the USA to a lesser extent that needed resolution via civil war. Boris Yeltsin passed on the rump of the former Soviet Union to Vladimir Putin. How was Yeltsin to know the west would invest in snatching Ukraine from Russian hegemony and in effect launder Ukraine as stolen property and use it as a military spearhead against Russia? The Russia-Ukraine war is another example of civil conflict following the formation of massive social organizations.

 The church had schisms and actual heresies like that of Arius, Mani, Marcionism, Montanism, and Sabellianism etc. One may tend to feel that Plotinus was treated badly. Even Augustine left off being a neo-Platonist and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Plotinus described his experience of transcendence and an intense, deeper, personal encounter with what Christians call the Shekinah Glory of God. It is an immediate experience of the transcendence of realty. Some of course would say that it is just an inward, psychological event, yet to those that experience it, reality itself and the boundaries of subject-objective being are briefly overcome, That is an experience of the super natural or super reality.

 What Plotinus called heyschasm is an unforgettable experience yet it too fades somewhat with time, as it must for the individual need exist in reality until the end of his life. Plotinus incidentally was regard as a heretic by the early church for claiming to have directly experienced God

Compare a Chinese heresy where a rebel leader believed, misunderstanding scripture, that he was the actual brother of Christ, and his leadership of rebels in a civil war produced 20 million deaths. Hong Xiuquan 

He perished after spending his last days detached, in a harem, while war raged outside his palace. Lack of doctrinal agreement and consensus is a problem inherently possible in the foundation of social organizations - in addition to similar issues arising from future revisions, upgrades and corruptions. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19977188