Solar Eclipse and an Ancient American City

We're on the road today, headed to Southern Illinois to see the solar eclipse on Monday (provided it doesn't rain and isn't cloudy). While we're there we're going to visit Cahokia, a large city from a thousand to 500 years ago. So the news round up today won't include the most recent of events.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Introductory video for the Cahokia Mounds State Historic and World Heritage Site. The site preserves the largest prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico and the largest prehistoric earthen mound in the Americas. (14 min)

Native American (Navajo) Beliefs About The Eclipse (10 min)

In our traditional ways the eclipse is a very reverent time. A time for reflection, rebirth, new life and new understanding. An eclipse is called the Death of The Sun. During this time traditionally people would sit indoors and refrain from eating and drinking. Some would pray or sing songs.
Traditionally our people would not look at the eclipse. They were told they could get sick or go blind. Nowadays people look and celebrate. While our diné don't expect people to observe the same traditions it would still be a good time to be reverent and focus on a rebirth and new life.

Eclipses and planetary transits across the sun have provided much of the evidence used to support our theory of the solar system.
How Eclipses Revealed Our Solar System
(16 min)

The moon is slowly drifting away from Earth. At some point in the future it will appear smaller, and will not be able to totally block the sun.

I'll report back next week on how well we were able to observe the last US solar eclipse till 2045.

The awful shadow of some unseen Power
Floats tho’ unseen amongst us, -visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing
As summer winds that creep from flower to flower.-
Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,
It visits with inconstant glance
Each human heart and countenance;
Like hues and harmonies of evening,-
Like clouds in starlight widely spread,-
Like memory of music fled,-
Like aught that for its grace may be
Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery.

Shelley, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty

What about some News?
It has been interesting how the murder of white relief workers serving Palestinians food has captured peoples' (MSM) attention while virtually ignoring the bombing of Iran's embassy in Damascus this week (as well as the slaughter of 30,000+ Palestinians). Brown people must not be of concern. On the Duran on Tuesday, they conclude with an interesting statement... "We own the media, so we control the reality". I like Chas Freeman's comment, "When they inhale their own propaganda, they become deluded." I think Blinky's statement "Ukraine WILL join NATO" is an excellent example of such a delusion.
US and Allies Understand Ukraine Will Never Join NATO
This week marks the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding in April 1949. The organization has become a global danger to peace and security and should have been disbanded more than 30 years ago when the Cold War supposedly ended. That the alliance was not disbanded attests that its real purpose was always to serve as a weapon for U.S.-led Western imperialism.
NATO has been sold to the world as some kind of international security agency. How Orwellian can you get? Peace means war, security means chaos and threats, and rules-based order means domination and exploitation.

The “Order” Based On Made-up Rules Is Descending Into Savagery (Pepe Escobar)

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese correctly summed it all up: the biblical psychopathology entity “intentionally killed the WCK workers so that donors would pull out and civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly. Israel knows Western countries and most Arab countries won’t move a finger for the Palestinians.” The “logic” behind the deliberate three tap strike on the clearly signed humanitarian convoy of famine-alleviating workers in Gaza was to eviscerate from the news an even more horrendous episode: the genocide-within-a-genocide of al-Shifa hospital, responsible for at least 30% of all health services in Gaza. Al-Shifa was bombed, incinerated and had over 400 civilians killed in cold blood, in several cases literally smashed by bulldozers, including medical doctors, patients and dozens of children.

Nearly simultaneously, the biblical psychopathology gang completely eviscerated the Vienna convention – something that even the historical Nazis never did – striking Iran’s consular mission/ambassador’s residence in Damascus. This was a missile attack on a diplomatic mission, enjoying immunity, on the territory of a third country, against which the gang is not at war. And on top of it, killing General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, his deputy Mohammad Hadi Hajizadeh, another five officers, and a total of 10 people. Translation: an act of terror, against two sovereign states, Syria and Iran. Equivalent to the recent terror attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow. The inevitable question rings around all corners of the lands of the Global Majority: how can these de facto terrorists possibly get away with all this, over and over again?

Pepe is one of the best geopolitical analyst around.

Sachs: Israel is a rogue state that believes it can act with impunity. Israel murders thousands, starving more than a million people, children are dying of emaciation and starvation, and we have an apology from Israel for killing 7 white people. Israelis don’t count Palestinians as human beings suffering. Western politicians are fundamentally dishonest and maybe instinctually racist. They count the one life of their citizen as an overwhelming deal that requires an investigation and otherwise sit back as a mass genocide takes place before our eyes. Why are we unable to have politicians who will tell the truth about the most basic facts before our eyes.

(17 min) Will Iran respond directly to the embassy slaughter in Damascus? A direct response can be made indirectly, points out analyst Pepe Escobar

Another interesting discussion occurred between John Mearsheimer and the Judge focusing on China's containment toward the end of the clip.

(35 min) The respectful disagreement occurs in the last 10 minutes or so.

Jeffery Sachs mentions his disagreement with John on the same topic in an interview on Useful idiots. (about 40 min)

Jeffery was also on the Duran this week.

The niavety that the US could contain China is absurd to my mind.

(8 min) TABLES TURNED: Yellen Is Back To China As the US Feels Threatened by China's Manufacturers

INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: Is/Was WWIII Pre-Planned?

(26 min)

Government over reach is common on many levels

Power of the State (15 min)

They’re still claiming the Covid vax is safe and effective. Yet somehow Dr. Pierre Kory treats hundreds of patients who’ve been badly injured by it. Why is no one in the public health establishment paying attention? Interview with Tucker (49 min).

It is quite the system that provides foods that make people sick and then sells them drugs for the chronic diseases caused by their food. Many big food industries also manufacture drugs.

(28 min)

There is another approach...

Can Eating Meat Save our Planet? - The story of Will Harris | The Rebel Cowboy (28 min)

And one more just for fun...
"Know where your beef comes from, know where your pork comes from, know where your lamb comes from... it's just important." - Jim Smith of Smithview Farm in Pittsboro North Carolina discusses sensitive issues facing the farming community today while taking you deep into the world of grass fed, grass finished beef production.

0:00 Smithview Farm Pittsboro NC
1:17 Family-owned farm specializing in pure Angus grass-fed beef, emphasizing taste and tenderness, overcoming challenges to revitalize the farm.
1:40 Why Angus Beef better?
2:47 American Grassfed Association Standards
4:09 How to build a cattle ranch.
5:59 Improving farm genetics and infrastructure for high-quality beef production.
6:25 Upgrade farm infrastructure and build a herd with good genetics
8:02 Soil health and pasture care for cattle.
10:20 Rotational Grazing Cattle.
10:57 Optimal grazing practices for pasture management to promote regrowth and soil health.
11:29 Grazing philosophy of grazing half and leaving half to maintain pasture height for faster regrowth.
11:55 Importance of grazing pastures at optimal height to avoid issues like water runoff and poor soil health.
12:22 Grass Fed vs Grass Finished Beef
14:24 How to finish cattle on grass year round
15:43 Optimizing pasture management for cows in the summer to regulate rumen temperature.
17:16 Utilizing annual forages like millet and mung beans for summer grazing.
20:00 How farmers can work together.
21:31 Consistent philosophy on good soil health is crucial for successful farming practices
22:01 Timeliness in planting grass and legumes according to recommended times is key for optimal growth
23:14 Cattle Herd Health Management
25:56 Optimizing cattle management through computerized data collection for stress-free handling and monitoring.
26:30 Taking a cattle to the meat processor.
27:11 Regular interaction with the herd creates a stress-free environment, leading to easier handling during market transfers.
28:28 Close observation during the finishing process ensures cattle meet quality standards before market transfer.
30:38 Educating the Public on Farming
31:31 Local farms prioritize good soil for quality beef, contrasting with misleading labeling of imported meat.
32:04 Know where your food comes from
32:25 Misleading labeling of imported meat as product of the USA is prevalent.
33:12 The Average Age of a Farmer in United States

Cahokia represents a major agricultural society. Corn was the primary crop...easy to trade. I was trained as an agronomist to grow corn, soybeans, etc. on an industrial level much as Will Harris describes. I've featured this clip several times because it is insightful to me...looking at human health as hunter gathers vs farmers.

There's another ancient site in Louisiana, Poverty Point, that is on our list. It is an older hunter gather site on the Mississippi. Shell middens are common at ancient sites. Shell fish are very healthy for humans. We have lost more knowledge than we currently have.

I don't know if we'll have internet access, but if we do I'll check in later. In the meantime, have a great conversation! Thanks for coming by and reading.