China sent 150,000 Men to Help Allies in World War One

 There is a little known historical fact about the First World War; China sent 150,000 men to the west to help win the war against Germany and Turkey etc. Their contribution delivering ammunition and with logistics and combat engineering skill like building trenches was not an unimportant contribution to victory. They are probably helping Russia with a very small percent of that number in order to shore up Russia's attempt to defend itself against N.A.T.O. member infiltration eastward. It would not be surprising if China sent as many soldiers to Russia to support its historically correct assertion of a right to rule half of Ukraine as it did to help France and Belgium defend themselves in the First World War. China lost between 2000 to 20,000 men in that conflict and were largely neglected by the allies later when Japan began its invasion of China.

Non-combatant support forces  relieve combatants from the necessary support tasks and let them fight instead of digging in. The fact that history may be repeating itself against underscores the point that people or at least political leaders do not learn from history; human nature and original sin prevail to drive lemming leadership to battle in senseless, needless, costly conflicts.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-china-citizens-captured-zelenskyy-beijing-kremlin-rcna200174

Rectification of Neo-Liberal Economics

 Rectifying deficiencies from Reagan era neo-liberalism transitions from Bretton Woods is challenging. One can't go on adding trillions of public debt annually. Some believe economics is voodoo and the tooth fairy of free trade will make the world a more peaceful.verdant, fair and balanced place in a faithless social mileau. President Trump has the nerve to at least try to fix the damage. No one else had a meaningful plan. if it works it might be possible to adapt ecological economics onto it eventually and export that to the world. It may be assured that Democrats are looking backward rather than ahead.

Gemini's Opinion on Why Olympus Mons Could Grow So Tall

 I asked Gemnini why Olympus Mons could grow so tall. It said...

"Yes, the lower gravity of Mars compared to Earth is considered one of the key reasons why Olympus Mons was able to grow so incredibly tall.

Here's the breakdown of why:

1. Lower Gravity: Mars has about 38% of Earth's surface gravity. This means that the volcanic rock making up Olympus Mons weighs significantly less than it would on Earth. Consequently, the mountain could grow much taller before its own weight caused it to collapse or before the Martian crust could no longer support its immense load. Taller structures are simply more stable under lower gravity.  

2. Lack of Plate Tectonics: This is arguably just as important, or even more important, than lower gravity. On Earth, the tectonic plates are constantly moving over stationary "hot spots" in the mantle (plumes of magma). As a plate moves, new volcanoes form over the hotspot, creating chains like the Hawaiian Islands. No single volcano stays over the magma source long enough to grow to the scale of Olympus Mons. On Mars, the crust appears to be largely stationary (no active plate tectonics). This means Olympus Mons likely sat over a persistent hotspot for potentially billions of years, allowing lava to continuously pile up in the same location, building one enormous structure instead of a chain of smaller ones.  

3. Longer Eruption Duration: Related to the lack of plate tectonics, the magma source feeding Olympus Mons was likely active over a much longer period than typical terrestrial volcanoes experience while remaining in one place, contributing to its massive volume.

4. Lower Erosion Rates: While not directly related to its peak height during formation, the lack of significant water and wind erosion on Mars compared to Earth has helped preserve Olympus Mons's immense size over geological time.

In summary: Lower gravity definitely played a significant role by allowing the structure to support itself at a much greater height. However, the lack of plate tectonics, allowing the volcano to remain over its magma source for an exceptionally long time, is the other critical factor explaining the sheer scale of Olympus Mons compared to anything found on Earth."

Human Thought Isn't Mostly Memory as Some Believe

People have memory yet like a computer c.p.u. also have live computation or cogitation. Then of course perception inward and outwardly sourced exists. One can think about that with awareness. An example of inward perception is continuous pain that one would like to be unaware of or not think about yet can't. An example of outward perception is a cold rain soaking one and pelting the face with cold drops in driving wind; these are all live thoughts and perceptions rather than memory. One may think about perceptions later, reflectively with memory, yet memory can be fairly useless if cold and starving (i.e. while starving remember having a steak in a warm restaurant five years before).

Memory can be unreliable too, so far as forming judgments go. I saw an FB post where someone put forth their opinion of the all-time best Celtics roster for a team. Bill Russell was named as the starting center while others mentioned Dave Cowens. With a dozen comments no one mentioned Bill Walton who played just one season for the Celtics yet won an N.B.A. championship. Walton was actually the best center to ever play for the Celtics. Even the public forgets in the present. Thoughts relying on memory alone are prone to error while present perception and what one thinks about it (doubling the thought activity in effect, with reflection) is less inaccurate since the complex of compresence is not internally stimulated.

Memory is the store of knowledge, yet knowledge is used in the present. One may use knowledge (memory) to construct new ideas creatively, inventively combining memories intentionally to form the idea of a new widget. One may use memory to construct solutions to present challenges or to form synthetic judgments with some value (as in arranging peace among unwilling belligerents) etc.

Genocides are Caused by People-Not Political isms

Pol Pot and the Khymer Rouge were communist atheists and perped a genocide. Yet the problem is of people and political convenience more than religion or lack of it. The Hutu leaders of the Rwandan genocide claimed the Tutsi weren’t Christians to devalue them. Atheism can lead to nihilism yet politics usually isn’t about philosophical or theological issues for-itself when genocide is present; instead there are always other secular issues like race, wealth, power, resources, perversion and so forth that motivate the purge of a class of individuals. Religion or lack of it is used as an excuse for a mass purge rather than a primary cause.

 I suppose there have been religious leaders that have used war to expedite proselytization- such as Mohammed who was a warrior-religion creator. The Spanish inquisition was a political purge more than something motivated by Biblical hermeneutics in error. After the Reconquista leaders wanted to purge Spain of werewolves and that took a religious form since religious affiliation was comparable to a modern political party allegiance then. That sort of political cleansing often follows wars-including post-war Germany, Iraq etc. https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf…

Pres. Trump's Tariff Medicine is a Hard Economic Remedy

 Usually I would prefer classical free trade economics without tariffs. Since the USA began outsourcing jobs and the country began trade deficit increases decades ago it was plain that some kind of correction would need to occur at some point. Debt can’t be used to finance a national economy forever. I guess the time has arrived to correct the unbalanced national economic structure. It is tough to regard President Trump as a kind of pragmatic 19th century country doctor amputating a gangrenous policy, yet his economic surgery is a bold move.

I am not sure of what impact the tariffs will have, yet it could be positive in the long run. The minimum wage adjusted for inflation is far less now than it was in 1970. After the Cold War ended global labor competition to American workers increased about 80%. Cheap Chinese labor made American industry invest overseas, in Mexico, India,Vietnam etc- basically anywhere labor was cheap. The theory is that while wages are rising in China and America's working class economy relied on cheap foreign imports for consumer goods and vast federal deficit spending the economy was OK. American wages stagnated except for the rich that saw tremendous income increases because of all the foreign based investments and profit with low taxes in the U.S.A. as well. Low taxes on the rich are supposed to create job growth and it does-overseas.

https://suno.com/song/9e65a66d-a822-43d3-8831-ebcd0235924a?sh=LVeInrKa1hVauYW7

Tariffs may reverse the investment flow a little. With public debt at 33 trillion something had to be done. The planetary tariffs are a bold move and I am surprised that Pres Trump actually had the will to try it. Public debt and federal deficit spending couldn't just be allowed to keep increasing by a trillion or two every year until it hit 50 or 100 trillion while American wages were poor and imports became more costly because Chinese wages are increasing and the rich can hide their foreign profits in bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. Foreign economies grow stronger and America's comparatively weaker. The tariffs are a real attempt to change things positively. I hope that it works.

Those Ford Galaxy 500s were pretty decent cars. T.V. seemed fine. The moon landings were clear enough, and Superbowls. Chryslers had some manufacturing issues. Detroit partly closed down. The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 gave small foreign cars a huge boost in American sales because people wanted fuel efficient foreign cars. It was amazing to see the year by year increase of small Japanese cars like the miniature Honda civic in size- and of course today the Toyota trucks are almost as large as 60s American trucks.Detroit tried retooling while iron production declined in the Midwest- lots of political issues. Environmental issues loomed large. The national highway sped limit was 55 m.p.h. for conservation. It was a time of change. Establishments drag their feet on change sometimes. The effort to produce synthetic fuel from coal at Parachute Colorado to replace embargo'd fuel reminds one how tough the lack of fuel was- long lines on even and odd days to buy gas.

The N.Y.S.E isn't a list of American businesses located in America. Tariffs into America and exports-even Boeing parts for China and vice versa, are going to slump sales and increase costs for a lot of people. A time for adjusting to a new balance might take a while.. The N.Y.S.E. has 530 corporations from 48 countries. Even small changes in costs require price adjustments, much less large tariffs. Even resetting pricing will take time. Some multi-national corporations will get around tariffs, yet other could pay tariffs in two-way trade (i.e. 35% plus 35% equals 70%).

Christianity Doesn't Postulate Theistic Structures in Physical Space

 Christianity doesn’t have material structures in space as personifications of God. The rainbow is a reminder from God of quantum physics in the New Testament, yet it isn’t such that it comprises a cosmology. Some reference the Church that is the body of Christ on Earth because Christ cares for the saved who do some of his work. It is a metaphor to explain the unity of the Church. It is not a cosmology. God transcends the physical universe- He is spirit. Material structures shouldn’t be used to understand the theology/theoretical being of God. He is pure spirit and the composition of the universe is less than putty to Him. The Word of God is a reference to a role of Christ (in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God). If one wants a paradigm for understanding that compare Plotinus’ Enneads about The Intelligence. Plotinus wrote a couple of centuries after the Apostle John more or less. I appreciate the reference to existence as “a thought in the mind of God”. There is no structure in the Universe that isn’t contingent being.

Just going on what is written in scripture. I have read the Bible a fair amount the past 65 years so one need trust one’s familiarity with such things. I am happy to learn of serious Biblical scholar opinions that would refute that one point. Certainly Biblical scholars still provide a lot of insight regarding things I didn’t know about the Bible. One might mention Old Testament things like Ezekiel’s wheels (Ezekiel 1: 15-21 and various prophetic descriptions yet the New Testament has none of that. The Revelation has metaphor yet it is challenging to interpret. Martin Luther said it had a lot of straw. Preterists and partial preterists tend to regard the Revelation as referring to the approaching apocalypse of the annihilation of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The numbers 666 for example; the mark of the beast, is a Jewish reference to Nero. (cf “”666 spells Nero” stems from the gematria (a system of assigning numerical values to letters) interpretation of the name “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew, which translates to נרון קסר (NRON QSR) and purportedly sums to 666″). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTRFJBvB_sw