The mandela effect

 Is a new term that I am coming across with more frequency.

Some meme is making the rounds that the monopoly man didn't wear a monocle. AI is telling me that no. Never.

I played monopoly as a kid. I specifically remember that he did because I asked my dad how it stayed put as it was the first time that I'd seen one.

Lo and behold:

I don't really care that it was older games from the UK or a difference in printing or editions. It's a trivial question for trivia.

I do care that we are told not to trust our memories or senses. Chocolate that doesn't taste the same because the formula contains more sugar and chocolate flavor instead of cocoa is "nostalgia". 

It's a type of brainwashing. Around 2015 a meme about is the dress white and gold or blue and white made the rounds. Even the geeks offered explanations on color saturation and lighting. There were clearly two images.

People who are susceptible lie. A show which was restarted the xfiles, no longer held it's original charm, became very satirical, but had a very good episode called the lost art of forehead sweat. Here is a great summary 4 minutes where Dr. They explains this:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=z-EfEaFWh3w

It does matter.

Heat wave in Europe 26

 

Heat dome by NOAA

So there it is and I  told you so doesn't give me any satisfaction. This is the feedback loop that climate scientists predicted. Europe is stuck under the Omega dome/block with temperatures that were predicted to occur in 2050, then 2030 as it was happening faster than computer models calculated.

Four weeks at 35 to 42 Celsius in June is 15 degrees above normal.

The big gripe that I have with climate scientists is that while they predicted that this would happen their only solution is to get rid of dependency on oil and gas. Industries and economies don't work that way. Fossil fuels started this process but the methane released from glaciers and the arctic/antarctic is much worse than co2. Nor can certain factories get the energy they need from electricity or solar panels alone.

The middle east is a perfect example. The Saudis, Kuwait, Qatar and other oil rich exporters are able to maintain infrastructure that allows them to live and survive. They've regularly dealt with 40 Celsius (I'm using the scientific system) and can only do so because almost all homes have air-conditioning. This is an oversimplification as corruption plays a big role in the poverty of countries.

So. Who is any country to tell functional countries to stop their exports, roll over and die through climate change?

What stunned me the most is Europe's indifference toward its people and public health.

This isn't a problem of the poor and public health services should be geared toward keeping a population healthy.

Germanys major cities have one cooling center in the main library or airport. Berlin (Population 4 million). The rest are told to go to parks to cool off. Keep in mind that they enjoy living without air-conditioning in office buildings and at home.

Switzerland offered free movie theaters as cooling centers.

Paris well other than lots of fountains not much either.

Europe's railway is struggling because of the heat strain of the tracks.

Vs.

The Japanese. Cooling spots, cooling centers are everywhere and easily accessible. Many trains are so advanced they use magnets which aren't affected unless it goes above 80 Celsius.

The UK London opened all of its air-conditioned museums and galleries for free.

This climate change is here to stay. Too late to reverse it. What if anything is your municipality doing? What have you noticed about the weather?

The Mandalorian and my father

 There's that moment before being pulled into consciousness where I am the most content. Where the anticipation of a new day makes one want to wake up to enjoy the first small pleasure a good coffee and breakfast.

It was in that quiet space that I'd thought of a way to solve a stressful problem. Need to call dad, run it by him I thought. In that quiet space this was reality, I was about to reach for the phone. Pain.

I can't call and ask because he's gone. My advisor is gone. There's a hole that will never be filled by anyone; the combination of a person who I trust implicitly as well as a problem solver with the knowledge and experience that I needed. That's reality. I'm awake. I sat on the edge of the bed, thinking who will I call about this particular issue? Pain was replaced by numbness and I didn't feel like getting up any longer.

Since my father and what was done to him, I've changed and not for the better. There's a sense of pointlessness. At a certain age one becomes disposable. Less than human to others.

I'm not a devoted star wars fan, but while looking through movies I came across the mandolorian/ grogu. It's made for kids, charming and cool at the same time. I liked the combination of puppetry and cgi. I watched a few episodes a father and child team, each with their own abilities. "First the old help the young, then the young help the old. That is the way."

For a brief moment in time, fantasy fixed my reality. I fell asleep again, feeling better when I woke.

That is the way.

Disclosure Day movie review Whatever happened to empathy?

 This contains spoilers.

Disclosure Day is underwhelming and remarkably bad for a Spielberg movie and yet thought-provoking if one takes Spielbergs life into account.

It feels like a small budget movie. The film feels off and subdued. The CGI is remarkably bad and awkward. Unless it's deliberate.

Spielberg is a humanist. Founder of the Shoah project. Many of his movies, even the blockbusters, have a "what have we done" theme to it. Amistad which he produced dealt with slavery. Many of his movies deal with exceptional evil that humans commit. Given the complexity of Schindler list, minority report, ready player one, not to mention his movies that dealt with the cold war and other historical pieces, disclosure day was too simple and almost condescending. 

Spielberg wrote it in 2023. Two wars had broken out. Again. His frustration with the human species is palpable. He even stated that it's not about aliens but what we do to eachother. "Whatever happened to empathy?" was a sentence he uttered about this movie. 

We watch a highly empathetic telepathic species arrive the first time in 1947. A significant year. The war had ended, the cold war had started. And what do humans do? Mistreat an alien species, steal their technology instead of listening to their message: "Lack of empathy leads to extinction." They are so benevolent and empathetic that they keep showing up to warn humanity. Almost as if Spielberg is saying, I'll make the message so simple maybe we finally get it. Communicate before heading into war. His disdain is shown when people are sitting without emotions watching on smartphones.

Even religion is briefly dealt with. Do sentient beings exist elsewhere? Obviously. They're not supreme beings to be worshipped, but God gave us Earth and populated the rest of the universe. Simple explanation given to movie goers by a nun.

Here's Spielbergs brief commentary

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZiDD0bjziS/

The movie feels like part memoir part rant of a person who tried to make this world a better place through his craft and watches it undo everything we've accomplished. There's a reason that the dialogue and people (especially Wardex) are incredibly stupid, because at the moment we kind of are.

Note: I have mentioned before that while I personally believe that there are other civilizations out there, it would be arrogant to think we're it, I do not think we've ever been visited. Roswell was a known military experimental aviation site, which even developed a failed aircraft that was a flying saucer-a round hovercraft. Some of the stealth bombers were developed there. Many ufo sightings by pilots were just an optical phenomenon called "glory" or pilots glory. (Looks like a circle flying along side the plane)

Quoth the Raven...

 Babababababaaa

https://youtube.com/shorts/JwQWzYDezZg

Yes. Been watching videos on Ravens and bumblebees solving puzzles.

Who knew?

Tech future?

 The other day I watched a dumb scifi movie in which the final scene is a monster that roars up. What wasn't clear is whether it had snatched up a spacecraft which would have made it gimmicky. Spouse and I could not see the ship.

I'm not mentioning the title so as not to spoil it for those who might watch it. It had a very interesting figure out what was going on with the paradox of time travel aspect to it.

I googled the question. Did the monster swallow the ship? The response was yes with a lengthy explanation. Then I looked at some discussion groups that were human. No it had not. I looked it up on wiki. Also no. Then I tried AI again. This time a completely different answer and summary, mirroring what I'd just been looking at. AI gave me a no this time.

This is but a small example of something irrelevant but the amount of misinformation in important matters is much worse. LLM has not been programmed to distinguish fact from personal opinion from marketing. Especially in science.

In addition I came across a quote:

First we steal your creative endeavors and your intellectual property. Then we sell it back to you at a price.

Here's a good article:

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/ai-costs-how-much-github-copilot-users-react-to-new-usage-based-pricing-system/

Hollywood has already fought for this a few years back, but I've been watching videos where it's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish real from fake. A cat doing unusual things is amazing, an AI doing the same is just a cartoon.

I came across an article by an environmental group that claimed that digital technology is doing more environmental damage in a shorter period of time than fossil fuels.

Either way. Most people dont appear to be taking this problem seriously.

Exceptional human talent

 I came across a video that I initially watched for the Japanese dance team that has evolved hip hop dancing to the next level. They are incredible. Since the video is short it took me a while to realize that the music is created with two human voices: Dharni a Grandmaster beatboxer and his wife a singer.

There is no enhancement of any kind. At most he uses a cup and straw.

Group: Avantgardey

Dharni and Mamiko

https://youtube.com/shorts/C5SVQuVMTME

The collaboration is incredible. Dharni has expanded his repertoire does a lot of cover songs from EDM to old pop songs using anything from beatboxing, throat singing to imitating sounds.

I'll add more as I come across them, I'm astonished that no instruments other than human voice is being used.

Beatboxing has its roots in rap and carried the idea of battling eachother into the genre

 Unlike rap, the competitors impress eachother with the sounds they can produce. There is little animosity, the message when they do use lyrics is much more positive.