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Quote:FDA Concedes on Ivermectin
But Deeper Concerns Persist

Health Viewpoints
After years of controversy over using ivermectin to fight COVID-19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally gave in and agreed to remove its social media posts that urge people to stop using the drug.
Since 1987, ivermectin has been used to treat human diseases. Doctors are also testing it for cancers outside the COVID-19 spectrum. This contradicts the FDA’s claim that ivermectin is an “animal drug.”
The ivermectin controversy is just the tip of the iceberg, revealing a much larger problem.
Nature’s ‘Wonder Drug’ and Gift to Humans
Like many low-cost remedies, ivermectin is a gift from nature with a glorious history.

Professor Satoshi Omura discovered ivermectin in Japanese soil in 1975. He isolated a bacterial species, Streptomyces avermectinius, from the soil and found a new compound, avermectin, the precursor to ivermectin. He then modified avermectin into a safer and more effective drug—ivermectin.
This drug has saved hundreds of millions of people around the world suffering from two parasitic diseases that have plagued tropical regions for centuries—river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. It has also been proven effective in treating many other parasitic infections, including gastrointestinal roundworms, mites, ticks, and scabies.
It is a drug that has been used in humans for more than 30 years without developing resistance and has a good safety profile.

Ivermectin has been called a “wonder drug” by many doctors. In 2017, Nature’s Journal of Antibiotics published the article “Ivermectin: enigmatic multifaceted ‘wonder’ drug continues to surprise and exceed expectations.”
Ivermectin also has proven broad-spectrum antiviral activity against various types of RNA viruses, including AIDS, dengue fever, West Nile, Zika, influenza, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis.
When a virus enters a human cell, it is carried by a vehicle-like transporter to replicate inside the cell and spread throughout the body. Ivermectin has the ability to block the function of this transporter, thereby preventing the virus from replicating and spreading.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, its safety and multifunctionality attracted global attention.
Impressive Versatility
Modern drug development follows a one-disease, one-target principle, whereby drugs are designed to target specific pathogens.
As a drug primarily extracted from nature, ivermectin has shown impressive versatility in its uses within the human body. Similar to other natural compounds, ivermectin has the ability to act on multiple targets simultaneously. These types of natural compounds can be thought of as a Swiss army knife, designed not for just one purpose, but with many potential uses waiting to be discovered.
Initially, ivermectin was found to have a specific target, paralyzing certain muscles in worms while having little effect on mammals.
Along with the revelation of multiple effects of ivermectin, scientists started to wonder which precise mechanism of action ivermectin has within the human body. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that the drug enhances the effectiveness of our immune system, enabling it to better carry out its defensive functions.
Use in Treating COVID-19
When a new viral outbreak occurs, scientists typically test existing drugs for efficacy, as developing new drugs within a short timeframe is often impossible. An example of this is SARS-CoV-2.
Scientists considered using ivermectin as a potential solution, and it proved to be effective, resulting in one success after another.
In mid-2020, Australian scientists found that ivermectin could effectively fight against SARS-CoV-2. Two days after adding ivermectin to a cell model, the virus RNA dropped to 0.001 percent, a 5,000-fold reduction.
In September 2020, a U.S. lab published a modeling study showing that ivermectin docks to the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain, prohibiting the virus from attaching to human cells, thus stopping its infection. A lab in Bangladesh found a similar effect.
In June 2021, an Indian review used artificial intelligence-based and molecular dynamics simulation-based studies and reached a conclusion that ivermectin is a potential treatment for COVID-19.
It has also demonstrated efficacy in specific human studies.
A large-scale prospective clinical observational study in Brazil that included 159,561 residents found that administering ivermectin at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg for two consecutive days every 15 days significantly reduced infection, mortality, and hospitalization during the Omicron epidemic period. The study showed that treatment with ivermectin was associated with a decrease of 44 percent, 68 percent, and 56 percent in infection, mortality, and hospitalization rates, respectively, as compared with the nontreatment control group.
Another analysis of the same study setting, based on 88,012 subjects, showed that regular use of ivermectin for 150 days was linked with an even greater effect on COVID-19, reducing the infection, mortality, and hospitalization rates by 49 percent, 92 percent, and 100 percent, compared with non-users.
These observational studies have a strict level of control and exclude the bias from confounding factors in treated and nontreated groups, presenting an advantage over randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Furthermore, a real-time meta-analysis of 101 studies indicated significant improvement using ivermectin treatment, with a 62 percent improvement for early treatment.
If a drug has treatment potential and is relatively safe, doctors should be allowed to use it off-label as long as they follow the correct human dosage.
Even though the FDA typically approves a drug based only on RCTs, RCTs have limitations. They normally recruit hundreds of participants, seldom reaching thousands, as in this study. Also, the design of an RCT study could easily be flawed or wrongly interpreted if the study designer lacks knowledge of the drug’s properties.
A recent pre-proof study of ivermectin published in the Journal of Infection had at least two critical problems with the study design: Firstly, the recruited patients were at a relatively later stage—two weeks from the onset of symptoms. Secondly, ivermectin was used only once per day for three days, which is much lower than recommended by the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, whose guidelines are based on the experience of many critical care doctors using ivermectin off-label to treat COVID-19 patients.
Limitations and Cautions
While every drug has its benefits, they should always be taken responsibly because of potential side effects.
Ivermectin is contraindicated in patients taking the immunosuppressive agent tacrolimus and may increase the effects of one or both medications.
In general, ivermectin has a very favorable preclinical safety profile compared with most other antiviral drugs. It is not carcinogenic or genotoxic and does not impact fertility. However, it appeared to be teratogenic when given at 10 to 100 times higher human doses, and like most antiviral drugs, it should be avoided in pregnancy.
Ivermectin has different formulations for humans and animals, and the dosage for animals is significantly higher. People should be cautious and avoid mistakenly taking large doses of ivermectin, as it may cause unnecessary harm.
More to Be Corrected
The labeled indications of an approved drug are often limited because of sluggish industry procedures or knowledge gaps. As a result, doctors in the United States are allowed to prescribe drugs off-label for a purpose other than the one for which the drug was approved.
Despite strong clinical evidence for the use of ivermectin in COVID-19 treatment, the drug has been largely underutilized and has even been banned by authorities for nonscientific reasons.
As noted at the beginning of the article, the recent settlement of the ivermectin case is a significant step in reducing the FDA’s excessive involvement in the relationship between doctors and patients. Many lives could have been saved if ivermectin and other early treatments had been made available instead of being ignored, vilified, and underutilized.
A low-cost, naturally derived drug was found to be effective against COVID-19, yet newly developed, less effective drugs and vaccines costing billions were promoted and resulted in many more serious adverse events than expected.
What constitutes genuine science? And what is the appropriate path to advance science and medicine?
When Mr. Omura received the Nobel Prize for ivermectin, he referred to his “profound belief that microorganisms never engage in futility; it is just our lack of knowledge and vision that prevents us from understanding what they produce, how and for what purpose.”
Humans may not fully appreciate the real benefits and values of nature, including its role in preventing epidemics.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a silent war started between those pursuing cutting-edge technology and those favoring more traditional approaches.
One side pursuing advanced technology has chosen to develop vaccines, even utilizing mRNA technology despite its immaturity. This has led to unprecedented, bold, and massive experimentation in hundreds of millions of humans.
The other approach involves looking inward, improving our diet and lifestyle, balancing our immunity, and utilizing natural remedies.
This is not to say we shouldn’t develop new drugs or vaccines; it’s undoubtedly positive if they are effective. However, we should not let human arrogance, money, or politics blind us and tarnish real science.
The ultimate goal of scientific research is to benefit people—not solely to pursue advanced medical treatments.
Advanced pharmaceuticals do not always equate to superior medications, just as everyone is aware that high-tech, synthetic foods are not optimal for our health.
When Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, pioneered the systematic study of clinical medicine, he could not have envisioned this present-day scenario.
How far have we strayed? When will we abandon these harmful ideas and return to the right path?

In Jeremiah ch25, the prophet is instructed to take a "cup of the wine of wrath" and present it to the various kings of all the nations round about, from Egypt to Babylon. "They shall drink and stagger and go crazed because of the sword which I am sending among them" (v16). On another site which I now frequent, somebody was talking about this episode and observing that the cup could not have been a physical cup because of the logistics problem of travelling to the different places. I replied;

I agree, and I would add that no physical cup would have been necessary because the wine itself was only metaphorical.

The "drinking wine" metaphor is an important image which keeps recurring all the way up to Revelation ch17. I think in Jeremiah's usage it is fundamentally about loss of power. Babylon is the last nation to drink in this chapter, and in ch51 v7, there is a slightly different scenario in which Babylon is making the other nations drink. That is, Babylon takes power away from the other nations and finally loses power itself.

The thought -connection between getting drunk and losing power is intriguing. The most obvious connection is loss of judgement. Being drunk is a state of temporary madness, as well as leaving people incapacitated in other ways (compare v16 and the porter's speech in Macbeth).

But I think I've discovered a less obvious connection, a double metaphor. The archetypical drunken state of the Bible is the case of Noah after he first invented wine (Genesis ch9), and an important element in the story is that it left him naked. I suggest that the Israelites continued to associate getting drunk with getting naked, one more reason to disapprove of wine-drinking. I would also suggest that they associated nakedness with vulnerability. In Genesis ch3 v7 and again in Revelation ch3 v18 and ch16 v15 it appears to be a symbol of "being vulnerable to the critical eye of God's judgment". In that case, the thought process behind Jeremiah's image could be "Becoming drunk means becoming naked, becoming naked means becoming vulnerable, and becoming vulnerable means becoming powerless".

But the implication of all this is that "drinking the cup of wrath" ultimately means "being about to face judgment". That's the apparent meaning of the cup which the Harlot is offering in Revelation ch17. It appears that Jesus is applying the same image to his own prospective death on the Cross (Mark ch10 v38). That could even be part of the meaning of the cup at the Last Supper. I've only just thought of that last point, but it's possible that I read it somewhere and it's just re-emerged from my subconscious memory.

Hello, Rogue-Nation. 

I'm just going to dive right into this.

After having a rough upbringing that lead to a drug addiction into my early adulthood which, of course, landed me in rehab, and then into my first big victory of my life which was conquering my addictions, so that they no longer had any hold on my life. The first year or so after this I had this strong desire to write a book about my experiences, and how I was able to do what so few were able to accomplish. I had this idea in my head for a long time, and as time went, and my experiences and wisdom grew the idea for the book grew and evolved in content. As the years went on the desire to write this book never left me.

My journey in this crazy life I've been living leads me to a spiritual awakening, which leads to transformation. More doors of Insight are opened and my desire to share this knowledge is always in my heart. As all of these new insights come to me, and as my understanding is growing, being the natural teacher that I am try and share some of my experiences with others around me. I'm surrounded by low vibrational people, so not only do they not understand, now they think I'm going crazy. So, I start to shut my mouth and keep these things to myself. 

Isolation comes.

Then depression hits harder than I've ever felt in my life. And it lasted. I soldiered through and as I was in the deepest darkest parts of my mind.....epiphanies start to come...and these are in the strongholds of my mind. I faced the darkest parts of my shadow, and made peace with them. I broke down not just walls I had built, but even down to my foundation. Wounds that stemmed from birth. The worst depression imaginable for months leads me to an even deeper rooted peace in my soul, as well as an astronomical epiphany. I was able to let some really important things go.

Me being me, again, wanted to share my experiences, because I know their are others going through the same things. It is my nature to want to help.

I'm looking around on YouTube and these sites and places alike, and I'm on YouTube and I run across a video and this person is telling the exact same story as me, same insights, same views and the same knowledge from these experiences. This leads me to finding more videos like this. Then more. And more. And more. 

I thought wow, okay, that's covered. 
I look at other forums and it's the same thing. 
It's all been done.
To death, at this point.


So, what does one do, when what you wanted to do has already been done? And I do mean, done. 


My desire to help others will never change.  It's just who I am. When I hit this realization I knew I was still on the path I was meant to be on because I have no earthly idea what I'm supposed to do next. No direction with this, no plan, but still I have no worries. 


I did find this conundrum interesting and so I thought I would lay it out for others to shoot ideas at me. Have fun with it because this isn't a serious matter on my heart. I was more like, wow, mmmkkayy, what now. I like to be unique and original with the projects i take on, but there's so much out there, that there is no more "unique and original." It's all been done. To death. 

What do you do when it's all been done Rogue-Nation? Go fishing?

Went to pick up my new glasses so afterward ran next door to the dollar store to pick up a box of toothpicks while Kdog waited in the vehicle before we left to get some brunch. There were two cashiers open but there was a really loud woman at one of them so I went to the other. As I'm paying for my toothpicks all of a sudden the loud woman starts yelling so the cashier checking me out and I both turn our heads and look. The loud woman looks me right in the eye and yells "Don't look at me you devil!" to which out of instinct I yell back "I'll look wherever I want you crazy bitch!" and that began the yelling match with the crazy woman at Dollar Tree.

She starts screaming at me how I'm the Devil, something about a Mustang, God and Will Smith. I tell her "Fuck you ya crazy bitch!" and flipped her off to which she returns the one bird salute and yells at me how God hates me and I'm going to be damned and burn in Hell to which I replied how that was real nice and I'm sure that it is awful Godly shooting the bird and cussing at strangers and as I exited the store flipped her off again while yelling "Fuck you foul mouthed whore!" 

I know, not my shiniest moment! I also was foul mouthed and un-Godly myself- but I was also having to watch around me to make sure I wasn't about to be attacked as here in the city if you get into an altercation with one person of a certain shade any others within the vicinity are liable to jump on you too. It's a sad but true state of reality and something I never thought I'd have to worry about in my lifetime and yet here we are. Fortunately everybody else in the store looked at her like she was insane and stayed out of it... this time. 

Anyway, this wasn't my first encounter with a crazy person this week. Just a few days ago encountered a crazy woman at the Circle K down the street. Won't go into details but let's just say that I was glad to finally get in my vehicle and click the lock button and that it was my first time having to wonder about possibly being sexually assaulted by another woman, she was even licking her lips- YUCK! 

So as the eclipse approaches I would caution everybody to stay on their toes and monitor their surroundings because the crazy is coming out in full force this week! 

Also, brunch was lovely!

Marines are not having a problem recruiting and there is a reason as their motto has always been do or die. Some of the best pilots I have flown with were all Marine aviators. A Marine is a grunt first (rifleman) and anything else is secondary. However they usually have the worse living conditions of any of the services.

The Air Force would open a base and build the living quarters and officer and enlisted clubs and then end up several thousand feet short of the required length for their runway as they were out of money. Runways always got finished with more money added...

Army and Marines would build the runway first while living in tents and that is where they remained until building materials could be scrounged !! 

They're the first wave of kids of 1,000 capitalist oligarchs who are going to give $5.2 TRILLION to their heirs over the next two decades. They're the new millennial lords of the neo-feudal order. Seems like a recipe for doom.

Quote:Fifteen young billionaires are among the first wave of a $5.2tn transfer of wealth by the ageing super-rich

All of the world’s billionaires younger than 30 inherited their wealth, the first wave of “the great wealth transfer” in which more than 1,000 wealthy people are expected to pass on more than $5.2tn (£4.1tn) to their heirs over the next two decades.

There are already more billionaires than ever before (2,781), and the number is expected to soar in the coming years as an elderly generation of super-rich people prepare to give their fortunes to their children.

Research by Forbes magazine found there were 15 billionaires aged 30 or under but that none had created their own wealth, instead benefitting from huge inheritances.

Among them are Ireland’s Firoz Mistry, 27, and his brother Zahan, 25, who each have an estimated $4.9bn from their stakes in Tata Sons, the parent company of the Indian conglomerate Tate Group, which owns car brands including Jaguar Land Rover. They inherited their 4.6% stakes in the company in 2022 after the death of their father, Cyrus Mistry, who died less than three months after their grandfather Pallonji.

Three children of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder of the luxury sunglasses company Luxottica, became billionaires after his death in 2022. Leonardo Maria, 28, Luca, 22, and Clemente Del Vecchio, 19, each inherited a 12.5% stake in the family’s Luxembourg-based holding company Delfin, which owns nearly a third of EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban and Oakley. The siblings has a fortune estimated to be worth $4.7bn each.

The world’s youngest billionaire is Livia Voigt, 19, who has a $1.1bn fortune thanks to a 3.1% stake in WEG Industries, a Brazilian electrical equipment producer co-founded by her grandfather Werner Ricardo. He died in 2016. Her older sister Dora Voigt de Assis, 26, is also on the list.

Experts at the Swiss bank UBS said: “During the next 20 to 30 years, over 1,000 of today’s billionaires are likely to transfer more than $5.2tn to their heirs. How do we calculate this number? Simply by adding up the wealth of the 1,023 billionaires who are aged 70 or more today.

“Looking to the longer term, the exceptional wealth resulting from the boom in entrepreneurial activity since the 1990s has established a foundation for future generations of billionaire families.”

The richest person on the planet is the majority owner of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault. He is 75 and has recently promoted his children to key roles in the business. Arnault has an estimated fortune of $233bn, a 10% increase on last year.

Charles Koch, the elder of the US billionaire industrialist brothers, is 88. Phil Knight, the billionaire co-founder of Nike, is 86.

A total of $70tn is expected to be inherited by the next generation over the next 20 years, according to estimates by the consulting firm Cerulli Associates. The transfer is expected to make millennials the “richest generation in history”, says research by the real estate agent Knight Frank.

One of the youngest billionaires to have made – rather than inherited – their fortune is Ben Francis, 31, the British founder of athleisure brand Gymshark. His wealth is estimated at $1.3bn.


This article was amended on 3 April 2024 to remove a mistaken reference to Charles Koch’s younger brother David, who died in 2019.

It may be true that archaeologists were stunned by all of this, but I'm sure the article will pour cold
water on the legend that many of us already know.

Quote:Stunned archaeologists probe claims of giant skeletons in Nevada caves where they found a
15-inch sandal that had been worn down as well as massive handprints across the walls

*Remains of ancient humans in Nevada cave reportedly belonged to giant people
*Native Americans' oral history offers clues to a red-haired barbarian race of men
*These invaders were supposedly trapped in a cave where they were all killed off

'Archaeologists have long been baffled about claims that a long-lost group of giant humans who
stood up to 10 feet tall once lived in the southwestern US. Supersized human skulls, 15-inch sandals,
and massive handprints have been uncovered in excavations inside a cave in Lovelock, Nevada over
the last century, which have continued to spark the curiosity of scientists and the public.

The claims about these 'Giants of Lovelock' originated from Native Americans who told stories about
a brutal tribe of pale-skinned, red-haired invaders who waged war on the local groups, before finally
being trapped in a cave and exterminated.

According to archaeologists, the story is likely an exaggeration of the facts or even an outright fabrication
- but some of the pieces of evidence continue to encourage believers.While the first artifacts linked to the
Giants of Lovelock were uncovered in the early 1900s, stories about the giants continue to surface as
experts and average people hope to finally uncover the truth.

But it all started when a pair of miners first discovered the gigantic remains in 1911.
They were there searching for guano, the excrement of birds or bats, which has long been a valuable source
of fertilizer and an ingredient in gunpowder. But as they dug deep down into the guano, these prospectors
found more than they bargained for: more than 60 human skeletons.

And some of them were reportedly extraordinarily large - between seven and eight feet tall.
'One of his great finds was a skeleton, found about twenty miles southerly of Lovelock, Nevada, showing
that the body of which it was a framework, was exactly seven feet, seven inches tall,' according to the
1935 biography of John T. Reid, a mining engineer who worked in Lovelock. 'It is one of the 'giant men'
of an ancient race of which skeletons were unearthed in Central Nevada.'


(Top) Lovelock Cave. Remains of shoes were found during excavations.
(Bottom)Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins and her father Chief Poito Winnemucca of the Paiute tribe.

Many of these finds were as expected: baskets, duck calls, arrowheads, and ceremonial objects carved
into the shapes of animals. But there were also some extremely odd findings, including gigantic sandals
that appeared to have been worn. These shoes, about 15 inches long, would translate roughly to a US
size 29 shoe.

Radiocarbon dating later showed that human remains and plant material in the cave ranged from between
2030 BC and 1218 BC. Another odd find was a handprint seemingly etched into the stone that appeared
twice the size of an average human hand. Reports from these excavations seemed to grow the size of the
giants: As of 1931, they were reportedly 8.5 and 10 feet tall.

Remarkably, some of them had red hair, a stark contrast from the local Paiute tribe of Native Americans.
Though their existence may remain a mystery, the oral tradition may offer some clues. Paiute tribes native
to the area tell stories of a barbarian group called the Si-Te-Cah, a group that reportedly moved into the
area 3,000 years ago.

According to Paiute mythology, the Si-Te-Cah then began waging war on them and their neighbors - and
they also had red hair. Accounts from 16th-century Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León seemed
to corroborate the existence of a fierce and mysterious group of red-haired barbarians.

He picked up a story in Peru of a race of giant men who 'came by sea in rafts of reeds after the manner of
large boats; some of the men were so tall that from the knee down they were as big as the length of an
ordinary fair-sized man.' This story is consistent with the Peruvian natives who traversed Lake Titicaca in
woven-reed boats.

According to the Paiute legend, the tribes eventually banded together to fight the Si-Te-Cah. They chased
them into a cave, pelted them with arrows, and lit a fire at the mouth. Some of the invaders were killed by
arrows, some by fire, and some by asphyxiation from the smoke. All of the Si-Te-Cah were killed in that
skirmish, according to stories. And there is indeed archaeological evidence of a large blaze at the mouth
of the cave.

But some historians have different explanations for the evidence.
First of all, the 'giant' remains may have only been tall people, according to a University of Nevada study
that showed they were only about six feet tall - not eight or 10. A history book from Sarah Winnemucca
Hopkins, titled Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims does not make any mention of giants
- but it does make reference to barbarians.

And historians have pointed out that aging in dry, desert conditions can turn dark hair red, potentially
explaining the red-haired remains. Furthermore, historian Adrienne Mayor wrote in her book Fossil
Legends of the First Americans that local entrepreneurs may have simply exaggerated the size of
the human remains to drum up tourism in the region.

The history museum in Winnemucca, Nevada currently houses many of the artifacts found in Lovelock Cave.
A crowdfunding effort from 2014 to further investigate the caves only netted $10...'

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What if we are looking at everything bassakwards?


When we think about immortality, we always think about a body that does not age.  What if the body is the least important part of immortality? In fact, what if it has nothing to do with immortality at all.

Quote:New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought
by Alex Blasdel
Tue 2 Apr 2024 00.00 EDT
Last modified on Thu 4 Apr 2024 08.44 EDT
.....
Dying seemed like such an important area of research – we all do it, after all – that Borjigin assumed other scientists had already developed a thorough understanding of what happens to the brain in the process of death. But when she looked at the scientific literature, she found little enlightenment. “To die is such an essential part of life,” she told me recently. “But we knew almost nothing about the dying brain.”

I was awakened at four minutes after midnight this morning. All of the critters in my house were having meltdowns. They were barking, snarling, yelping, hissing, and trying to get out of the back door.

I did not dare allow them out without a lead, and I did not dare place them on leads and let them out. Not at their level of agitation. So I took out one on a leash,

Now there is something you should know about Huskies. Most important thing you should know, is that Huskies have an extremely strong prey drive. Prey drive simply means that they have an instinctive inclination to find, pursue, and capture prey. If it moves, they are at it like white on rice. Second thing is that they also have a strong instinctive inclination to pull. Pulling is bred into them.

So here I go, outside, with one Husky on a leash, status post a stroke, with iffy control of the right side of my body, in the pitch black of night, after midnight, I am convinced that the specialist and the tests are dead wrong when they say the stroke did no damage to my level of intelligence. But I had to see what the ruckus was about.

I took Tamar on the leash, because she is the meanest of the lot. Just in case. I also was wearing my headlamp. Tamar bolted out the door, but stopped cold  when I told her to settle, and meant it. I did not see anything and followed her in the direction she wanted to go in. Halfway to the wood line, I could see eye shine under the canopy down by the pond. I knew immediately that it was Sylvester. the Houdini of the Huskicats. Maxx is the Houdini of of the canines, He is so good, I think he has figured out how to use a lock and key,

Anyway, I called to Sylvester and he turned away and walked deeper in the canopy. Tamar was not too gun-ho to follow him, so I figured it was time to get Goliath. The biggest of the lot. He is all bulk and brawn, but not the brightest. By the time I got Tamar back to the house and got ready to go out with Goliath, all Hell broke lose.

My dogs and cats were making so much noise and were in such a frenzy, that I myself started to feel fear. They woke up my Mother, and that 90 year old came sprinting like she was 19, ready to scrap. I tried to get her to stay in the house while I went outside alone, but she was not having it. She insisted on watching my back.

Trying to get the crits to be quiet was impossible, so I went out alone. I didn't get far before I heard it. At first I thought it was a baby crying. But as it got closer, and it was getting closer, then I caught the eye shine. I knew what it was. Sylvester walking towards me with a bunny in his mouth, damn near as big as him. And it was screaming bloody murder.

Sylvester, walking like he is the bad ass, monster gangster, and completely ignoring my screams to let it go, brought that darn thing straight up to the step. Of course by this time you already know what is going on in my house. It sounded like the opening to the gateway to Hell behind me, and like a person fighting to get way from Hell's door in front of me.

I couldn't stand the sound of the bunny, so I left Sylvester with his prize and went in to take care of that Hell I had at the door, and to put my Mom back to bed. I was more than annoyed, and I think they all knew it. I screamed, I mean screamed, "Settle!" And suddenly, you could hear a pin drop. I said, "To bed with all of you!"

I did not hear a peep out of any of them until 8:30 this morning.

The dead bunny was not on the step this morning. It was further out in the yard, but still close enough that I could make out where it lay.

Of course none of them was interested in it anymore. A curiosity, but no noise or frenzy. Just another forgotten corpse leftover, after all the commotion is forgotten.

Just another tale from the woods.

Quote:Just Walked Away

Amazon is giving up with its unusual "Just Walk Out" technology, The Information reports, which allowed customers to simply put their shopping into their bags and leave the store without having to get in line at the checkout.

The tech, which was only available at half of the e-commerce giant's Amazon Fresh stores, used a host of cameras and sensors to track what shoppers left the store with. But instead of closing the technological loop with pure automation and AI, the company also had to rely on an army of over 1,000 workers in India, who were acting as remote cashiers.

In other words, Just Walk Out — a highly invasive marketing ploy to get more customers to shop at its stores while actively undercutting the local job market — will be missed by few.

Dystopian Retail

Instead of Just Walk Out, Amazon is now betting on scanners and screens embedded in the shopping cart called Dash Carts.

The tech they're replacing, however, was far more ambitious. In 2018, Amazon started rolling out its Just Walk Out system, which was meant to revolutionize the retail experience with AI, worldwide. Several other companies, including Walmart, followed suit by announcing similar cashier-less stores.

But over five years later, the system has seemingly become more of a burden. According to The Information, the tech was simply far too slow and too expensive to implement, with outsourced cashiers reportedly taking hours to send back data so customers could get their receipts.

Apart from relying on cheap, outsourced labor instead of paying fair wages locally, critics have also long questioned Amazon's practice of collecting a horde of sensitive data, including customers' in-store behavior, turning a quick visit to the store into a privacy nightmare.

Last year, the consumer advocacy group Surveillance Technology Oversight Project filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of failing to inform customers that it was secretly selling data to Starbucks for profit.

Despite its aggressive push into the retail market, Amazon's grocery store footprint in the US is still dwarfed by those of its competitors, including Walmart, Costco, and Kroger, as Gizmodo points out.

Whether Dash Carts will turn out to be any less invasive from a data privacy standpoint remains to be seen.