Do Psychic Abilities run in families? Are they hardwired in the DNA?

As some of you know, I have an interest in genetic studies, perhaps a morbid interest in them. I ran across this notion in my travels on the Internet, and would like to present it here. The basic question is: do psychic abilities actually run in families? Are they hard-wired in the DNA, and if so, is there evidence for that?

It turns out that the answer to both questions may well be “yes”.

A recent (March 2021) study set out to gather evidence related to those questions. They gathered up a bunch of people, and winnowed them down to just 26 individuals – 13 who believed themselves to have psychic abilities, and 13 who did not – as a “control” group. What did they find?

Quote:Sequencing data were obtained for all samples, except for one in the control group that did not pass the quality controls and was not included in further analyses. After unblinding the datasets, none of the protein-coding sequences (i.e., exons) showed any variation that discriminated between cases and controls. However, a difference was observed in the intron (i.e., non-protein-coding region) adjacent to an exon in the TNRC18 gene (Trinucleotide Repeat-Containing Gene 18 Protein) on chromosome 7. This variation, an alteration of GG to GA, was found in 7 of 9 controls and was absent from all psychic cases.

According to British Film Institute.




The best Blu-rays of 2023

Quote:The best video essays of 2023

Now in its seventh annual edition, the Sight and Sound poll for the best video essays of the year surveys the online sphere, film festivals and audiovisual research in almost equal measure. Its primary purposes are to mark notable works and keep track of the various schools of thought concerning what video essays can or should be, and how they can communicate to a range of audiences.

The poll was conducted with the assistance of 48 voters from 17 countries, including academics, critics, online creators and festival curators. Together, their 260 nominations include 181 distinct titles. Given the scope and abundance of recent video essays, even an extensive poll can only provide a cross-section of the topics, forms and rhetoric of their contemporary practice – a limitation many voters noted in their submissions.

Of the nominated works, 47% were created by male video essayists, 39% by female, with several from non-binary creators and mixed teams. Around two-thirds feature voiceover, with the majority presented in English, although 14 languages feature in the overall poll.

The nominations saw a relatively equal split between essays created for YouTube and those created for academic research, with 50 YouTube and 47 academic videos (or entire series). Publicly available videos’ viewership varies broadly, from 9.5 million views (for MyHouse.wad) [Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod] to the low double digits; participants were keen to highlight new and underseen works as well as celebrating the achievements of established creators. Festival films or installation pieces also proved popular, with 53 arthouse shorts, features and documentaries nominated. Also present, although in a smaller proportion, were self-published Vimeo works or collaborative projects unaffiliated with a specific institution. However, within the yearly S&S poll for video essays, there seems to be a slight decline both in independently produced and published Vimeo content, and in video output by cinephile magazines, while the academic sector is slowly but constantly expanding.

The average runtime was 27 minutes, with most around the 15 minute mark – although a few marathon nominations like Will DiGravio’s Against Polish and Adam Curtis’ TraumaZone (three and seven hours respectively) stick out. Three videos were one minute long or shorter.

.....

As with all other areas of discourse this year, AI featured in multiple videos, usually more as a thematic concern than as a videographic tool (although text-to-speech and some generative techniques feature in the list). Futurism more generally, whether dystopian or utopian, was a common theme in the YouTube nominations.

Interrogation of the video essay form itself continues to stimulate discussion within the field, including the drawing to a close of Johannes Binotto’s popular Practices of Viewing series. While this self-reflexivity was first noted in the 2021 poll, it was seen more on YouTube in 2023, with videos ranging from assessing the state of the video essay landscape to dispensing advice about how to be a successful video essayist. Harris Michael Brewis, better known as hbomberguy, released a nearly four-hour exposé of plagiarism on YouTube with a particular focus on video essays. The video passed two million views within 24 hours of its publication.

Quote:Independent streaming service Nebula has continued to grow its base of creators, many of whom are video essayists. Out of 50 unique YouTube videos, seven were also published on Nebula. Three of these were directly cross-posted, another three were Nebula First (published earlier than YouTube), and one nomination – We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot by Big Joel – was a Nebula Plus video, meaning it includes extra content beyond what is available on YouTube. Lily Alexandre’s Nebula-first essay Everything Is Sludge: Art in the Post-Human Era received three nods, bringing the total number of Nebula nominations up to nine.

Billed as a creator-first streaming service, Nebula aims to give its creators the freedom that they cannot find on YouTube. Many video essayists have joined Nebula after finding their work coming up against YouTube’s advertiser-friendly guidelines, restricting the discussion of mature topics. In February 2023, Maggie Mae Fish launched her series Unrated exploring sexuality in film, and Broey Deschanel followed suit in November with the Taboo on Screen series. There’s an oft-noted divide between ‘Vimeo-style’ essays – with their more academic leaning and longer clip length – and YouTube essays – with their quick cuts and careful stepping around automatic copyright claims. This gap may be quickly closing, although whether a Nebula style will arise remains to be seen.

...

Nostalgia and memory, pop culture and cinephilia – sometimes mixed together – loom large in this year’s list, due in part to some popular academic series including Indy Vinyl for the Masses (curated by Ian Garwood) and the Screen Stars Dictionary (curated by Tecmerin and Ariel Avissar). Gender as spectacle makes its appearance in several videos, from the mainstream end of the spectrum (max teeth’s The Man/Car Gender Binary in John Carpenter’s Christine) to critical discussions of star personae, cinema’s archetypal female protagonists as well as filmmaking/media practices (Morgane Frund’s short films, among other titles), to direct references to Laura Mulvey and Judith Butler at the other end.

As with all other areas of discourse this year, AI featured in multiple videos, usually more as a thematic concern than as a videographic tool (although text-to-speech and some generative techniques feature in the list). Futurism more generally, whether dystopian or utopian, was a common theme in the YouTube nominations.

Of all the bluster and ear splitting tirades Alex nailed some predictions

A work of fiction especially when it comes to Texas and California siding together IMO.

I have followed the investigations of The Shroud Of Turin about as long as I have researched UFOs.

What I find most fascinating are the aspects of how the image was made.

The 1988 carbon dating tests have come under fire in recent times for several reasons but primarily for the sections of cloth that were chosen for testing.

The most interesting findings for me are the ones that have been done since the advent of computers.

- If you subject a 2D image to 3D software, the result is trash. However if you subject an image that is 3D based you of course get excellent results.

Researchers were astounded to discover that The Shroud image gave excellent results to 3D software. 

To date no one has been able to find how the image was imprinted on the linen.

Since the provenance of the Shroud can be traced back to at least medieval times we must consider the technology available at the time for forgers to attempt such a task.

The image does not consist of paint and only exists on the surface of the linen and does not penetrate all the way through.

Many ways of creating this image has been tried by many people in recent years and all have failed except one. -

UV light has produced very similar results.And not just an afternoon at the beach with no sunscreen.

We are talking a HUGE sudden blast of UV.

Now WHO in medieval times would have access to tech that would allow them to imprint linen with a huge blast of UV on the surface only with with a 3D digital software ready image?  

Start at 4:05 for 3D software comparisons -

 


For UV imprinting info start at 17:08 -



So the main question as I mentioned is - WHO the heck had these 2 types of tech available at hand so many ages ago to imprint this image in such a manner?

This is a video that all who believe what they hear and read on network T.V. and mainstream news papers... If already posted then watch it again as you will not be disappointed if you want a little history and truth.

The open border has to be planned as no one could be this stupid.
Fox News contributor Tom Homan joined ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss the U.S. border crisis following an incident where 10 IEDs were found during a cartel gunfight. #foxnews

Another poor excuse for a citizen .
Much of what is wrong in today's world IMO is due to a lack of honor

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/12/15/...r-4-years/

Quote:Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent Charles McGonigal has been sentenced to over four years in prison. The U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said he had been supplying information to a Russian oligarch.
McGonigal, 55, was handed a 50-month jail term for his interactions with Oleg Deripaska in 2021. As part of a plea agreement, McGonigal acknowledged he received $17,500 from Deripaska.

The FBI “spy tracker” is perhaps best known for his work in helping launch the Russia hoax against President Donald Trump. McGonigal was responsible for much of the early work that led to the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said McGonigal “violated the trust his country placed in him by using his high-level position at the FBI to prepare for his future in business.”
“Once he left public service, he jeopardized our national security,” Williams added.
McGonigal said he was “deeply remorseful”. He added that he took “full responsibility” and claimed he “never intended to hurt the U.S., FBI, or my family.”