@ezralevant: RT @LadPolitics: Some 2020 political odds. 1/5 Sadiq Khan re-elected 10/11 Donald Trump re-elected 5/1 Scottish Independence Referendum held 6/1 Trump removed from office via Impeachment or resignation 20/1 UK general election held
ezralevant - January 13, 2020 at 05:32AM RT @LadPolitics: Some 2020 political odds. 1/5 Sadiq Khan re-elected 10/11 Donald Trump re-elected 5/1 Scottish Independence Referendum held 6/1 Trump removed from office via Impeachment or resignation 20/1 UK general election held http://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1216714690757308417
@ezralevant: RT @LadPolitics: Some 2020 political odds. 1/5 Sadiq Khan re-elected 10/11 Donald Trump re-elected 5/1 Scottish Independence Referendum held 6/1 Trump removed from office via Impeachment or resignation 20/1 UK general election held
Megathread: Attorney General Barr: No Widespread Election Fraud
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. His comments come despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen, and his refusal to concede his loss to President-Elect Joe Biden. In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said U.S. Attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but they’ve uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.
Megathread: Long-Concealed Records Show President Trump’s Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance | Part II
President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, the New York Times reported Sunday, citing tax-return data. Megathread Part I
Flatten the Curve. Part 84. Who are the What If Men. What is the People Machine? They Have Been Manipulating Society Using Simulations for a Long Time. The Worst is Yet to Come.
Previous Post Here Rock the vote! Power to the people! Get out and vote. Every vote counts. And the beat goes on. And on. And on. And on. And we buy it. Hook. Line. And sinker. Don't we? But, we live in a democracy! Yep. Sure do. We vote and then they do whatever they have planned. Seriously. Guantanamo Bay? Still there. Rich getting richer? Still happening. Gain of function testing on viruses? Still happening. Nafta? Who actually voted? No. One. Big bank bailouts? No choice. Get it? The illusion of choice is all it takes to pacify the masses. That's it. Our votes are the placebo effect. Do some of us notice? Yes. A few. For all the good that does us. So why are they able to get away with it? Surely at some point we would have noticed. Well we did notice, and they adjusted, and we're still living with the consequences. When did we notice? The Vietnam War. All the pictures of body bags and all the reports of the horrors of war were too much. We questioned why? The answer wasn't good enough. An economic system. Sure they tried to convince us back then that it was because human rights and liberty. Ok. Then we fast forward to present day and we trade with Vietnam. But nobody says, HEY! AREN'T THEY EVIL COMMUNISTS! No. One. Why? Because those in charge learned. All the images of war changed. Now we only see video game targets on screen. Now we only hear of all the amazing technology making war so advanced! War has become a Walt Disney production. Sanitized for the masses. How did they do it? How? Simple. They know in advance what stimulus will have the greatest effect on us, and what effect that stimulus will be. How? Simulations. And it's been going on for a very long time.
Simulations and Scenarios
In this scenario, we don’t want to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but make them more ‘Pied Piper’ candidates who actually represent the mainstream of the Republican Party,” read the memo. “Pied Piper candidates include, but aren’t limited to: • Ted Cruz. • Donald Trump. • Ben Carson. We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to [take] them seriously."
Oh. Ok. So Crooked Hillary's team wanted to pump up Trump. Let me say that again, Pump Up Trump (sounds like a new sex toy, doesn't it? I'll get my people to call your people and lets make this happen. It'll be huge and people will love getting screwed by it!). And then it gets worse.
“Just like everybody, I thought this was a Bush against a Clinton, that’s all it was going to be,” said former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. “When I saw the first set of debates, I would turn them on in an entertainment mode to see what Donald’s going to say today. It was funny." Source Here
Trump is funny. Ha. Ha. Ha. Let's get in some of that new Reality TV show called The Political Apprentice. Right. So is Trump a part of something nefarious? Or is he fighting the Deep State? But what if the answer is more complicated than that? What if all the peices are moved, including President's, on purpose, and with a plan? Crazy? Surely that's just plain nonsense and there's no way that could happen, right? Well, let me show you some additional things before the Internet of Things is in everything and we can't do anything.
They Pick, You Vote, Don't Matter. They Already Know.
What? Preposterous you say? Let's travel back to JFK and the People Machine.
Consider the strange trajectory of the Simulmatics Corporation, founded in New York City in 1959. (Simulmatics, a mash-up of ‘simulation’ and ‘automatic’, meant then what ‘artificial intelligence (AI)’ means now.) Its controversial work included simulating elections — just like that allegedly ‘pioneered’ by the now-defunct UK firm Cambridge Analytica on behalf of UK Brexit campaigners in 2015 and during Donald Trump’s US presidential election campaign in 2016. Journalists accused Trump’s fixers of using a “weaponized AI propaganda machine” capable of “nearly impenetrable voter manipulation”. New? Hardly. Simulmatics invented that in 1959. They called it the People Machine. As an American historian with an interest in politics, law and technology, I came across the story of the Simulmatics Corporation five years ago when researching an article about the polling industry. Polling was, and remains, in disarray. Now, it’s being supplanted by data science: why bother telephoning someone to ask her opinion when you can find out by tracking her online? Wondering where this began took me to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, to the unpublished papers of political scientist Ithiel de Sola Pool. Simulmatics, hired first by the US Democratic Party’s National Committee in 1959 and then by the John F. Kennedy campaign in 1960, pioneered the use of computer simulation, pattern detection and prediction in American political campaigning. The company gathered opinion-poll data from the archives of pollsters George Gallup and Elmo Roper to create a model of the US electorate.
Lasswell, whose research on communication purported to explain how ideas get into people’s heads: in short, who says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect? During the Second World War, Lasswell studied the Nazis’ use of propaganda and psychological warfare. When those terms became unpalatable after the war ended, the field got a new name — mass-communications research. Same wine, new bottle. Like Silicon Valley itself, Simulmatics was an artefact of the cold war. It was an age obsessed with prediction, as historian Jenny Andersson showed in her brilliant 2018 book, The Future of the World. At MIT, Pool also proposed and headed Project ComCom (short for Communist Communications), funded by the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Its aim, in modern terms, was to try to detect Russian hacking — “to know how leaks, rumors, and intentional disclosures spread” as Pool described it.
Isn't that odd? Computers making predictions back in 1960. Computers analyzing human behavior in order to predict human behaviours and control the election outcome. And the scientist who it all started with came from MIT. And we wonder how all that Jeffrey Epstein money was spent.
The press called Simulmatics scientists the “What-If Men”, because their work — programming an IBM 704 — was based on endless what-if simulations. The IBM 704 was billed as the first mass-produced computer capable of doing complex mathematics. Today, this kind of work is much vaunted and lavishly funded. The 2018 Encyclopedia of Database Systems describes ‘what-if analysis’ as “a data-intensive simulation”. It refers to it as “a relatively recent discipline”. Not so. Buoyed by the buzz of Kennedy’s election, Simulmatics began an advertising blitz. Its 1961 initial stock offering set out how the company would turn prediction into profit — by gathering massive data, constructing mathematical models of behavioural processes, and using them to simulate “probable group behaviour”.
Do you really think these What-If Men are done and gone, set out to pasture like the cattle they manipulate? Really? Seriously. No. Obviously not. Or there wouldn't be such a fuss about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Same Crap. Different Flies. Only know there are more flies and the crap pile is bigger.
In 1963, on behalf of the Kennedy administration, Simulmatics simulated the entire economy of Venezuela, with an eye to halting the advance of socialism and communism. A larger project to undertake such work throughout Latin America, mostly designed by Pool and known as Project Camelot (Project Camelot, where have I heard that before?), became so controversial that the next president, Lyndon B. Johnson, dismantled it (sure he did). After 1965, Simulmatics conducted psychological research in Vietnam as part of a bigger project to use computers to predict revolutions. Much of this work built on earlier research by Lasswell and Pool, identifying and counting keywords, such as ‘nationalism’, in foreign-language newspapers that might indicate the likelihood of coups. Such topic-spotting is the precursor to Google Trends. Before his early death in 1984, Pool was also a key force behind the founding of the most direct descendant of Simulmatics, the MIT Media Lab. Pool’s work underlies the rules — or lack of them — that prevail on the Internet. Pool also founded the study of “social networks” (a term he coined); without it, there would be no Facebook. Pool’s experiences with student unrest at MIT — and especially with the protests against Simulmatics — informed his views on technological change and ethics. Look forward. Never look back. Source Here
Unrest and protest at MIT against Simulmatics. I guess you could call it Rage Against the Machine. Maybe we should ask Jeffery Epstein if that's a good name? He did invest a lot of money into the MIT Media lab, after all. Surely he has an opinion on it. Too bad he killed himself. Snicker. Look forward. Never back. That sounds suspiciously like a No Regrets policy, doesn't it? The ends justify the means. Let's hurry up and get those vaccines out. We can test for them along the way. It's all good.
Decades before Facebook and Google and Cambridge Analytica and every app on your phone, Simulmatics’ founders thought of it all: they had the idea that, if they could collect enough data about enough people and write enough good code, everything, one day, might be predicted—every human mind simulated and then directed by targeted messages as unerring as missiles. For its first mission, Simulmatics aimed to win the White House back for the Democratic Party. The University of California political theorist Eugene Burdick had worked for Greenfield in 1956, but decided not to join Simulmatics. Instead, he wrote a novel about it. In “The 480,” a political thriller published in 1964, a barely disguised “Simulations Enterprises” meddles with a U.S. Presidential election. “This may or may not result in evil,” Burdick warned. “Certainly it will result in the end of politics as Americans have known it.” That same year, in “Simulacron-3,” a science-fiction novel set in the year 2034, specialists in the field of “simulectronics” build a People Machine—“a total environment simulator”—only to discover that they themselves don’t exist and are, instead, merely the ethereal, Escherian inventions of yet another People Machine. After that, Simulmatics lived on in fiction and film, an anonymous avatar. In 1973, the German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder adapted “Simulacron-3” into “World on a Wire,” a forerunner of the 1999 film “The Matrix,” in which all of humanity lives in a simulation, trapped, deluded, and dehumanized.
The Matrix? A people machine. A Total Environment Simulator. Yikes. That sounds extremely far fetched, doesn't it. Trapped. Deluded. And. Drumroll please. Dehumanized.
In 1967 and 1968, at home, Simulmatics attempted to build a race-riot-prediction machine. In 1969, after antiwar demonstrators called Pool a war criminal, the People Machine crashed; in 1970, the company filed for bankruptcy. (Most of its records were destroyed; I stumbled across what remains, in Pool’s papers, at M.I.T.) Source Here
A race riot machine that apparently failed? And look what happened nine months ago? Coincidence? Foreign power information warfare? AI training wheels? Kinda scary, ain't it? And guess what? We're not done yet.
Ithiel de Sola Pool
So the Simulmatics Corporation was responsible for this;
Sept 17, 2020 • In 1960, media reports of dark forces behind John F Kennedy’s winning presidential campaign caused what Jill Lepore calls a “national hullabaloo”. America’s new leader, it was widely reported, had clinched the victory with the help of a “secret weapon”: a super computer that crunched troves of data to profile voters, allowing Kennedy to better target his political messaging before the polls opened.
And now let's look deeper at somebody who worked at the Simulmatics Corporation, Ithiel de Sola Pool.
For all of Simulmatics’ efforts at automating prediction, it is company executive Ithiel de Sola Pool, an MIT academic with a focus on social networks, who in Lepore’s telling proves to be the most accurate prediction machine — foreseeing the “data-mad and near-totalitarian twenty-first century” that he was instrumental in helping to create. “In the coming atomised society, the information the citizen gets will arise from his own specific concerns,” he wrote in 1968, predicting a communications revolution, “customised news feeds” and the dismantling of party politics for a “politics of self, every citizen a party of one”. Source Here
That's extremely prescient. Did he predict the future or make it? What came first, the chicken or the egg? Don't matter. Don't care. Not at all. Because the end result is the same, So what more can we find out about de Sola Pool? How about the fact that he studied Nazis and Communists? Heck, he studied totalitarianist speeches to figure out how words could carry power and influence. Over us. Overload us. But how unethical was Pool? Well, the guy who risked everything to bring us the Pentagon Papers (the papers that proved the Gulf of Tomkins incident was a false flag) thought this: Daniel Ellsberg would later say of Pool, “I thought of him as the most corrupt social scientist I had ever met, without question.” Not cool. Definitely. Not. Cool. Because if you naively believe that Pool’s research isn't being used by the Technocrats today, then more power to you. Believe what you want. Or should I say, believe what they want. And who are "they"? They are the Rockefeller's and Rothschilds, the Technocrats, the World Economic Forum, the Bilderberg Group, CIA, NSA, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Speaking of which.
At that point in his (Pool’s) career, he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, advising several countries around the world. Pool felt that the world was underestimating the importance of communications and technical change. Source Here
Oops. Pool was a member of the CFR advising several countries around the world. Ok. Next step.
2004 • The transformation of the United States into a power able and willing to take a leading role in world affairs was not achieved solely through policy changes in Washington, DC, let alone simply by changes in the structure of world power. This chapter examines the vital role of the CFR in transforming American public opinion from ‘isolationist’ to ‘globalist’ as an important aspect of America’s rise to globalism. In this regard, the Council focused its energies to undermine and marginalise isolationism while promoting its own internationalist views as the best means to achieve the American national interest. Source Here
So if a bunch of unelected officials are officially changing policy, why do you vote? Rock the vote? Don't make me laugh. More like Don't Rock the Boat. They started running simulations back in the sixties. Remember, Nixon was the odds on favorite to win. Kennedy was a long shot. And then, Kennedy was the President. Nixon probably wasn't happy. After all, he was part of the power structure. He went to Bohemian Grove. And then he had the rug pulled out from underneath him. And what did he end of calling Bohemian Grove attendees? A bunch of fags. Oops. Who pissed in his cornflakes? They run simulations. Then they have different scenarios that dictate policy. Then they use the CFR, the WEF, the Rockefeller Group, and other NGO'S to adapt and shape future policy decisions to steer society. Heck. They probably even use the Mickey Mouse Club at this point.
November 21, 1971 • Of the first 82 names on a list prepared to help President Kennedy staff his State Department, 63 were Council members. Kennedy once com plained, “I'd like to have some new faces here, but all I get is the same old names.” Source Here
So a "People Machine" helped get JFK "elected" and his State Department list was mostly comprised of Council members. It's starting to look more and more like our heads of state are manipulated just like us, doesn't it? Let's jump back into the Pool one more time.
In 1965, he wrote "The Kaiser, the Tsar, and the Computer," an essay about a computer-simulated international crisis. Later, his interest in quantitative analysis and communications would contribute to computer models to study human behavior.
Computer Models aren't Playboy Centerfolds
It doesn't matter who gets voted in. They may think they're in charge. They may go along. Or they may think they're making changes. But, I guarantee you the changes they make are the changes those behind the scenes want. Even if our leaders know it or not. No way! Thats crazy! Insane! Ok. Sure. But remember this, in a world of insanity, a sane man is always perceived as being insane. So let's dive into the DEEP END OF THE POOL and see what we can find.
October 2, 2019 • With AI, the models suddenly become more realistic. “One of the things that has changed is an acceptance that you really can model humans,” says F. LeRon Shults, director of the Center for Modeling Social Systems at the University of Agder in Norway. “Our agents are cognitively complex. They are simulated people with genders, ages and personalities. They can get married, have children, get divorced. They can get a job or get fired, they can join groups, they can die. They can have religious beliefs. They’re social in the way humans are. They interact with each other in social networks. They learn from each other, react to each other and to the environment as a whole.”
Hold on. Agent's are cognitively complex? That's scary, isn't it? And this is a very strange situation we find ourselves in, isn't it? Agents. Simulations. Viruses. Sentinels. Didn't they try and block out the sun? Ahem. Bill Gates. And I've read that originally the script didn't have humanity as batteries, but instead used humans as their RAM. In other words, we we're used for our brains ability to think. More on this in an upcoming post. Just think about it for now.
Final Thoughts
The what if men and the people machine. They model society and we see what they want us to see. Kind of like the model in the Matrix wearing the red dress. We're too busy looking for danger everywhere but where we should look. And that's a mistake. This is why we can't dismiss anything. We have to question everything. In the previous post I said that it was called the Sentinel World Simulation. I found the article. I made a mistake. It's called the Sentient World Simulation. Words matter. Always. But I still don't think my mistake alters what's going on. We are being steered by an unseen group. And this is why China + Russia + USA are heading towards a cliff. He who controls AI controls humanity. But who controls who? More soon.
Flatten the Curve. Part 75. Let's talk once more about Aliens. And training for Underground Warfare. And Riot Control. And unexplained drones. And did you know that they had reported the smell of sulfur with UFO's? Real or Fake, this may just be in our New Normal future.
Previous Post Here Welcome back earthlings. Let's take another look at Terra Firma and our present chances of First Contact, shall we?
Flatten the Curve
I first started writing this series because I noticed inconsistencies and over looked current events, namely, the world wide reports of a distinct sulfur smell around the world. These reports aren't easy to find in search engines, and it took me a number of weeks before I convinced myself that something was happening worldwide that was being kept hidden from us. Flatten the Curve post on sulfur. Source Here Back then I became convinced that this was part of an ELE that we were going to face in the future. And while the odds remain firmly with that explanation, another possibility has entered into the scenario. What's the possibility?Whelp, hold on to your tinfoil hats;
UFO's
Hold up, back up, this isn't normal New Normal stuff. And you're right, it isn't. Not at all. And trust me, even I'm in disbelief over what I've seen. But maybe I shouldn't have been. Why? Because of some strangeness that happened after the first sulfur post. Because after that post, I received a few strange comments or private messages. I can't remember which it was, but I think it was comments, so if you're interested to verify, go back and check (if those comments are still up, because I had an unusually high number of deleted comments back then, and maybe I still do, but I don't know and I don't care.) So what were the comments about? They pointed out to me that a high number of UFO sightings also happened to coincide with the smell of sulfur. Which I thought was nuts. I had read books about UFO sightings as a little kid. A lot of books. And I didn't remember reading that once. And I thought that I would have.
I was wrong
Now, I don't know who sent me that first UFO and sulfur hint. But I will say, that was strange. Very strange. And I should have looked into it. But I didn't. Why? Because that wasn't what I thought was happening, that's why. Despite the tic tac video. And then that report came out about the not of this world material. And I ignored it. And then I started seeing more and more UFO reports, and I finally decided to search sulfur + UFO, and surprise, surprise, nothing. So I kept searching, and guess what, it was exactly like my experience trying to find the sulfur reports; the info is there, but you have to dig to find it. Now I don't have a lot of information, mainly because there are more pressing issues to write about, but I will keep looking in my spare time. So for now, let's start at the sulfur reports. (Seriously, I'm still wondering what on earth has happened to Normal, because I'm not a fan of this movie script)
Aliens Stink Like Uranus
Get it? Becaue Uranus has hydrogen sulfide...
FalconLake Then there was the smell. "When I walked into the bedroom there was a huge stink in the room, like a real horrible aroma of sulphur and burnt motor. It was all around and it was coming out of his pores. It was bad," said Michalak, who co-authored the book When They Appeared with Winnipeg UFO researcher Chris Rutkowski. Believing it to be a secret U.S.military experimental craft, Stefan sat back and sketched it over the next half hour. Then he decided to approach, later recalling the warm air and smell of sulphur as he got closer, as well as a whirring sound of motors and a hissing of air. Source Here
Did you notice the sulfur smell? Now let's go on and take another look at the East coast of Canada. Then there was Shag Harbor Source Here And now onto Cussac.
On Aug. 29, 1967, a 13-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister told local police they were watching cows in a field and saw "four small black beings about 47 inches tall" who appeared to rise in the air and enter "a round spaceship, about 15 feet in diameter" that was hovering over the field. The police noted "sulfur odor and the dried grass" at the place where the sphere was alleged to have taken off. Source Here
And West Virginia.
On a steep hillside, a bevy of youngsters drawn away from a game of sandlot football, along with some adults, were shaken out of their shoes by the spectacle of a 12-foot, metallic object that emanated a pungent odor of sulfur and made sounds that reminded one witness of bacon sizzling in a fry pan. Source Here
And the last one is perhaps the strangest.
Bender’s message did not go over well. His rooms continued to fill with the smell of sulphur and he was telepathically ordered to cease delving into matters that were not his concern. A yellow mist gathered in the attic. Undeterred, Bender announced that the July issue of Space Review would hold a “startling revelation.” It never appeared in print. In July 1953 Albert Bender was visited at his home by three men. Bender stated “All of them were dressed in black clothes. They looked like clergymen but wore hats similar to [the]Homburg style.” The notorious Men In Black, always in threes, made it clear to Bender that he was to immediately halt all UFO work. They communicated telepathically: “Stop publishing.” Before departing, the MIB confiscated copies of Space Review and in their wake a yellow fog materialized in the upstairs rooms of 784 Broad Street. Again, the vile odor of sulphur wafted through the attic. Unnerved by their other-worldly presence Albert shuddered that he was “scared to death” and was unable to eat for days. The 32 year-old timekeeper would be the recipient of repeated MIB visits. The telepathic messages, headaches, his being stalked, and of course the surreal warnings by authoritarians in black suits, compelled Albert to shut down the International Flying Saucer Bureau. A year and a half after founding the IFSB the final issue of Space Review was released in October, 1953. It included a cryptic message, and warning: “The mystery of the flying saucers is no longer a mystery. The source is already known but any information about this is being withheld by orders from a higher source. We would like to print the full story in Space Review but because of the nature of the information we have been advised in the negative. We advise those engaged in saucer work to be very cautious. Source Here
Out of this admittedly small collection, there are a couple points that I noticed. They all happened years ago, and a couple incidents are near water. Now that's not a big deal, and because of my limited examples, I can't make a big deal out of it. But.
Do we have Extraterrestrials under water?
The Tic Tac video. That sure got...barely any attention. Strange, right? Almost like everyone is being conditioned to accept news like that as normal. As though our natural born instincts are being dulled. Because real or not, come on, this is a modern day spotting a sabretooth tiger moment, and we don't think it's a big enough declaration to have it on our radar? Really? Ok. Sure. But. If very few people are talking about that incident, they are really not talking about something else Farvor said.
“They reverse the winch and the diver’s thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And all of a sudden he said the torpedo just got sucked down underwater, and the object just descended back down into the depths. They never recovered it.” The helicopter pilot swears the torpedo didn’t sink, per Fravor—and that pilot even told the Times about the incident back in 2017, but the paper never reported it. We’re guessing the editors would reconsider today. As the pilot picked up the BQM, he was apparently at a loss for words. “He’s looking at this thing going, ‘What the hell is that?’ And then it just goes back down underwater. Once they pull the kid and the BQM out of the water, this object descends back into the depths.” One dark mass coming up from the depths is weird enough. Two is officially cause for concern. A few months later, the helicopter pilot saw the exact same thing.
“He’s out picking up a torpedo, they hook the diver up on the winch, and as they’re lowering him down, he sees this big mass. He goes, ‘It’s not a submarine’. He’s seen submarines before. Once you’ve seen a submarine you can’t confuse it with something else. This big object, kind of circular, is coming up from the depths and he starts screaming through the intercom system to tell them to pull the diver up, and the diver’s only a few feet from the water. Source Here
It's a little more common knowledge now, but it definitely wasn't back then. And if we go over to the Russians (apparently, thanks New Normal Fake News for the constant barrage of disinformation) and what they released.
2009 • Russian Navy Declassifies Cold War Close Encounters. Great catch by Phil Ewing at Navy Times‘ Scoop Deck blog: the Russian navy has just declassified its records of Cold War UFO sightings. Turns out “50 percent of UFO encounters are connected with oceans. Fifteen [percent] more — with lakes. So UFOs tend to stick to the water,” one Russian officer explained. Source Here
So now we have Russia and the USA reporting about UFO sightings. And the wall fell just a few short years after Gorbachev and Reagan decided to talk about UFO's and world peace in 1985. So now let's go back to 1984.
Conspiracy theorists believe that the closing ceremony from the 1984 Olympic Games ‘prepared the world for an alien invasion’ The bizarre closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Games raised eyebrows at the time, but alien enthusiasts still claim that the Olympic event had a more sinister purpose. Source Here
Whelp. What. Was. That? Seriously? And then we had the music from Space Odyssey 2001 playing. Kind of coincidental with all of our current Monoliths and signals from Jupiter, isn't it? Flatten the Curve. Part [Source Here]( And here's the crazy aspect, I found that 1984 Olympics clip after noticing our current events invoking themes from the movie.
1984 NY Times • The public hearing was plodding along routinely at the Town Hall one night last month. ''All of a sudden, a cop burst in yelling: 'The U.F.O.'s here! The U.F.O.'s here!' '' said Peter A. Brandenberg, a 43-year-old real-estate developer. ''Everyone jumped up and jolted out. We went flying down the stairs to see this thing, just staring at it.'' On a night before that, William A. Pollard was driving along Interstate 84 near Brewster. 'Whoa! Wait a Minute Here' ''My neighbors said they had seen something,'' said Mr. Pollard, 29, the manager of an automobile service center. ''I said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' I never believed in that stuff. But off in a field I saw this gigantic triangle with lights, about 30 feet off the ground - hovering. Then it turned off its lights and shot straight up - straight up. That's when I said, 'Whoa! Wait a minute here.' '' Throughout northern Westchester County, Dutchess and Putnam Counties and western Connecticut this summer, thousands of residents have reported strange objects in the sky - each usually in a V-shape or a circle, about the size of a football field, absolutely noiseless and outlined in brilliant lights of white, red or green. Source Here
And there are more prominent UFO reports in 1984. So let's get this straight. We have major sightings in 1984 and then we have a UFO show at the 1984 Olympics. Ok. But then we have Jimmy Carter in 1976.
During the 1976 presidential campaign, Carter pledged that, if elected, he would encourage the government to make public “every piece of information” about UFOs. Once in office, however, he said releasing some of this information could have adverse “defense implications” and pose a threat to national security. Source Here
And then next year we have Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977. And then Spielberg goes on to direct ET in 1982. My point? There seems to be a previous attempt to make Aliens look pretty benign and altruistic. That was followed up by the Summer Olympics UFO show, which honestly makes no sense at all. In the slightest. Not back then. Because unlike now, only crackpots and Conspiracy theorists believed in Aliens. So why the show? Was this a coordinated attempt to get us ready or to deceive us, because I find it hard to believe that the President of the United States in 1985 just blurted out UFO in 1985 as a metaphor. Let's keep digging and see if we can find more water.
Missing 411
What is that doing in here when we're talking about UFO's? Good question, let me show you.
They are clustered in certain areas, particularly around bodies of water and in national parks. If the people are found alive, they often have memory loss. If they are found dead, the cause of death is hard to determine. The people are sometimes found in an area it seems they could not have reached by foot, or they are found in a location that has already been thoroughly searched. Source Here
Memory loss. Bodies of water. The authorities don't keep a tally of missing people. Dive into it, because something strange is going on, and ot sounds just like an alien abduction would. Are the 411 cases dealing with extraterrestrial incidents? Food for thought, because we're about to go off the deep end. Ready?
Enders Game and the Three Body Problem
A while back I shared a photo of Rita Wilson that caught my attention. It was a picture of her reading, Enders Game. Source Here And Enders game just so happens to be a novel about humanity waging a war with Aliens. And the picture was oddly getting a lot of traction, HEY LOOK AT THIS PICTURE! Now let's go into the Dark Forest.
What are some of those books? It’s interesting, the stuff I read just to escape ends up being a mix of things — some science fiction. For a while, there was a three-volume science-fiction novel, the “Three-Body Problem” series — Oh, Liu Cixin, who won the Hugo Award. — which was just wildly imaginative, really interesting. It wasn’t so much sort of character studies as it was just this sweeping — It’s really about the fate of the universe. Exactly. The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty — not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade. [Laughter] Source Here
When Aliens are about to invade. Ha. Ha. Ha. Pretty funny. Right. But then it gets stranger, because it's not just Obama, but our other favorite alien, Mark Zuckerberg.
When Obama and Zuckerberg are your fan boys: On Cixin Liu’s ‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ Trilogy
In his Remembrance of Earth’s Past series, Liu doesn’t value this idea enough to even pay it lip service. Organizing earth for a centuries-long project of developing the tools to fight a coming invasion is, in his telling, work exclusively reserved for large planning committees of technical experts given global mandates and staggering resources. In short, it’s a job only properly suited for the nascent technocratic class that has held increasing sway in our world in the last ~30–40 years (and which Liu himself, as a computer engineer in China, is tacitly a part of). The humanity presented within these books is a humanity of government conferences, scientific laboratories and U.N. resolutions. It’s a humanity that is contained and constrained utterly within a world of technical and logistical problem solving. In short, the humanity presented in these books is purely that of a technocratic elite.We live in an age in which the gap between those with technical skills and those without is widening. Our ideas of affluence and upward mobility are increasingly colored not simply by who possesses wealth, but also by who possesses specific types of knowledge and skills. Cixin Liu has written a remarkable science fiction epic which also, perhaps unknowingly, serves as a warning. A world in which a globally empowered technocratic class controls everything is a world that can achieve remarkable outcomes. But it is, by its very nature, a sterile world; one in which the overwhelming majority of human life and experience is a mere afterthought in a plenary session. Source Here
Take note of two things; The title of the series and the theme of the Technocrats saving humanity. Now. Here are some Stanger Things that I've noticed. One • Tom and Rita Wilson, Zuckerbuffon, and Obama love to have their picture taken in the water. As in, they we're all prominently featured recently. Zuckerberg Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Obama Could they all just be innocent photos. Yes. Are they? More than likely, yes. But, what if they're signals for people who understand? After all, you don't want that kind of information written down, do you? But why Tom Hanks? Fracked if I know! But his appearance in all this crap just doesn't stop. Now he's appearing with Biden at the inauguration? Really? I mean Zuckerberg looks alien, so maybe Tom is too! Just joking (I think). I honestly have no idea why the Bosom Buddy is right into this New Normal. But.
Darkforest is a computer go program developed by Facebook, based on deep learning techniques using a convolutional neural network. Its updated version Darkfores2 combines the techniques of its predecessor with Monte Carlo tree search. The MCTS effectively takes tree search methods commonly seen in computer chess programs and randomizes them. With the update, the system is known as Darkfmcts3. Source Here
Ok. We know that Zuckerdork loves the novel. Sure. But he loves it enough to name his AI computer after the book? Words matter. A lot. And while this is all just probably a coincidence, what if it isn't? All the reports about underwater objects. All the photos of the three of them in the ocean. Facebook’s AI being called the Dark Forest. The monoliths that are striking me as more than a natural occurrence. The UFO around the sun during the 2012 solar flare? The sudden surge to protect the energy grid? The sulfur reports and the early reports of smell around UFO activity? All the recent reports about drones being casually dismissed as nothing.
Observations of mysterious drones spotted in northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska were first reported in December 2019.[1] The drones were described as having blinking lights and a wingspan of about six feet (1.8 m). According to the Denver Post, the drones flew in groups of six to 10 and were usually seen between 7 and 10 pm. The sheriff of Phillips County, Colorado described the formation as "a grid search" and stated that the size and number of drones makes it unlikely that they are being operated by hobbyists. One witness in Palisade, Nebraska counted 19 drones at one time, some hovering and others flying in formations in small groups. Source Here
Look. Something is going on these days. Something big. What? Now that's the big question, isn’t it? Could all the posturing about war be about moving military units around? What about the environmental catastrophe they keep moving closer, not to mention the amount of prominent scientists who claim the numbers aren't adding up for them, including Freeman Dyson.
Freeman Dyson was a physics professor known for his work in the area of electrodynamics. Dyson formerly worked as a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He passed away at 96 years old in February 2020. According to Dyson's profile at the Institute for Advanced Study, “His most useful contribution to science was the unification of the three versions of quantum electrodynamics invented by Feynman, Schwinger and Tomonaga. Cornell University made him a professor without bothering about his lack of Ph.D.” Source Here
You know, the guy who came up with the concept of the Dyson sphere. So if the numbers aren't adding up, but the military is making operational strategy changes to cope with abrupt climate change, something is obviously happening, isn't it? The military doesn't just institute changes for nothing. So is the environment being manipulated bu outside entities? Is that why they're suddenly worried about the power grid? And what about the by now obvious Covid-19 deaths that are predominantly among seniors. Is it to clean out the hospitals for the upcoming encounter? Before you say no, just remember that a no regrets strategy was actually proposed in a military scenario paper on abrupt climate change. Here's the definition:
No-Regrets" Approach: "No-regrets" actions are actions by households, communities, and local/national/international institutions that can be justified from economic, and social, and environmental perspectives whether natural hazard events or climate change (or other hazards) take place or not. "No-regrets" actions increase resilience, which is the ability of a "system" to deal with different types of hazards in a timely, efficient, and equitable manner. Increasing resilience is the basis for sustainable growth in a world of multiple hazards (see Heltberg, Siegel, Jorgensen, 2009; UNDP, 2010).
If you would like to read the paper, I do have it linked on Flatten the Curve under Peter Schwartz. Is this what were seeing? A no regrets approach in action in anticipation of first contact? Is this what they mean by the New Normal? Is this why they're trying to establish a one world government? So we can work together to get ready? Is this why there's an overflow of informational leaks like Moloch worshipers, or Russian Fake News, and on and on. Is it to keep us off balance from the real threat? And could they be so advanced that they're attempting to circumvent our progress through manipulating our planet? Is this why we have so many nukes? Is this why they want to weaponize space? I'm not saying that my running hypothesis has changed, but I am saying that looking at events from a different perspective can only help. And seriously, right now, I would be lying if I didn't admit that I would be relieved if they weren't a bunch of psychopathic greedy AI loving nutjobs. Which I still think they are, because even if Mars Attacks, or we have War of the Worlds, or Independence Day, I'll still have to see them face to face. Why. One word. Deepfake. So let's consider a few points before I sign off. We have sulfur reports. Early reports linking sulfur to the UFO phenomenon. An increase in UFO reports. The government disclosing incident reports. Warnings about a possible grid failure through cyberattack or solar flare. Abrupt Climate Change. A No Regrets Strategy for Climate Change. A virus that seems to hit those who would be the biggest burden on the health care system. A worldwide hum and Sky Trumpets. The Pentagon commissioning reports about riot control and then funding training into underground warfare. And we have reports about underwater UFO's and older Conspiracy theories about Aliens living underground. So, real or fake, I don't think we should discount the possibility that something may occur that could just knock the world's perception of reality. And trust me, I still don't believe this is likely. Why? Well I find it pretty coincidental that H.G. Wells not only wrote War of the Worlds, but he also wrote a book called New World Order. And he also collaborated with Julian S. Huxley, a known eugenics supporter and brother of Aldous Huxley of a Brave New World fame. Alright, long story short, I'm not saying it's aliens, but it's....yeah. Buckle up and just be ready, because if our New Normal is based on a No Regrets Strategy, our strategy has to become a No Trust Strategy. Heads up and eyes open. Talk soon.
Flatten the Curve. Part 79. Let's take another look at Cicada 3301. Who is Dan Jefferies and what is the Cicada Project? Because guess what? The project sounds like the Microsoft WO2020060606 patent.
Previous Post Here The New Normal. The word has been around for a lot longer then we realize. A lot longer. Know what else has been around for a while? New World Order.
Cicada 3301
Cicadas are strange, aren't they? You can't see them unless you look, and yet you can hear them everywhere. An omnipresent sound surrounding your environment. If you live in an area without Cicadas, and then travel to an area with Cicadas, you'll be acutely aware of the sound, and it'll throw you off at first. You'll find the noise annoying, but tolerable. And then slowly without realizing it, you ADAPT. It becomes your NEW NORMAL. And once it does, you don't give the Cicadas a second thought. And maybe that's a mistake. Maybe there is no maybe, it is a mistake. So we're going to dive deep into Cicada 3301 and how it fits into the Not Normal New Normal.
Break the Code
People can be broken down into two categories, those who like solving puzzles and those who don't. Those who don't are generally ok with the status quo. They don't see anything wrong. They don't realize that the puzzle has missing pieces, and even if they do, they don't mind. Why? I have no idea. That mindset is foreign to me, as it is to anyone reading this series. So let's take a look into the Cicada puzzle peices.
But the challenge to find what was hidden in this picture intrigued him. He stared intently at the image. Someone on the IRC had heard rumors that terrorist groups encrypt secret notes in image files, ones that could be retrieved by opening the file in a different format. Running a text–editing program called Notepad, he opened the image and, sure enough, saw a strange string of words and garbage characters at the end: “TIBERIVS CLAVDIVS CAESAR says ‘lxxt>33m2mqkyv2gsq3q=w]O2ntk.’ ” Caesar, he knew, was one of the most ancient forms of encryption, dating back to Julius Caesar, who used the cipher to safeguard military secrets. It works by taking the alphabet and then counting down each letter based on a designated number (say, replacing letters with ones three letters down the alphabet).
Cicada posted the first puzzle January 4, 2012. 2012 was also the year that the Mayan Calendar predicted the end of the world. Or the transformation of humanity into an enlightened state of consciousness. Obviously the world didn't end. So are we heading into an enlightened state of consciousness? Perhaps. Time will tell, like it always does.
2013, November 25 • Eriksson didn’t realise it then, but he was embarking on one of the internet’s most enduring puzzles; a scavenger hunt that has led thousands of competitors across the web, down telephone lines, out to several physical locations around the globe, and into unchartered areas of the "darknet”. So far, the hunt has required a knowledge of number theory, philosophy and classical music. An interest in both cyberpunk literature and the Victorian occult has also come in handy as has an understanding of Mayan numerology. Source Here
Remember the Mayan Calendar. Before anyone thinks Cicada was some kind of promotional stunt, or LARP, it wasn't. Nor was it the result of a single individual or a small group of individuals. Because if it was, the following would have been extremely difficult.
There were more than a dozen (Cicada posters with QR codes), spread over four continents. The Street View images seemed random: a narrow street near the University of Warsaw, a parking lot on a busy intersection of Seoul, a country road on the North Shore of Oahu. One location came up in front of a prominent doctor’s house in a wealthy section of Seattle. (When RS called the doctor, he said that he had never heard of Cicada 3301.) Amid the fervor, an anonymous person posted a mysterious confessional. “I was part of what you call 3301/Cicada for more than a decade,” the anonymous author wrote, “and I’m here to warn you: Stay away.” Any portentously dire and anonymous message on the Internet could be bullshit or trolling. But as the skeptical solvers read the screed, the author seemed knowledgeable enough about 3301 to give them pause. The author said he had been a military officer in an unnamed, non-English speaking country when, after a year of being unknowingly vetted in person, he was recruited by a member of 3301. He described them as “a group of like-minded individuals, all incredibly talented and connected, [working] together for the common good: the good of mankind.” But over several paragraphs, he cautioned about their cultish beliefs, a conviction, for example, in “the Global Brain as another kind of ‘God’ ” – 3301 was nothing more, he wrote, than a “religion disguised as a progressive scientific organization.” He concluded by saying he had since found Jesus. Source Here
The author claimed to be a military officer in an unnamed country. He warned of a Global Brain as another kind of God. Hmmmm. AI WORLD Government. And don't go thinking this is just some half baked organization trying to make a dollar and meeting in Hotel Banquet halls. Take a look at some of the organizations behind AI World Government. Microsoft. Amazon. IBM. FEMA. Army Research Laboratory. Defense Intelligence Agency. Homeland Security. MITRE Corporation. NASA. IARPA. DOE. NVIDIA. That's quite the Clubhouse, isn't it? Now take a look at the sponsors on this page If you don't find the sponsor list concerning, i don't know what to say and you should probably stop reading now. And for those of you who realize that Knowing is Half the Battle, Go Joe.
Prime Numbers in the Prime Timeline
Did anyone have Cicadas on their 2020 bingo card? No? That one was conspicuously absent from all those memes, wasn't it?
But researchers think this life cycle is all about tricking cicada predators — making sure that they can't sync up their schedules with the next cicada emergence. The cicadas generally follow an emergence schedule of either 13 or 17 years — both prime numbers. The schedule's indivisibility makes it more difficult for predators to predict the next emergence, research suggests. WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE? — One of the most noteworthy parts about a mass cicada emergence is the sound the swarms of cicadas emit. The screech of a cicada has been likened to an "alien-like wail" and "field of out-of-tune car radios." Source Here
This wasn't the only article suggesting that Cicadas have an Alien Like Wail. In fact, it was in a lot of them. And with five corporations owning and controlling the MSM information stream, the Alien Like Wail is something we need to take note of. Do I need to remind you of the sudden influx of UFO disclosure happening from the American Military? It's not a coincidence. It's also not going to be the main focus on this post, but it will be written about shortly in Flatten the Curve. So let's just hope the "Aliens" aren't the predators that we're hiding from. Although I am dying to say, I don't have time to bleed. Or. Get to the choppa. So the Cicada puzzles involved Prime Numbers, Mayan numerology, and Runes, amongst other clues in their cryptographic and steganographic odyssey. But what other meaning is associated with Cicada, because the group didn't pick a random name out of a hat.
The cicada symbolises rebirth and immortality in Chinese tradition. In the Chinese essay "Thirty-Six Stratagems", the phrase "to shed the golden cicada skin" (simplified Chinese: 金蝉脱壳; traditional Chinese: 金蟬脫殼; pinyin: jīnchán tuōqiào) is the poetic name for using a decoy (leaving the exuvia) to fool enemies. In the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West (16th century), the protagonist Priest of Tang was named the Golden Cicada.
A decoy? I may have forgotten to include something about a decoy and the Cicada puzzles.
"WHOOPS Just decoys this way. Looks like you can’t guess how to get the message out”. Source Here
Clicking on the link takes you to a picture of a duck decoy. And anyone reading this series understands that we may be on the brink of WW3 with China over the environmental collapse that's upcoming, and that this war is also involving the race to AI supremacy, and that whoever controls AI, will now have dominion over the planet.
The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates.Source Here
Whelp. There's something happening here. But what it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a mask over there. A-telling me, I got to beware. I think it's time we stop. Children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. Ahem. Sorry. But seriously, what's going on? Upper Permian period? Really? Ring a bell? It should if you've read Flatten the Curve from the start. Why? Because the BLUE planet that we call home seems to be entering into a period that reminds me of the End Permian extinction event. And that's not good. Trust me. Also, let me explain one more time, that while we are seeing troubling signs in our current environment, this doesn't mean that the ecosystem will collapse tomorrow, or next year, or even this decade. We don't know the timeline, so don't go and join an end times doomsday cult just yet. But be prepared for the unknown as best as you can. Because while the environmental collapse and our future may be unclear, the powers that be still seem bent on starting a war. With each or other, or with something. (Something? Really? What do I mean? Well, who knows if all of the recent Alien disclosure is real or fake, but it's not slowing down. Regardless, it has to be taken into consideration and examined)
Who is Dan Jefferies?
Dan is an Author. Dan wrote a two book series called The Jasmine Wars. Here's the synopsis.
When a Jasmine Revolution sweeps away the brutal Communist regime, China transforms into the world’s first AI-driven Direct Democracy, ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity unlike anything ever seen in its five thousand year history. Now when an economic shock brings terrorism and ultra-nationalism roaring back, the nation’s favorite son, Colonel Ju-Long, races to uncover the traitors in his midst before his beloved country explodes into another devastating civil war. Source Here
AI Driven Direct Democracy. Sounds kind of like the AI World Government, doesn't it? Or maybe it's the opposite. Or maybe it's the same thing we have now, a Democracy that only works because it gives us the illusion of choice. But he's only an Author, you might be thinking. Isn't this taking it a little bit too far? Seriously Greek, you may be losing it. Should you take a vacation and relax, get your head on straight again? Long story short, no. I'm good. Completely and utterly good. Maybe working a little too much, and maybe I'll need a vacation after the pandemic protocols have been (hopefully) uninstalled, but not yet. And definitely not now. So Dan's an author, but what else is he? Because it’s a really odd world up above us. Seriously odd. Because while we struggle with having a life and a single occupation, those who worship in this AI technocracy seem to be able to multi-task like the spooky action of quantum entanglement.
DANIEL JEFFRIES • Author, Futurist, Thinker, Engineer, Systems Architect, Podcaster, Pro Blogger. Science Fiction: Daniel is the author of four cutting edge sci-fi novels, including the popular nanopunk epic The Scorpion Game, which readers have compared to the early cyberpunk masterpiece Neuromancer. Pro BloggePodcaster: His massively popular Medium blog with over 50K followers, and his Daily PostHuman podcast covers a wide range of future tech from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency. His articles have appeared in Bitcoin Magazine and he’s the number one writer for the popular magazine Hacker Noon. Engineer: For more than twenty years, Daniel created and implemented advanced tech solutions for early web companies and Fortune 500 companies, first with his own consulting company and later for open source pioneer Red Hat, using Linux, virtual machines, Docker containers and DevOps and now for the innovative MLOps AI startup, Pachyderm. Systems Architect: Daniel now designs cutting edge crypto and decentralized web platforms, starting with the Cicada concept project, and then rolling its ideas into stealth startups with gamified money solutions, decentralized IDs, reputation systems and advanced crytoeconomics architectures. Public Speaker: He’s also a well respected public speaker, having given talks all over the world on the future of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.
That's the kind of bio that leaves you feeling like an underachieving peon, doesn't it? Kind of like the bio of Lance B Eliot, isn’t it? Well, not quite, but it's still impressive. But he's not an AI algorithm like Lance (at least I don't think he is) seems to be. So why did I include him in this post about Cicada 3301? Did you notice that in his bio there is something called the Cicada Concept Project? Yeah. Strap in and hold on, cause this roller coaster is about to start.
The Cicada Concept Project.
So Dan Jefferies came up with the Cicada Project, does that mean that he also came up with or is a member of, Cicada 3301?
Oh yeah. I mentioned Cicada 3301. A lot of people have asked me over the years if I’m involved with that project or if I’m behind the mystery in some way? The answer is no. But it’s also not that simple. Of course, some asshole on Reddit will inevitably post this in the comments: Is Dan Jeffries behind Cicada 3301? TLDR. No. LOL. I just saved his lazy ass some time. He can cut and paste it. Source Here • (I strongly recommend reading his post. Make the time.)
LOL! OMG, that's too funny, don't you think so too? Dan Jefferies the writer and Cicada 3301, give me a break! Don't be that a$$hole on Reddit and make unsubstantiated claims, ok Greek? Uh. Nope. Not ok. And my name is Biggreekgeek, not a$$hole. And if you insist on that nomenclature, then that's Mr. A$$hole to you. Because if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a 3301 Duck Decoy. Call me crazy, but I'm finding his assertion that it's all a mere coincidence too convenient. Now I know that you can't prove a negative, but trying to explain the name connection away by claiming synchronicity and it's just a result of the universe laying out your path, well, that doesn't work for me (read his post, this is what he actually claims).
Jasmine Wars • In the story Cicada is a massive distributed artificial intelligence and nation-state operating system. She’s a voting and communications platform and a fantastic alien mind. In many ways she embodies the best of the human race, while mitigating the worst of our dark dual natures. She seemed like the perfect choice for a chunk of killer future tech so I set out to create an early version of her.
Now let's do a little coincidence checklist for our New Normal reality.
Nation State Operating System • Ai World Government. ✔
Ultra Nationalism. ✔
Voting Problems. ✔
Strange how so many current events could be solved by the Cicada platform. And what about that curious word choice of a Fantastic Alien Mind? It might not rhyme with Orange, but didn't a lot of the 2020 articles about Cicadas mention an Alien-like wail? Yes. They. Did. Are you enjoying this roller-coaster yet? I hope so, cause this ride isn't going to be over for a while, despite the promised land just being two weeks away. (Edit: I've had this written for a while, but held back. Why? To see how the times went as we moved forward. And now we have our answer) Before we carry on like the wayward sons we are, let me give you the link to the Cicada Concept Project. Source HereREAD IT!
Let's Pull It All Together.
Dan Jeffries is the chief technical evangelist at Pachyderm. Evangelist. His title at Pachyderm is a little strange, don't you think? Cause I do. Really strange. Let's look up what the definition of an Evangelist is, shall we? e·van·ge·list /əˈvanjələst/ • noun • 1. a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching. Cute, isn't it? Nice little wordplay there. Not freaky at all. Nope. Sign me up to the cult. So Danny Boy came up with a concept called Cicada that can be a Direct Democracy system that uses secure BIO-ID, protects your privacy, and who's participants generate Cryptocurrency biologically. Didn’t some company get involved with these concepts at some point? I think so. What company was it? Hmmmm, let's see...was it...MICROSOFT? ID2020SOURCE HEREWO2020060606 - CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA Source Here Yep. It was Microsoft. And guess who else Microsoft is involved with?
2020, August 19 • Pachyderm Secures $16 Million Investment Led by M12 - Microsoft’s Venture Fund • Company raises Series B round on back of Fortune 500 enterprise adoption. SourceHere
AI WORLD GOVERNMENT is sponsored by Microsoft as well.
Ah Billy Boy, you sure are one clever little bugger, ain't ya? I've said it before and I'll say it again, AI will be the savior that will solve the Pandemic problem. Eventually. Some day. Not soon. Definitely. Not. Soon. Why? Well the pandemic disruption hasn't reached the proper level of disruption yet, that's why. (And should I point out that M-12 reminds me of MJ-12, or, Majestic 12)
Final Words.
Look. The Big Picture of Big Brother isn't an easy one to see, and it's an even harder one to explain. Like it or not, we're living in an epoch of civilization, a pivotal moment in time. The deeper I dig, the deeper my limited understanding becomes. This is disruption by design. And yet, I'm left wondering is this is a human designed disruption, or are we dealing with an unknown AI construct capable of not only deceiving and manipulating us common folk to advance an endgame, but also manipulating those who have engineered it. Implausible? Don't be too confident in that assumption. Why? Do you remember Billy Boy Gates smug look in certain interviews where he was advocating the vaccine? It reminded me of that look that parents get when their child just doesn't understand something they're trying to explain. "One day you'll understand". We've all heard that at one point by our parents, haven't we? And yet something changed in Billy Boy as the pandemic went forward and nobody was embracing him as our very own Marvel Superhero. His look went from smug to exasperated, almost confused. It was almost like he felt society wasn't acting in a preordained manner, as though a carefully thought out BLUEprint was suddenly developing problems out of the BLUE. I know everyone likes to talk about a plandemic. And I know that the majority of readers in this subreddit like to call it a low mortality virus, and maybe it is. But I find it hard to accept that human agents came up with something this intricate in depth and overarching in scope. Seriously. Just think about Cicada 3301 > Dan Jefferies > Microsoft Patent 060606. Because the similarities are too close for my liking to be coincidental. Especially when you consider the continued chaos of the economy, wealth inequality, tax evasion, the elections, the racial tensions, issues of policing and abuse of power, and I hope that I'm wrong, but it even appears that we may have even more upcoming chaos in our trust of the scientific research institutions and corporations. Out of chaos, order. Right? What order? AI world government. New World Order. New Normal. Great Reset. Build Back Better. Everyone has to be on board the Great Reset, right Klaus fourth industrial revolution Schwab?
October 18, 2019 • She noted that the number of people using the Internet exceeded half of the world’s population in 2018, with 80 per cent of Europeans having access compared to less than 25 per cent in Sub‑Saharan Africa. Almost half the world’s population remains offline and excluded from the benefits of digitalization. Source Here
Less than 25% in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to internet. And now we have Operation New Normal happening in Africa. Flatten the Curve. Part 60. Source Here And don't forget the military backed starlink to provide worldwide internet for those who aren't connected yet. Yeah. We're All In This Together. Right? Nicholas Negroponte is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Ah right. The failed attempt to get every child a laptop. From Nicholas Negroponte who accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein’s tangled web of foundations. And I quote; "If you wind back the clock, I would still say, 'Take it.'" Charming. The ends justify the means. Remember that. Wake up every day and repeat it to yourself. The ends justify the means. Why? Because that's how a lot of them think, and we are the means to the ends. Heads up and eyes open. Talk soon
Below is the result of too much free time thanks to the pandemic. It's the true story of Alan Moore's rise to super-stardom, his own record on his precious Creator's Rights and answers to all the questions that have never been answered (Why does he hate Marvel and why did he ban them from reprinting Captain Britain, Just how devious was his Watchmen Contract, Why did he fall out with his Closest Co Creator(s) etc. etc.) elsewhere. Everything is based on extensive research, interviews, rare documents and actual quotes by Moore. If you think something needs verifying, let me know and I'll respond in the replies. Alan Moore is the most famous and respected comic writer in the world today. But despite the endearing success, wealth and critical acclaim they brought him, he has recently disowned his own work and spent the last few years condemning the medium, its publishers, employees and audience. And Moore gives a very good reason for this; he's repeatedly stated that he was 'cheated' and 'robbed' of his creations and his creator rights by unscrupulous 'gangster corporations' who never 'valued or respected' the creators producing the work. Unsurprisingly a lot of people support his stance; Moore is seen as a deeply principled figurehead for creator’s rights, but the truth is it’s utterly contrived to garner sympathy and support for what is in fact a very personal vendetta, his claims have no basis in fact and his accusations reflect better how Moore himself has always behaved and mistreated his fellow creators. Moore's self-written history is a fictional re-imagining of reality, emboldened by all the interviews, articles and biographies that echo it across the world. Like most of his more celebrated works it involves intricately described imagined chronology and events, evocative and emotive language and metaphors and twists; invisible at the start but delicately planted and nurtured and apparent at the end, rewarding subsequent rereads. In this particular Moore tale, the victim is revealed to be the villain; all his imagined abuses overtly visited deliberately by him on others; stealing from closest collaborators, erasing author's contributions to his own work, damaging innocent co-creator's careers and livelihoods as mere collateral and in a typical Moore tribute to a simpler golden age of vaudevillian chicanery; cheating a sick children's hospital. Moore's issues with the comic’s industry are borne of very personal grudges and he’s willing to use anyone in his orbit as fodder to damage those that dared to disrespect him. In a recent interview, with ‘Deadline’ Magazine, Moore again eviscerated the industry that made him a star, using metaphor's that would make the medium's most infamous critics blush. He suggests comics are responsible for infantalising their readers as well as the election of Donald Trump (who recently retweeted one of Moore's 'V for Vendetta' quotes, albeit in entirely the wrong context). Supporters suggest this is a joke, if it is it's an old one; in previous interviews he suggested the Klu Klux Klan were the inspiration behind superheroes and that the Mafia created the comics industry. He is now working in the more genteel and nobler Film industry, having cut his teeth a few years ago working on a since abandoned project with Hewlett Packard whose dalliances with fraud, bribery and Human Rights violations don't seem to have deterred him. In the ‘Deadline’ interview Moore says of the comic industry; “All of these characters have been stolen from their original creators, all of them. They have a long line of ghosts standing behind them“. The reality however is that in his entire career only Moore, not the companies that employed him, was involved in stealing from a fellow creator, damaging colleague's careers and livelihoods and ensuring that other's contribution to his critically acclaimed work was removed. HBO’s 2019 ‘Watchmen’ series; a sequel to the acclaimed 1985 comic series, was lauded by critics and audiences alike; sweeping the Emmy awards and even featuring on Barrack Obama's 'Best of 2019' list. This was even more impressive given the orchestrated campaign, by family, friends and fans of Moores, to boycott the series. These supporters parroted his declaration that his creations were “stolen” and “swindled” from him. The HBO series creator Damon Lindelof even spoke about how the guilt and angst he felt, as a result of Moore's claims, almost killed the project and has announced he will not work on the series in the future. In November 2019 Moore’s daughter and fellow writer, Leah Moore, tweeted a long missive regarding the morality of the HBO series, writing of her father: “His problem was that the medium he adored was ruled by corrupt despots, that the people who made that magic were abused, that their contribution was not valued, that it was stolen from them. He already hated that before Watchmen....So when it happened to him, and then again, and then again, it wasn't just a business deal gone awry, or a bit of bad luck, it broke him.”. Even Moore’s most famous protégé; the respected author Neil Gaiman (Stardust, Coraline, American Gods, Sandman) chimed in, tweeting to his millions of followers: “I’m not watching it. It might be brilliant but the taste in my mouth over Watchmen and how Alan was treated is too unpleasant, I’m afraid.“ (Gaiman is currently working for ‘Watchmen’ publishers and owners DC/Warner Bros on a Netflix project). Ironically Moore’s supporters’ tweets, while in no way reflective of the facts concerning DC’s treatment of him over ‘Watchmen’, are perfect when it comes to how he personally treated its precursor ‘Marvelman’s’ co-creator; artist Alan Davis. ‘Marvelman’ (later renamed ‘Miracleman’ for the US) was created before ‘Watchmen’ and similarly was a modern re-imagining and realistic take on a classic superheroes from vintage comics. A trope that would make Moore a star. Moore’s self-proclaimed victimisation is relatively recent given the 1985 genesis of the ‘Watchmen’ comics and only actually went mainstream in 2006, in the wake of the ‘V for Vendetta’ film. In an interview with the NY Times where he publicly launched his new rebooted history: “they were stolen from me, knowingly stolen from me." In Mr. Moore's account of his career, the villains are clearly defined: they are the mainstream comics industry, particularly DC Comics..... But by 1989, Mr. Moore had severed his ties with DC......Mr. Moore says he was objecting to language in his contracts that would give him back the rights to "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" when they went out of print, language that he says turned out to be meaningless, because DC never intended to stop reprinting either book. "I said, 'Fair enough,' " he recalls. "You have managed to successfully swindle me, and so I will never work for you again.”. This false narrative regarding his 'Watchmen' contract and it's standard 'rights reversion' clause is the one Moore and his supporters have stuck to ever since and reiterated dozens of times across media. Observers have questioned how someone who casually demonstrates a genius level of retention, recollection and understanding of the intricacies of everything from prehistoric practices to cutting edge quantum theory would be so ignorant of the standard reversion clauses in the most important contract he ever signed. Moore has an explanation for that; saying in numerous interviews that he'd never seen a contract before his ‘Watchmen’ contract, never properly read it or even got a solicitor to look at it for 25 years, telling Kurt Amacker in 2012: “Now, I've since seen the Watchmen contract, which obviously we didn't read very closely at the time. It was the first contract that I'd ever seen, and I believe that it was a relatively rare event for a contract to actually exist in the comics business.”. Moore's supposed naive ignorance concerning contacts doesn't even stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny. For his repeated defamatory description of DC's contracts to have any basis it depends on his co-creators, who also signed these contracts, being equally ignorant or gullible. His 'Watchmen' co-creator, artist Dave Gibbons, however has never publicly accused DC of “swindling” or “stealing” from him, while his 'V For Vendetta' co-creator artist David Lloyd (whom Moore says he actually persuaded to sell the creator owned title for the exact same 'Watchmen' deal years later) has stated that he is “very happy with the results of what DC have done with it, and I have no complaints.”. In a public audience, in 1986, Moore actually pointed out the basics of the standard reversion clause in his contract; “if the characters have outlived their natural life span and DC doesn’t want to do anything with them, then after a year we’ve got them and we can do what we want with them, which I’m perfectly happy with.”; no mention of a ‘time period’ or the ‘books going out of print’ as Moore now suggests. The following year in 1987, in between working on 'Watchmen' games and taking meetings with Hollywood producers who had optioned it, to ensure it's 'life span' to DC for years (In the late 90's he contacted Dave Gibbon's about ideas for a video game), Moore sold his V for Vendetta series for the same specific deal. At the time of signing his 'Watchmen' contract in 1985, Moore had already been a member of the British ‘Society of Strip Illustrators' for several years. The S.S.I. was an organisation for professionals in the comics industry that met regularly in London both socially for networking and formally for lectures, discussions and newsletter articles on Copyright, Syndication and Contracts. 'V For Vendetta' artist David Lloyd was even Chairman of the Society whilst Moore worked with him. Despite all the interviews he's given as the victim of a duplicitous contract that he ‘never looked at’, by 1985 Moore was already expert in contracts, copyright and creator's rights. He even showcased his comprehensive knowledge of the industry's contracts in a letter he sent in September 1984 to Marvel UK's Managing Director and Publisher Robert Sutherland. Moore sent the letter on both his and co-creator Alan Davis's behalf (though without consulting or informing Davis) regarding their contracts for Marvel UK clarifying specifically their creator's rights regarding copyright and the irrelevance of any “verbal agreement” under British copyright law regarding reprints. In the same letter Moore generously also offered to provide any additional information Sutherland might require to clarify any confusion he may have over contractual rights and copyright laws. This was a year before he now claims the 'Watchmen' contract was the first he'd ever seen. Despite Moore's current reference to assurances being given and “broken promises” regarding his 'Watchmen' contract, it's clear that he knew well that verbal agreements were worth the paper they were written on. Moore now also retroactively claims that he quit working for DC over the ‘Watchmen’ contract rights and this is the version of history bolstered by all his supporters, biographers and interviewers; this is a lie. He very publicly and famously at the time, quit working for DC in 1988 over a proposed labelling/rating issue that subsequently wasn't even introduced. In a 1991 interview he even conceded that his ‘Watchmen’ contract facilitated his being able to quit DC: “I don't own 'Watchmen', I don't own 'V for Vendetta', I don't own 'Marvel Man', I don't own 'Swamp Thing'. I get royalties from it, but that's a pretty recent innovation. 'Watchmen' has made me hundreds of thousands of pounds, but that's not a fraction of what DC made out of it. I'm one of the lucky ones, I'm somebody who became famous and have got enough financial clout to have some say in what they did with their lives”. In 2000, twelve years after he currently claims to have quit DC over ‘Watchmen’ rights, Moore was still working directly for them to promote new editions of the ‘Watchmen’ collection, ensuring an even greater extended 'life span', and spin-off merchandise and toys, with his blessing and improved profit participation. In an interview with Newsarama he clarified this: “Legally, DC doesn’t need my approval to bring out the toys or anything like that. They own the book, and they have exercised that option in the past 15 years”. But shortly before this ‘Watchmen’ 15th Anniversary marketing campaign could happen, DC angered him by refusing to publish (as was their right according to the new contracts Moore agreed to) a story inspired and illustrated by his then girlfriend (now wife) Melinda Gebbie. It was only after this perceived very personal snub (and personal grudges have always trumped creator's rights throughout his career) that he adopted the deliberately emotive narrative that 'DC had stolen ‘Watchmen’ and ‘V for Vendetta’ from him' (Moore knows well the power of words). Since then he’s used the media publicity around any high profile DC/Warner release of his work (that he happily signed contracts repeatedly for) to attack, insult and defame his employers, peers, audience and even friends regardless of the financial or reputational damage for his co-creators who don’t share his personal grudges or his considerable income. Moore realised that ‘creator’s rights’ was a far more noble whip to wield to justify his public flaying of fellow creators, than revenge over the refusal to print his and his then girlfriend’s work, as per the contract they both signed. As for the ‘Cheating, swindling and stealing’ Moore and his supporters regularly point to, in the only verifiable instance involving Moore; he was the instigator and his then closest co-creator was the victim. Prior to ‘Watchmen’, in 1984 Moore and artist Alan Davis had worked together for three years on four critically acclaimed series in the UK; ‘Captain Britain’, ‘Marvelman’, ‘DR & Quinch’ and ‘Night Raven’ when Moore secured much more lucrative US comics work from DC with the monthly ‘Swamp Thing’ comic and several other DC projects including one featuring their recently acquired Charlton Comics company characters, which would become the ‘Watchmen’. As his US workload increased Moore began quitting his much poorer paid UK work. Even though his artwork was on most of the stories that got Moore hired by the US, Alan Davis wasn't hired by DC and he had just quit his full time factory job to focus on his comics career. In 1985 Davis heard through the grapevine that Marvel US wanted to reprint the ‘Captain Britain’ strips which would have afforded him both his first exposure in the US Comics market as well as some financial stability, but Moore who had learnt of reprints months earlier, had secretly killed the deal, without discussing it with him or even subsequently informing him. To make matters worse, Davis learnt from a mutual friend that the only reason he did this was Moore felt Marvel Editor in Chief; Jim Shooter had 'disrespected' him when he visited the US Marvel offices in August 1984. Shooter told Moore he wasn't a fan of his DC 'Swamp Thing' as it was too 'Stephen Kingish' and much preferred his 'Captain Britain' work, which he planned to reprint. Once Moore returned to the U.K and confirmed he had more DC work commissioned, he set about killing the 'Captain Britain' reprints purely to spite Shooter, regardless of the serious collateral damage to his friend and co-creator's livelihood and career (an attribute Moore would later use again and again against other co-creators). Moore has offered two very different implausible explanations in multiple interviews and biographies; where he is always either a victim or a hero. One excuse is that he refused the reprint and quit working for Marvel in solidarity with a colleague who was fired (knowing how that would reflect poorly on Davis, who didn't quit). It's a commendable excuse; telling Lance Parkin in 2013: “As I remember it, when Bernie Jaye was fired, we were both of us filled with young man’s testosterone, you know, we both really liked Bernie, and as I remember it, we were both saying ‘well, that’s it for us and Marvel.'. The colleague referred to is Bernie Jaye; his and Davis' Editor on ‘Captain Britain’ and she wasn't fired. Jaye chose to leave the role for other pursuits in November 1983, and this was even acknowledged at that time by Moore who wrote (and Davis illustrated) a humorous ‘good luck’ strip, printed by her employers Marvel UK, bemoaning her decision to leave them. Moore did not even leave ‘Captain Britain’ for another 7 months until June 1984 when he quit all his UK work including 'Marvelman' and his 2000AD comic work. Moore's visit Marvel in New York where he met with Jim Shooter was in August 1984; almost a year after he now claims to have cut all ties with them. Moore's other commendable excuse for screwing over his colleague is equally false. In other interviews he claims he refused US Marvel permission to reprint ‘Captain Britain’ over their insistence (which he saw as “bullying”, a phrase he likes to use repeatedly against others) that 'Marvelman', be renamed over Marvel's copyright of the word “Marvel”. Except Marvel never said the character had to be renamed; in September 1984 Marvel UK's solicitors sent a letter to Dez Skinn; editor and owner of the UK publishers of ‘Marvelman’, Quality Publications. The letter stated that the word “Marvel” couldn’t appear on the title of a UK comic in the UK, where there was already several Marvel UK titles (weeklies and monthlies) featuring the word “Marvel” in their title, confusing the Newsagents who were ordering the comics. At this time Moore had already quit working for Quality Publications months earlier and despite neither creating or owning the 1950's 'Marvelman' character, nor being mentioned or even referenced in the letter (and despising Quality's Skinn to the extent of never talking to him again) says this letter led to him severing all ties with Marvel including the ‘Captain Britain’ reprints: telling biographer George Khoury “it was over the Marvelman thing that I decided wouldn't work with any kind of version of Marvel in the future.”. In fact Dez Skinn, the publisher of ‘Marvelman’, had already decided a year earlier to change the name for the US, having realised on a trip there in 1983 to sell or syndicate the strip, that no publisher (including Marvel) was interested in publishing a comic with 'Marvel' in the title and ironically the name change to “Miracleman” was in fact Moore's own idea. In his original pitch for ‘Marvelman’ in 1981 to Skinn, Moore suggested changing the title to 'Miracleman' should any copyright issues arise or if they were unable to secure permission to revamp the character from his original creator Mick Anglo. Even his noble vow never to work for Marvel in anyway shape or form wasn't true either. Moore went on to do exactly what he states he never did and worked (albeit outside of Jim Shooter's purview) for Marvel's 'Epic' magazine a year later in November 1985. His clandestine actions, which could have destroyed his closest co-creator's career and damaged Davis' and his families livelihood, were personal, and against a single individual; Jim Shooter (whom Moore later referred to as a “fuhrer” despite never working for him), but worse was to come. In early 1985, the same time as he was signing the 'Watchmen' Contract, Moore facilitated the actual theft from and swindling of his 'Marvelman/Miracleman' co-creator. At that time Davis still considered Moore a friend; they had spoken several times since Moore had quit his UK Titles and in all that time he never mentioned cancelling the 'Captain Britain' reprints months earlier. As soon as Davis found out he phoned Moore asking him to reconsider or at the very least explain himself. Davis recalls that Moore tried to justify his actions with “rambling nonsense” he knew wasn’t true; he'd already heard that it was over a perceived snub. Davis told Moore to undo the damage he'd done. That was the last time Moore ever spoke to him (another common experience with Moore’s co-creators) and carried on launching the series ‘Miracleman’ that they were partners on and held equal rights and ownership to. Davis felt he only had one recourse, to show Moore the effect refusing permission to reprint had on a co-creator. In July 1985, just before 'Miracleman' was due to be published in the US, Davis sent Moore two letters to his home, by both standard and registered post (which had to be signed for by the recipient) stating that he was refusing any and all permission for any of his 'Marvelman' artwork to be reprinted as well as any of the characters he had designed to be used in future issues. Davis made clear he had not signed any contract with Eclipse allowing them to reprint his work and he still genuinely believed at this stage, with one series reprint in limbo and another about to join it because of Moore’s actions, that “Alan would back down. At that time I still thought he was a friend who was acting like a temperamental child. I never thought he was capable of what he subsequently did”. Davis’ letters, by way of an olive branch and solution to the impasse, pointed specifically to Moore's own refusal of the 'Captain Britain' reprints as the sole cause for his own reciprocation, unequivocally making it clear that he could resolve the impasse. For his part Moore was desperate to get his acclaimed 'Marvelman'/'Miracleman' work to an American audience to solidify his reputation alongside 'Watchmen' and despite knowing that Davis had refused permission and hadn't signed any contract so wasn't being paid a cent, he proceeded to work on, write new material for and promote all the 'Miracleman' issues featuring Davis’ 'stolen artwork' and then wrote new stories featuring the characters Davis designed. Six years later when Moore had wrapped up his 'Miracleman' story having been paid and received royalties for all the issues, he gave the series to his friend Neil Gaiman to continue. Gaiman, who like Moore is another avowed champion of creator’s rights, later produced a ‘Miracleman’ statue based on Alan Davis’ design without contacting, licensing or paying him. When Moore addressed this issue in the book 'Poisoned Chalice' by Padraig O' Mealoid on Marvelman/Miracleman's history, he blamed others for it; the Editor and Publisher of 'Miracleman' stating they somehow tricked him into thinking Davis had signed a contract, committing to the exact opposite of what he had personally informed Moore he was doing and why. While the publishers Eclipse dubiously claimed they had a contract from Dez Skinn allowing them to reprint the series, the truth remains that Moore was the only person in the process who knew no such contract had been signed by Davis, exactly why he refused any reprint or use of his 'Marvelman' work, how to redress him and was the only person on earth who could do so. Speaking to O'Mealoid in 2010 Moore states: “I asked - I wanted something on paper that said that Alan Davis was OK with everything.....and promised me faithfully that they had got this paperwork, or they were getting it, and if I could just start writing, then they would be getting it to me. They never got it to me, because it didn't exist, and I felt that Alan Davis had probably felt that I was party to screwing him, which was not the case, and was regrettable.”. In a later interview, this time with Lance Parkin in 2013, Moore decided to insult Davis, making his own failed attempts to avoid “screwing” him all the more admirable; “By the time I was enmired with Eclipse I wasn’t in contact with Alan Davis, and I was totally at the mercy of what I was being told by[Eclipse editors]Cat Yronwode and Dean Mullaney . . . genuinely the reason I was stickling over delivering new work to Eclipse was because, while I didn’t much like Alan Davis at that point, and I thought he was a bit of a grumpy person who I hadn’t got any interest in talking to again, I didn’t want him to be cheated. I didn’t want anyone to be cheated. “. Even though Moore doesn't elaborate on why he felt the need to demean his co-creator (other than to make himself all the more admirable in his fruitless efforts to stop Davis being cheated, whilst knowingly cheating him), Moore’s supporters can now at least understand why Alan Davis might have been a bit 'grumpy'. Every single book or interview has accepted and promoted Moore’s implausible and factually impossible accounts on previously reported events. I asked Padraig O'Mealoid, who interviewed both Moore and Davis for his “comprehensive” Book on 'Miracleman'; ‘A Poisoned Chalice’ why he didn't focus on any of the facts, revealed to him by Davis (or Eclipse Editor Cat Yronwode), that reflected negatively on Moore. O' Mealoid responded that the reason he didn't confront or even correct Moore was he didn't want to disagree with him and wouldn't report any damaging facts about people who “are friends of mine”. O’Mealoid also dutifully echoed Moore’s claim that Yronwode was to blame for all of Davis’s mistreatment despite never meeting her, not interviewing her and ignoring all her evidence to contradict Moore’s account because ‘he didn’t like her’. Moore has now cut off all contact with his “friend” over something he wrote, though O' Mealoid admits he doesn't know what. This is a common experience with Moore's assosciates, co-creators, peers and friends; disagree with him, or more commonly if he thinks you have, he'll attack and defame you to his much wider audience. For someone who has repeatedly hailed his own (false) travails against bullying, Moore has an extremely long history of employing it, especially against those who don't have his means or stock with the media to defend themselves. Davis' treatment was the most egregious but his 'Swamp Thing' and ‘John Constantine’ co-creator and former friend Steve Bissette can't reprint a creator-owned series ‘1963’, he and almost a dozen others worked on and would benefit from; because Moore refuses permission purely to spite him. Without Bissette, two of Moore’s most lucrative creator owned works might not exist, he commissioned and funded Moore and artists Eddie Campbell 'From Hell' and Moore’s and his future wife Melinda Gebbie's 'Lost Girls' for his own anthology magazine ‘Taboo’. 'From Hell' one of Moore's most popular works owes its existence to the fact Bissette turned down an initial submission by Moore, telling him it wasn't scary enough. Not only did Bissette suggest and approach Eddie Campbell as the artist for the project, but years later after Moore, busy on more lucrative work for hire projects, allowed the ownership of 'From Hell' to fall into the hands of third party, it was Bissette who encouraged Campbell to regain control to reprint the work. Despite his midwifery he never received nor ever sought any of the millions of dollars those works generated, Bissette took pains to ensure the creators of the work he commissioned had full ownership and rights. When it came to re-printing the creator owned ‘1963’ they both worked on however, Moore refused permission. Apparently (Moore has never clarified) he objected to something Bissette said in an interview, (an interview he courteously sent to Moore in advance for approval before publishing). By punishing Bissette for an unknown transgression, all the dozen other artists and contributors involved are collateral in Moore’s revenge; denied any reprint exposure, fees and royalties. Worse still Bissette doesn't even have to be involved in a project for a co-creator to feel Moore’s wrath. 'In Pictopia' is considered by many to be Moore's finest work, even though most of his audience have never seen it. Written by Moore and illustrated by artist Don Simpson (with assistance from Mike Kazaleh, Pete Poplaski and Eric Vincent) it was a clever, poignant and terrifying tale of the familiar archetypal denizens of a comic book city; a premise Moore would revisit, without co-creator Simpson, years later with his 'Top 10' comic for DC. Neither Moore nor Simpson were paid for 'In Pictopia', as the project was for charity, but while Moore reaps the royalties from the multiple reprints of books with his name on the cover, Simpson has the misfortune of being amongst the collateral casualties of Moore's revenge against Steve Bissette, on the only other Moore work he co-created; ‘1963’. 'In Pictopia' was reprinted in 2 tribute collections of Moores’s short stories dedicated to and approved by Moore; with his name writ large in the titles. Currently a victim of Covid’s harsh economy, Simpson was approached to reprint 'In Pictopia' in its own dedicated book and in a format that would better reflect the artwork, but Moore won't allow his co-creator use his name to promote or sell the book; aware of the sales effect this will have. Despite polite enquiries, Simpson still doesn’t know why but suspects Moore’s vendetta against Bissette may be the reason. Even though he isn’t in any way involved in the project (he had been suggested but recused himself from writing an introduction to the reprint) Moore repeatedly refers to Bissette as a “pathological liar” in correspondence to Simpson denying use of his name on the story he wrote; which would be ironic if it weren’t so sad. Don Simpson is currently working through the pandemic on the night shift at a plastics factory while Moore still collects royalties from the work for hire 'Top 10' DC series their work together inspired. Still referred to as a champion for creators rights across the media, the only one’s that matter and have ever mattered to Moore are his own, his bibliography illuminates as much. He started his career using characters created by others, even his ‘Watchmen’ pitch was intended to feature obscure characters created by others (but DC baulked at the tone and insisted on new original pastiches). Post ‘Watchmen’ for over 30 years he has signed lucrative Work-For-Hire contract after contract featuring other creator’s characters and even his most recent self-owned work has featured a myriad of historical fictional characters created by other authors. Meanwhile he incandescently rages, demeans and defames, through any outlet, anyone and those in their orbit who works on characters he co-created and sold. The Comics Industry he loathes made Moore a millionaire, he was the highest paid writer in the industry, he made a small fortune just from selling his own film options and receives more in royalties in retirement than most of his co-creators put together. Enjoying a frugal modest lifestyle Moore, unlike like many of his co-creators never needs to work or worry about money again. He can easily afford to use his own creator’s rights to stop reprints and their income to punish co-creators he deems have transgressed against him regardless of who else is affected. The “Gangster” and “Corrupt” corporations that Moore rails against for “Stealing”, “Swindling” and “driving creators to an early grave” demonstrably treat creators far better than Moore does; it was Marvel Comics who recognised and addressed all the legal costs and remunerated 'Marvelman'’s co-creator Alan Davis and all the other talents involved. In response to Marvel finally clearing up the copyrights mess and ensuring all parties were properly financially compensated, Moore insists his name be removed from all reprints and collections of his work, because y'know; Marvel. DC comics pays the ‘1963’ talent better royalties on their DC work for hire than the work they actually own and co-created with Moore. Both media giants Marvel and DC acknowledge and credit the original creators of their characters, while Moore who owns and has complete creative control over his more recent works ‘League Of Extraordinary Gentleman’ and ‘Lost Girls’ doesn’t even acknowledge the creators of the central characters he uses. In every single instance where Moore himself can dictate it, he is the only author credited in his works centred on other author's characters. There isn't even 'thanks to' the original creators of Jekyll and Hyde, Captain Nemo, Professor Moriarty, Alice, Wendy, Dorothy and many others. Despite the premise of these books, the history, characterisation, promotion and even some of the sales appeal of these new works being dependant on their creations. They are deliberately forgotten and any contribution to Moore’s own work erased. Even with the printed evidence, Moore and his supporters truly subscribe to his daughter Leah’s 2019 explanation for his hatred of the comic's industry: “His problem was that the medium he adored was ruled by corrupt despots, that the people who made that magic were abused, that their contribution was not valued, that it was stolen from them. He already hated that before Watchmen.”. Amongst those he’s disowned are ‘V For Vendetta' artist David Lloyd who has been described by Moore as “wretched” and an ungrateful, insulting hypocrite while 'Watchmen' artist Dave Gibbons has been painted by Moore as unscrupulous, disloyal and greedy. Moore's last public comments on his most prominent co-creator and friend for over 3 decades come from a 2016 interview with Dominic Wells; “Moore [Northampton accent suddenly stronger in anger]: “Dave Gibbons. Oi hope Oi never see that fucker for as long as Oi live.” (said to a fan on the street who congratulated him for 'Watchmen'). Moore's disregard for other creator's doesn't just extend to whitewashing them and their work. In 2006 Moore released a graphic novel through publisher Top Shelf, illustrated by his now wife Melinda Gebbie; 'Lost Girls'. The book featured famous characters from children's literature; Alice from 'Alice in Wonderland', Dorothy from 'The Wizard Of Oz' and Wendy from 'Peter Pan'. The character's established origins and fictional histories, created by others were crucial in the promotion, marketing and even narrative of the book and as with the other works owned by Moore where he controls the acknowledgements, the three creators of the central characters are forgotten. Annoyingly for Moore though, one of those authors created a problem with selling the $75 book in Great Britain, which had sold out of approximately 35,000 copies in the US alone. In his will, J.M. Barrie bequeathed all his copyrights to 'Peter Pan' to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital; so that sick children would benefit from his creations, and under EU law this copyright which granted the Hospital control over the use of the characters as well as a royalty entitlement didn't expire until 2008. Moore and his publisher had never consulted or sought permission from the hospital to publish the book and couldn't do so in the UK without their permission until January 1st 2008. Their solution was simple; ignore Pan's creator's bequest and simply delay publishing in the UK until after the hospital's copyright expired. As he did the media rounds for the books release in the US, Moore used the sick children's hospital to create publicity and promote the book in the UK. First he did an interview with the BBC (and although it was decided to delay UK publication till the hospital's copyright expired) where he suggested that the hospital was trying ban his book, as nothing generates better publicity in the book market than the notion of a banned book. After devising the notion of the banning, he then went on in the interview to argue against his own invention: "I don't really see that you can ban anything in this day and age. It wasn't our intention to try to provoke a ban,". But at this time, when Moore was referring to his actions in the past tense, neither he nor 'Lost Girls' publisher had been in contact with the hospital, who had no idea of the book's existence. Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital didn't even learn of the book’s use of Barrie's creations until a journalist phoned them, after the interview was broadcast, to ask why they were banning it. Moore's 'banning' generated publicity that couldn't be bought across the world, leading to retailers in the UK and elsewhere buying in copies from the Publisher’s US stock to sell at a premium. Moore carried on exploiting his non-existent ban, expressing bemusement on it in subsequent interviews, telling the AV Club he couldn't see any reason why a sick children's hospital would want safeguard a valuable source of revenue: “I tend to think this is a bit of a storm in a teacup.....I think they seem to be making a bit more of it than I'd expected from people who've been gifted by a fantasy writer. It seemed a bit odd that they should take on so vociferously.”. 'Lost Girl's' was published in the UK in January 2008 for £50 and subsequently published Europe wide. There has been three different updated versions published in the UK alone, not including a recent digital release, but despite all the references to 'promises', 'verbal agreements' and 'moral agreements' cited by Moore and his supporters of his own history with publishers of his work, Moore and his publishers ‘forgot’ something. While EU law ensured that Great Ormond Streets Hospital's copyright and control of Peter Pan; it's character's and adaptations thereof ceased in 2007, a bill recognising the Hospital's work was passed in 1988 in the UK (the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988) which specifically granted Great Ormond Street an extension, in perpetuity. This extension does not allow the Hospital to retain copyright but does ensure that they are legally entitled to a royalty for all UK published works (in print and digital) that feature adaptations of Barrie's characters. As Moore said in an interview in 2006 regarding the hospital's 'banning' of his work: “Not to condescend or overlook Great Ormond Street Hospital, and I mean, me and Melinda and [Top Shelf publisher] Chris Staros have got no problems with giving them a royalty or something. It's a children's hospital, you know? Who's going to say no?”. Which is very noble, but also an actual obligation as per the 1988 extension. So how much did Moore and or his publishers contribute to the sick children's hospital over the last 12 years? When contacted in late 2020 regarding royalties generated in the UK by 'Lost Girls', from either Moore or Gebbie or publisher Top Shelf or even UK publisher Knockabout a spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital confirmed they hadn't received any contributions or donations from the named parties or others relating to 'Lost Girls' to date. Although his supporters all point to Moore's cherishing of creator's rights in spite of his repeated victimhood as the reason for his constant attacks on the medium, industry, friends and fans that made him, the only thing that Moore has actually held dearly throughout his career is personal grudges. For all his claims of being the victim of liars, thieves, bullies and blacklists, the only actual examples that facts support, are where he's a pathological liar, the defamatory bully or the perpetrator or instigator of fraud and theft. As a writer Moore is a genius, but as a person he's a paranoid, vindictive individual, with a magical ability to charm and manipulate interviewers. Most pertinently as an advocate or figurehead for principled ethical and moral creator's rights he's the epitome of hypocrisy.
Megathread: Joe Biden announces Kamala Harris as his running mate | Part II
Former Vice President Joe Biden has named Senator Kamala Harris of California to be his running mate in the 2020 presidential election. Megathread Part I
Popheads Album of the Year 2020 #35: The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form
Artist: The 1975 Album: Notes on a Conditional Form | Alternate Cover Art | 🥾🌍 Label: Dirty Hit | Polydor Release Date: May 22, 2020 Total Runtime: 1 hour, 20 minutes Listen Here: Apple Music | Spotify | Youtube Music | Youtube Playlist Discussion: Popheads Fresh Thread A Boring Artist Intro The 1975 are a British synth-pop-rock band consisting of singer Matty Healy, leading guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel. Healy is also the primary songwriter and Daniel does a lot of the production work on their tracks. The members met in high school and formed the band while they were still teens playing assorted gigs. Though they first "formed" in 2002, they wouldn't release their first work as The 1975 until 2012. Prior to 2020 the band had released three albums: The 1975 (2013), I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it (2016), and A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018). While they haven't had a top ten hit single type song yet, they've been fairly well-known and watched in the music sphere since their first album. Album Intro When Notes on a Conditional Form was first "announced" (in a sense) it was their third album and titled Music for Cars. Eventually, the band decided to split the Music for Cars album into a two-album era, starting with 2018's A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships and ending with some unnamed album to be released in mid-2019. Eventually the album got a release date, a title, and a... memorable piece of cover art (🥾🌍) before being pushed back. Then pushed again. And again. And again. Until suddenly it was 7 singles, a new album art, and nearly a year later before the band actually remembered that there was supposed to be an album tying together all these songs they kept releasing. After enough delay Notes on a Conditional Form finally released on May 22, 2020, more than a year after it was first announced. The reception for the album was pretty mixed to say the least. The Metacritic average sits at a nice 69 right now, but the individual scores range from a stellar 5/5 from NME to a dismal single star from The Independent UK. Fans were also mixed on the album, with some finding the album a departure from their previous sound and overly bloated, and others enjoying the experimentation and change of pace (with many other criticisms and praises in between). The album wasn't the only thing to attract mixed reception for the band. The 1975 themselves had a fairly controversial year. I guess that's not really fair. More accurately Matty Healy had a bit of a controversial year. From complaining about independent content creators trying to market themselves during the pandemic to using the George Floyd protests to promote one of the band's songs it was an eventful era on Twitter for Matty, who eventually deactivated his account after the latter incident. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, they've also had to cancel their planned tour dates for the era. Instead they confirmed they are working on their next album. Luckily they seem to have learned from their mistakes and not announced a release date just yet. Tracklist The album has a total of 22 tracks. 22 damn tracks. Uh, do I have to review all of them? No? Good.
...
Well that was my first thought process anyways. However, to understand and dissect this album I really have to talk about both what works, and what doesn't. And after including almost all of the album anyways I figured I might as well go all in. If there are a few tracks that get a little less focus I apologize, but I did have to make sure I fit in my 40,000 character limit somehow. Is this write-up going to be long-winded, full of confusing takes, and possibly completely incorrect? Probably. But isn't that really what this album's all about anyway? So. Here we go. 22 songs. Let's get started. MaybeIshouldhavecampaignedharderforaKeshawriteupinstead Track 1: The 1975 Pre-release track (July 24, 2019) | Popheads Discussion
It's time to rebel
Another album, another track titled after the band. While not an official single, this was the first official piece to be released for the album. The track notably features a spoken word piece by climate activist, teenager, and apparent mortal enemy to 50-year old American conservatives, Greta Thunberg. I don't really have much to say outside of giving praise to Greta for this piece. It lies out the cold, hard truth, while keeping things (very tentatively) optimistic. It's a call to action to a very important problem. Is it a little... self-indulgent to include this to the start of your album that otherwise has very little to do with climate action? Yes. It's very 1975 of them and as you may see a few more times later on, it's the perfect fit to start off this album.
Nearly a month after the premier opening track, People became the first "official" single released. If you thought you knew what The 1975 was about, this track changed the tone of things completely. It was aggressive and loud and nowhere close to the usual synthpop sound the band was associated with. Unfortunately for those who enjoyed this new direction, this is pretty much the only occurrence of it on the entire album. I have to say that I appreciated it a lot more as a single than I do on the album. It's just kind of placed with really no reason. If it wasn't the only track to go this hard, or if it was placed further in to break up the album a bit maybe it could have worked. At the very least it fits nicely with the opening track, venting Matty's frustrations of the state of the world. While the sound isn't very 1975, the idea definitely is.
You lot just leave / I'll stay behind / I'm sorry 'bout my frail state of mind
After "The 1975" and "People", "Frail State of Mind" fit in a lot closer with previous perceptions of the band, though a little more electronic influenced than much of their previous work. The lyrics are based around feelings of depression, social anxiety, and fear of disappointment. The production is a little chaotic, but given the subject material it really works well. There's a lot to talk about for this song but, the final set of lyrics are some of the most heartbreaking on the album. Matty is isolating himself due to fears of bringing down the mood ("Don't wanna bore you with my frail state of mind"). His friends snap back at him and tell him he's faking it ("Oh, winner, winner, that's your biggest lie. I'm sure that you're fine"). Matty responds back that his struggles are real ("I haven't told a lie in quite some time"). Only for his friends to respond that they'll leave him if he doesn't bottle his real feelings ("You know we'll leave if you keep lying. Don't lie behind your frail state of mind"). I always perceived this as an imagined conversation in the mind of someone with social anxiety. He wants to open up, but is afraid that it will end up pushing his loved ones away. As someone who tends to overthink conversations way too much, these fears and unneeded worries are very much present in many interactions. There are times you want to open up, but the fear of things going wrong prevents any changes, positive or negative, from occurring. On the other interpretation, it being an actual conversation is probably even more heartbreaking as his friends don't trust him at all and instead tell him off for ditching them under the guise of mental health. Unfortunately it's not unusual for mental health to be completely ignored in favour of keeping up a façade of strength so it really can feel like there is no winning at times.
I thought that I was stuck in Hell / In a boring conversation with a girl called Mel / 'Bout her friend in Cincinnati called Matty as well
The lyrics for this song take a 'slice of life' style approach. It's a song structured as if it's all taking place during someone's party (per the title). It's fairly light-hearted on the surface, so I always imagined it as a backyard barbeque on a warm summer day. Though it seems to just be about the party at a glance, the lyrical content of the track actually heavily ties into Matty's past experiences with addiction and his recovery. ("There's a place I've been going / Now that I'm clean"). The song's outro lyrics build on it, with his reliance on his friends to typically keep him in line ("I depend / On my friends / To stay clean / As sad as it seems"). Lyrically, it can seem pretty boring to some. He's at a party, talks with some people, not much happens. But I think the song embraces the normalcy of life vs. the appeal of relapse. The party isn't lacking any "interesting" developments, but Matty turns down the advances (mostly) and sticks to the party. He's not really enjoying his time, but he's knows it's better than the aftermath of any alternatives. He still has a long way to go (as he does still try to go for a kiss at one point), so he still relies on his friends to keep him in check. It's not complete control, but it's a start.
Time feels like it's changed, I don't feel the same
With the latest stop on the genre tour bus of NOACF, we're back on the electronic side. It's a nice track, but in my opinion a little forgettable in the broad scope of the album. If you're going to have 22 tracks you should make every one count. The beat's nice, but it feels a little out of place. I do like the lyric "Time feels like it's changed, I don't feel the same", but otherwise not much is going on with only two short verses of content. Unless you want to be told to "Hit that shit" about 20 or 30 times, I don't think many will remember this song for long. It sounds like a draft they came up with, said they'd come back to work on it, and then completely forgot about it after releasing the album.
We're supposed to leave by half-past eight / Will you stay or wait?
Unfortunately, this is another one of the tracks that I group with "Yeah I Know" in the "Oh yeah I forgot this was on the album"-category. The 1975 again lean back toward a more pop-rock sound compared to their electronic outing in the previous track. Unfortunately, it hits almost the exact same pitfall where nothing interesting really happens . It seems that in this relationship, one side is a little more (or way-too-much-more) invested in the relationship than the other. Matty's begging with his partner ("You are mine, I’ve been drowning in you", "When you leave, I cry on the inside", etc., etc.). While she seems... a little apprehensive about the whole thing to say the least. By the end of the song he is in the same scenario as the previous chorus and again asks "Will you stay or wait". Thematically, it's kind of fitting how short the song is. Nothing has really changed since the previous time the question was asked. And we never really see how his partner feels about all this. Both the song and the relationship seems all very... rushed. The problem is whether that's by design or if it's another case of a song being left on the drawing board for too long.
I'm in love with a boy I know / But that's a feeling I can never show
For one of the first collaborations on any of their songs, the band brings on indie treasure Phoebe Bridgers (stream Punisher) as a guest vocalist. Compared to the rest of the album, the track is stripped down to its barest form. A song doesn't need to become acoustic to have emotional depth, but the sparse nature of the instrumentation brings out the lyrics nicely. The track is told from the point of view of two closeted individuals at odds with their sexuality and their religion. The lead has fallen into the hole of gay doubt, while continually confirming his love for Jesus Christ (a man) throughout the song . He's assumed that he was straight his whole life such that once he realizes that he is this "demonized gay" his feelings of love aren't happy, but frightening to him ("I'm in love but I'm feeling low"). Phoebe is experiencing similar problems. She also finds herself pining after someone of the same gender ("I'm in love with the girl next door / Her name's Claire"). The similarities keep coming, as she has also become very attracted to her friend and she clearly knows it ("Nice when she comes 'round to call / Then masturbate the second she's not there"). So they hold their feelings inside, hoping that something will change (I'm sure something many of us may have tried, and failed, at some point). Joining together, the chorus takes a somewhat sarcastic tone to both leads' dilemmas as if their devotion will suddenly fix everything. They both know that they're stuck in a dead end with their beliefs ("Fortunately I believe, lucky me"). They've been told their whole lives that religion can fix their 'problems', but both know in their hearts that they've been looking for acceptance in the wrong spots ("I'm searching for planes in the sea, and that's irony"). And even though I never grew up religious, I definitely relate to the struggles of finding self-acceptance and it's a beautiful song because of that.
I'll take a minute when I think I won't die from stopping
Roadkill decides to not do electronic OR pop-rock and instead goes a country-esque route. This song is definitely meant to be taken comedically. I mean how could it not with lyrics about literally pissing himself. Still, it's had its fair share of controversy. There was brief complaints about Matty using the f-slur, despite not being LGBTQIA2S+ himself. For the most part, it didn't stir up too much trouble. He was recounting a real life event that happened to him and he didn't want to mince words. Though I get why people are frustrated with it. Perhaps if this was his first problem it wouldn't have been as big a deal, but by the time the album came out he already had a few bouts with the controversy bull. There was also some minor controversy relating to the line "And I took shit for being quiet during the election / And maybe that's fair, but I'm a busy guy". Or more so, their silence during the UK's 2019 general election. And then telling people off for expecting them to speak up about politics. I don't know why out of all the 1975 faults this one annoyed so much, but it just kind of culminated their other issues together into one pointless line. I think what hurts the band the most is their calls for other artists to speak up about injustices then they just brush things like this off when asked. Like how hard would it have been to give some canned apology? Or at least ignore it? But no, this is The 1975! They need to have an opinion on something, even when that opinion is not having an opinion. And not speaking up because "You're a busy guy". With what? Recording the filler for this album? There are times when radio silence on an issue is fine, but given the current state of politics and the events that happened in elections around the globe why is it something you want to twiddle your thumbs about. I agreed with their reasoning that people shouldn't listen to musicians for political advice, but that doesn't mean people don't. Normally I wouldn't be as critical of something like this for most other artists, but when a band goes around saying they're politically motivated, then do nothing of the sort, it all feels a little disingenuous. ...Oh yeah there's other parts to this song too. The rest of the lyrics are pretty innocuous in relation. Singing about the stresses of touring. I'll admit The country sound actually works quite well with the band. I'd probably like it if the noted parts didn't exist. Yeah the song is a nice little a jam, but all it does when is remind me of all the parts of The 1975 I loathe. I'm sure everyone has at least reminder of how far up their own ass The 1975 can be at times and this one is mine.
Me & You Together Song was the band's 3rd single and probably has the most similar sound to the band's previous work. Really you could fit it on one of their early EP's and it wouldn't feel too out of place. It's upbeat enough to jam to, while also having some wistful lyrics to give a bit of depth. It's the classic "one friend falls for the other, but the other doesn't feel the same" trope. It doesn't look like the relationship is going to develop at all, but that doesn't stop the pining. Really this is the song that Then Because She Goes wishes it was. Matty does a much better outlining the shared relationship between him and this girl and their history. Many compared it to the standard rom-com movies that were all too prevalent in the 2000's and I completely get their comparison. It's a great light-hearted break from the emotional weight of the rest of the album. It also helps that the song is super fun to jam out to with some of the best guitar work and vocal delivery on the album.
I Think There's Something You Should Know hops back off the acoustic-country-pop-rock train to the electronic side of the album. Lyrically it takes a similar path as "Frail State" did earlier: Matty's trying to open up to someone else that he's not in a great mental state right now. He feels like the fame is getting to him and although he's doing well in the band, it's at the cost of his health. By external measures he is "successful", but it really doesn't feel that way. It's like when he hears that "The 1975 is successful" it's someone else that is experiencing that success, a false image of him in the limelight. He wishes he could be that successful person ("I'd like to meet myself and swap clothes"), but his mental health is holding him back from feeling happy with himself. As he puts it "You get a moment when you feel alright", but it still doesn't change the fact that he feels miserable behind everything.
Life feels like a lie / I need something to be true / Is there anybody out there?
This track is my personal favourite of the non-singles. It also has some of the more interesting production choices on the album. Matty Healy decides that if there's anything a synth-pop-rock band like The 1975 could use, it would be some psuedo-rapping. By him. And somehow I still like the song. I don't know if I'd say it worked... but it doesn't ruin the song in any capacity. Really if there's anything more fitting of an album released during quarantine it's this existential track. The chorus especially is the kind of cathartic experience that makes you want to shout out after being stuck inside for weeks at a time. The song deals with Matty building up false history for himself that doesn't really fit his current lifestyle anymore. He's told so many lies passed off as truth that it's getting hard to hold onto them any more. At the time a single lie seems like a fine idea, but then it builds and builds and suddenly he doesn't like what he has become anymore. He knows it's not him. At this point he just wants to open up to someone, but the things they know about him aren't even real. This is him finally hoping to give some truth and become a person he enjoys being, if that's even possible any more.
The production alone on this track already makes it one of my favourites on the album. Despite the upbeat nature, the lyrics hit the sweet spot of painfully sad and trying not to seem too bothered. Following the previous track, Tonight also deals with making mistakes that might be too far along to fix. The lyrics land neatly in a spot we can all relate with, messing something up for yourself so bad that you just have to sit down and think "What the fuck was I thinking" and trying not to break down. In this case, it's issues in his romantic life. At this point, the relationship is pretty much over so all he can do now is reflect on what went wrong. I really love the lyrics "And it's been replaying on my mind / Unfortunately, I've been to this place in my life / Far too many times / Sunday's nearly over, so I'll just lie awake" cause I think we've all had a time when there's nothing left to do but sit in your bed thinking about what went wrong. But it's Sunday, there's no time to reflect as life will continue on as normal once Monday comes around. As one could maybe guess from the title, he's now at the point where he finally realizes what he lost, but it's a little too late. As Matty says quite aptly in the chorus, "Tonight, I think I fucked it royally".
While there are lyrics to this song, I just count it as another instrumental track. Out of all of the hit/miss tracks on the album I've found this one has been the most controversial. It's definitely interesting, I'll give it that for sure. But it just feels so out of place. Some people will really enjoy this, but it's not for me.
Maybe I would like you better if you took off your clothes
So two things I've learned from looking into this song. 1) It's not actually about just taking off your clothes for a nude video call 2) Okay, it actually still kind of is about taking off your clothes for a nude video call But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself at the moment. "If You're Too Shy" takes a page out of the book of the previous albums' "It's Not Living" and "The Sound" and goes all out. With the bombastic chorus, an amazing sax solo, and lyrics 10x more catchy than they have any right to be, it's hard not to bop along. It also features the first appearance of FKA Twigs (stream Don't Judge Me) on the album as a backing vocalist. Really the song is so bright and upbeat that I almost don't care what it's about. He could be describing a perfect recipe for banana bread, or talking about how nice the weather is. Regardless, there is still a lyrical part of this song. And what subject are we onto this time? Why, sexy online messaging of course! Which is actually… pretty fitting for when the track was released considering many were stuck in lockdown. Matty still has a lot of the same fears as other songs on the album, but here we can see him start to build up his confidence. All so he can show off his privates to some random internet lady. Just kidding. (Kind of). Though the lyrics are played a bit tongue in cheek, it's not literally talking about calls in the nude (well, I guess it still could be but it's not the principal focus anyways). Really the removal of clothes is the singer opening up and letting this woman see him at his most revealed and vulnerable, both mentally andmaybephysically.
I think I've seen the side of every road / They all lead somewhere, I've been told
Sad acoustic 1975 time? Then let's bring Phoebe Bridgers back again on backing vocals! Continuing the anxious theme of the past, the lyrics follow up by looking toward the future and figuring out how Matty's going to fuck that up instead. Or at least how he think he will. And how he thinks he already has. From the starting "Will I live and die in a band?". We've got a window into a bunch of his biggest worries in life. It's easy to get caught up in your own mind sometimes. As shown from previous tracks on the album, it's not like he lacks regrets. Is there anything that he can do to stop creating more? If he thinks about his life in advance will it prevent him from making the same mistakes? Not likely. Turns out messing up is just a part of life. "See, I keep getting this stuff wrong, take me out, put me on". Still, it's hard not to worry when it keeps happening again and again.
The final instrumental of the album and, honestly, the only one I actually remember exists. The 6 minute runtime allows the track to actually build up and do something interesting. The instruments on the track take on elements from house and trance music. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but at least it feels like they thought about how it should fit onto the album unlike the other two (and a half) instrumentals.
What should I say? / Tell 'em the things that you told me / What should I say?
Before diving too far into the lyrical side, can I talk about how fantastic the production is here!? This is second track on the album to feature backing vocals from Twigs and another that follows the electronic influence. Twigs provides some absolutely haunting vocal effects throughout the song. It's all very controlled for the most part, yet something there's an air of anxiety to the vocals, plus the production keeps up the speed and doesn't slow down. The lyrics aren't too detailed, but the minimal use of words is all that's needed. So let's go back to "Roadkill" and all the other controversies caused by Matty putting his foot in his mouth. This song (along with Frail State and Tonight) really help me understand The 1975 "please Matty stop talking" experience from his side. Really it's about how anxious Matty feels being in the public eye. This track in particular shows his particular issue of not knowing what to do or say under pressure, but still feeling the pressure to say something. Anything. Despite practicing what to do and what to say in advance, he still feels the heat and often messes up because of it. He's looking for any kind of excuse for his behaviour, but at the end of the day he feels that it's all on himself. Sometimes he doesn't understand what he said to cause pushback ("Must have been something you were saying"), but it doesn't always stop him from panicking about it. Sometimes he does finally realize the full impact of his words ("What did I say"), but it's already too late.
And leaving you here is the thing that I fear, so I fight it
Another track following on the electronic train. The production on this one is nice, but after 19 songs before this I couldn't blame people if they forgot it. At this point the band probably would have had enough music for a full electronic-inspired album instead of this weird hybrid. According to Matty, the song is about a couple taking the words "til death do us part" literally. The lead is trying to hold on to life to avoid leaving his partner behind. Asking "Do you want to leave at the same time?" in the chorus refers to the act of passing on together. It's a sweet song that probably could have been built on a little more (especially since it was one of the last to be added to the album), but it works for the most part.
On "Don't Worry", we've got the albums third feature, Tim Healy (Matty's father). In fact, he's the one who wrote most of the lyrics! I don't have much to say about the track itself. It's a sweet ballad (a common theme with these last 3 tracks) told to a loved one. In specific this case father to son, but it's general enough to apply to any relationship. It's a song of reassurance. Given the fears and anxieties that have been expressed earlier in the album, it's always good to know that someone is in your corner, whether it's family (this song) or friends (the next).
You guys are the best thing that ever happened to me
The seventh and final single released also happens to be the final track of the album. Guys is a sickeningly sweet song giving thanks to Matty's bandmates for sticking with him after all this time. Lyrically it’s very specific to Matty’s own experiences - living with his friends, being in a band with his friends, traveling to Japan with his friends, etc. And at the end of the day this is the sincere closer the album needed. I'm going to be honest, I'm kind of a sucker about nostalgic tracks like this. Say what you want about the posturing and pretentiousness of the other songs, but anyone can tell that this is an earnest effort to give genuine thanks to his friends. Really it (and also The Birthday Party) does a good job showing that the band isn't primarily making music for the fame or the fans or the money. They just enjoy what they do; it's all something they started together and its what drives them to continue. The true Notes were the friends he made along the way, in a way. Another thing this track made me realize is that I truly believe everything Matty Healy says out loud he fully believes in. Are some of his takes incredibly useless, shortsighted, and ignorant? Oh for sure. But I don't believe he's doing it to get any sort of clout. Him and the rest of the band are a bunch of friends from some town out of England that have managed a monumental growth to stardom. They aren't always prepared so they do what they think is best. Is that an excuse for some of the shit he pulls sometimes? Definitely not. At the end of the day they're all grown adults that can be accountable for their own actions. But the track, and the album as the whole, help show why Matty feels he needs to speak all the time, his anxieties with fame and life, and how he can still keep going forward with the band's music. Overall Thoughts On the Album It's a mess for sure. And I love it. It's a mess and I love it. I love it because it's a mess. I'm not sure I would love it as much if it wasn't a mess. Odd eh? Despite all my gripes about the band and the album, I still love it. I think this would probably be the last 1975 album I would recommend newcomers listen to, but it does a great job (whether intentional or not) capturing their essence. I still think "If You're Too Shy" is my favourite track on its own, but "Guys" ties everything together so perfectly. It's responsible for it being an album I can say I enjoy as a whole, instead of a collection of tracks I kind of like. Are there songs that I skip nearly every time I listen to the album? 100%. But at least I can tell what the band was trying to accomplish. Also want to mention the non-single combo of I Think There's Something You Should Know - Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied - Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy) - Playing On My Mind - What Should I Say is a captivating and underrated representation of fear and anxiety. It's not a far departure from the themes of their earlier work, but it works for a reason. It's a great imperfect album. There are some parts that get on my nerves, but at the end of the day it works with the theme of the album. If I had to make a (kind of weird) comparison, it's very similar to my love for Closer (yes that Closer - and I know rate people are probably sick of the song by now). Closer is about dumb kids making dumb decisions. And they fully believe in their decisions. Does it make the choices any less dumb? Heck no! The listener knows their reasoning for being together is so obviously flawed. But for that it is both captivating, and (at times) relatable. Looking from the outside it's obviously wrong, but for the ones experiencing it they have very little idea how to make things right. It's not a defense to those actions, but can definitely make it more relatable and understandable. One point I haven't mentioned much that comes up often on the album is the idea of cancel culture. This part... I'm a little mixed on. I don't want to use a review about an overly long 1975 album to start a huge discourse about it, but it comes up a few times and can't be ignored when talking about celebrities making dumb decisions. I think there are definitely cases where the internet can be overzealous shutting down someone's career over past things said (especially if a genuine self-reflection or apology is issued). In more serious cases there are also some that will defend their favourites with the same reasoning, even though there are serious conversations that should probably be had. In severe cases there are also times that cancel culture has shown to have no effect when it really should (look at... well basically any of the successes that Chris Brown or Dr. Luke are still experiencing). But going back to the album: whether each point is right or wrong isn't what the album's about. It's about the process of fucking up sometimes. And how it happens to everyone. The stuff that can ruin relationships or create a missed opportunity or anything makes you wonder if you could have done better. It happens and it hurts. And sometimes it's over something dumb (see: every 1975 controversy). Sometimes you know you fucked up. And sometimes you feel you are still in the right (and sometimes you are!). Either way, it happens. You can try to plan and overthink and worry, but it will happen. And this album is a fantastic representation of that mix of regret, worry, self-reflection, and self-frustration that follows. Am I reaching for points with very little basis? Probably. But I've listened to this 22-song album so many times I want to at least get something out of it.
For those skipping to the end
TL;DR: This is a great album that messes up its execution at times. It's also about people messing up. It's not perfect and it's much more interesting because of that. It's also a bit bloated and they really q could have cut it down a little. Recommendations: All of the singles, Nothing Revealed/Everything Denied, Playing On My Mind, Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy), What Should I Say Discussion Points
Let's get the big one out of the way first: What are your thoughts on the album? Did you enjoy it? Hate it? Somewhere in between?
What direction or sound should the band go with for the next album?
For those who listen to versions of albums you’ve personally altered (either by shortening, adding to, or rearranging the tracklist), do you take your edited or the original into account when considering your enjoyment of the album (or a bit of both)?
Genre-hopping: can it work on an album where fans are expecting one, but get something different? Do you think albums should mostly stick to one consistent sound?
There is often talk (not just in the music sphere) about authenticity of celebrities when championing social causes. Sometimes it's all for clout, sometimes it's important to speak up, sometimes the artist speaks up and then you realize you wish they didn't. Do you feel celebrities have an obligation to speak up for social causes? Or should they keep out of those discussions?
On a lighter note: Come up with a worse two-emoji cover for this album than 🥾🌍
Handicapping the Polls for the Presidency. The 2020 U.S. Presidential election is less than two months away, and Democratic candidate Joe Biden has increased his lead in the polls and various sportsbooks abroad. And some believe that online betting markets are better to forecast who will win on November 3.. The former Vice President is the favorite according to international oddsmakers Whereas 2020 election betting odds are set by online bookmakers and bettors alike, polling odds are often referenced by outlets like FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver. The theory goes if the betting public has skin in the game, i.e. have wagered cash, current political odds provide a more accurate snapshot of the state of the election 2020 US Presidential Election Odds: UK Betting Exchanges Now Make Biden Strong Favorite. Most bookmakers have suspended betting on the Election, but the betting exchanges are still live and Biden has shortened in the odds to be the next President. Tom Dodd. Mon, October 5, 4:15 PM. UK general election odds for the next vote, expected in 2019. Which party will win the most seats? View all election betting markets here! Valid on between 5/10/2018-30/06/2020. Min Bet Min Bet £/€/$10. Min odds 4/1.Free Bet credited upon bet settlement. Free Bet expire after 7 days. Limited to 1 token per day. Withdrawal restrictions and . 10 Nov 2020, 23:47 Updated : 10 Nov 2020, 23:47 British punters are betting millions on Donald Trump overturning the US election result, it emerged last night. The winner of the 2020 presidential election will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Who will be the next US president? Here's the US presidential election 2020 odds according to SkyBet on UK & World News. News. The latest US election 2020 betting odds on Donald Trump and Joe Biden entering White House. Trump emerged against the odds in 2016 to beat Hilary Clinton, encouraging last See maps and real-time presidential election results for the 2020 US election. This has been a year like no other in UK politics so Max Liu discusses the main events and chief protagonists as well as the latest odds in his end of 2020 round up... Most political observers back up the 2020 election odds but others remain in the frame. The third favourite, albeit at distant best odds of 33/1 with 888Sport and SportingBet is Bernie Sanders. The veteran campaigner will be 79 by the time the election runs in November but Bernie Sanders remains the closest challenger to Joe Biden as far as the
Maxim Lott talks with Bill O'Reilly about how the bettors see the election going. Trump has above a 50% chance of winning -- but Bernie Sanders could win, too. http://degenbet.comhttp://5dimes.inhttp://electionbet.xyzhttps://www.directbet.eu/?AffiliateID=1MfrzxgUbPoFBg8qu7S1dbXzVXA4gergTs UK general election 2017 Poll tracker and odds The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election between Democratic nominee Joe Biden and President Donald Trump wraps up Tuesday, November 3. Biden is the current bettin... WATCH: Footage of State Farm Arena in Atlanta shows that after poll monitors and media were told counting was done, four workers stayed behind to count ballo... Watch How This Shark Tank Celebrity Earns Millions investing in Start Ups! Click Here!http://www.getangelrich.comWatch The Free Video Above ^-----... Sportsbook Review's Natalie Rydstrom updates readers on the latest election odds betting market updates. Who will win the US presidential election in 2020? Drew Martin and Teddy Covers look at the odds to win the 2020 United States Presidential Election and hand... Predicting the 2020 election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump using the JHK Forecast/Model!-----...
![[World] - US Election 2020: UK betting markets predicts Donald Trump's odds, Joe Biden still... | Hindustan Times](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/br8FWhCGFRGgblC_AThe0Oo_5TJrx207JEW7NPdyW-I.jpg "[World] - US Election 2020: UK betting markets predicts Donald Trump's odds, Joe Biden still... | Hindustan Times")
