Are you feeling obsolete?
How has the dark (and seemingly) neverending night (The pandemic) left you feeling? Confused? Conflicted? Perplexed? Socially alienated? Overwhelmed by fear, anxiety, or even paranoid thoughts? Powerless? Disenfranchised? Hopeless, or worse?
Have you been doing a lot of soul-searching to determine what is worth hanging on to and what is not? Have you quit a job, or walked away from a relationship, routine, or place of worship as a result of this? If not, are you moving closer to doing so?
Have you found yourself asking why all this “badness” is happening? And is this “activities, passions & priorities” winnowing process necessarily a bad thing?
And has the pandemic made you more aware of the uncertainty and transcience that characterizes life?
Read the rest of this entryNo country for old men
If you are getting older (or “on up in years”) — say, well into your 50s or beyond — then I suspect you have developed a special appreciation of the perceptiveness that informs William Yeats’s poem “Sailing to Byzantium” (Video reading below). If you are fairly young and age is a distant concern, then make sure to download the videos below and return to them once you cross into seniorhood.
Yeats wrote:
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees,
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
II
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick,…
Now, being West Texas-born & bred, I tend to see aged men like myself not in terms of being a “tattered coat upon a stick”, but as tumbleweeds. Yes, tumbleweeds. We start out green and full of life and over time dry up, uproot from the good earth, and begin being blown hither & yon by the winds of memory, nostalgia, and our own unique spirituality.
If this sounds sad or even morose, it shouldn’t be. It’s part of the cycle of life; the journey from the temporal to the eternal and what lies beyond. The only thing incumbent on us is to be prepared for it.
Not surprisingly, I have wholeheartedly embraced Yeats’s “Sailing from Byzantium”, but also….
Sailing to Byzantium – W. B. Yeats (Powerful Life Poetry) – YouTube
A Short Analysis of W. B. Yeats’s ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ – Interesting Literature
And what of you?
Covid-19 wipes out all the ICU patients in one US medical facility. For older high-risk folks especially, prevention is paramount.
A licensed psychotherapist recently shared (with me) the fact that one of her clients, an ICU nurse, wound up in therapy due to having watched every single Covid-19 patient in her ward– fully vaccinated as well as unvaccinated — die. There were absolutely no survivors. Mind you, this should not be construed as an argument against getting vaccinated! (From the CDC: COVID-19 Vaccines for People with Underlying Medical Conditions)
From what I gather this RN’s ICU wound up filled with older vulnerables — seniors and elderly folks with lung conditions, heart disease, and other chronic ills. If so, then healthier and especially younger people can avoid ICU by being fully vaccinated while older people will need to “go the extra mile”, e.g., get vaccinated and also wear a face mask and in some settings perhaps a face shield, stay 6 feet or more from strangers, consider preparing and using an antiviral nose spray prior to outings and on return home (link below), take 25-50 mg zinc daily plus 5-50 grams of C (daily) in divided doses, possibly 400-800 IUs D3 (cholecalciferol) daily (check with your primary healthcare provider), and 1 LipoMicel quercetin soft gel once or twice daily.
how-to-make-and-use-an-iota-carrageenan-spray-0.12-percent.pdf (wordpress.com)
COVID-19: Up to 82% of critically ill patients had low Vitamin C values – PubMed (nih.gov)
Vitamin C in the Treatment of COVID-19 – PubMed (nih.gov)
Read the rest of this entryOrange and healing
Orange in psychology is associated with healing though this was not the why behind my own affection for orange — particularly orange calcite (See photo on the right). As an amateur geologist since boyhood stones and fossils have always “spoken to me” in both the objective empirical & scientific sense and in the artistic/aesthetic sense. Laying aside the New Age world’s obsession with specific stones and correcting or realigning “out of balance chakras”, I believe the color and texture of specific stones can trigger neurocognitive circuitry in the human brain that is associated with healing & our sense of wellness (So far as I know hard scientific evidence for this is lacking at present though I suspect it will emerge in the future). Orange and red-orange help encourage this IMO. I also can’t help but think that holding a rough stone in some way links us to ancestral hominins such as Homo erectus populations in Africa (and beyond) who fashioned crude choppers and such from rocks (Oldowan technology). They can also serve as a focus for releasing faith (To this end I pray the Shema Israel & Lord’s prayer three times daily while holding 2 or more orange calcite stones. Nature’s rosary as it were).
Shaul of Tarsus (St. Paul) had “handkerchiefs” he prayed over and distributed to believers in need of healing, deliverance, and such, I have my orange calcite stones which I freely gift to those who express a desire to use them to help facilitate or release their faith.
From the journal Nature (31 March 2021): Innovative Homo sapiens 105,000 years ago collected calcite crystals: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03419-0
© April 2021 by Dr. Anthony G. Payne. All rights reserved.
A UFO/UAP story for you
What do you believe is the origin of most UFOs/UAPs which have been reported down through the years? And what of those captured on film and then digital technology? (I have a UFO/UAP story for you, but I will not delve right into it. First some background and then the account).
Now the possibility that advanced lifeforms on a faraway world had developed spacecraft capable of interstellar travel seemed possible to me as a young man, but (I had to ask myself) was it probable that one of these civilizations had not only achieved this but also located earth and was visiting it? What bothered me about a lot of UFO accounts was the fact the occupants of these advanced spacecraft behaved, well, kinda strangely. By this I mean they did not seem to do a good job of hiding their presence or even at times their intentions (i.e., to gather data or samples from earth and sometimes its people), and yet they seemingly had made no attempt to communicate with any of the pilots or law enforcement people who encountered them or with any military or civilian ground communications facilities. Surely aliens capable of constructing and flying spacecraft which had been observed violating/circumventing the known laws of physics would have no problem figuring out how best to communicate with humans and who best to send some kind of message to.
I was around when Sputnik was launched and never failed to be fascinated by newspaper and TV stories on all the satellites, spacecraft, and robot landers that followed. The same could be said of all the UFO stories and photos I came across in the media.
But what did I know? I was just a kid with a lot of unanswered questions who might have missed something somewhere. This however didn’t deter me from reading material and watching TV news stories which showcased what both skeptics and those convinced UFOs were alien contraptions had to say.
Read the rest of this entryTime to jump ship, Prof. Bailey! (Off course church, out — messianic, in)
On 2-8-2020 Newsweek ran this op-ed piece by Davidson College professor of public policy, Isaac Bailey: I’m Struggling with My Christianity After Trump | Opinion (newsweek.com)
Here are some excerpts (I bolded certain especially hard-hitting sentences)
And I am constantly wondering if I am indirectly complicit because I dedicated my life to the same Jesus the insurrectionists prayed to in the Capitol building after ransacking it and promising to kill those who didn’t do their bidding.
If Christianity can convince so many to follow a man like Trump almost worshipfully—or couldn’t at least help millions discern the unique threat Trump represented—what good is it really?
I say this as someone who has been Christian all my life, who spent two decades praying in a white evangelical church. How could our faith have allowed this, encouraged it, enabled so much violence, so much death?
……….
Many pro-life Christians have never accepted that complex reality, which made them susceptible to a man like Trump. That’s why the death and destruction left in Trump’s wake didn’t horrify them the way it has the rest of us: They could always claim they were saving babies from evil Democrats, even though they weren’t.
You know who understands that complex reality? Christian people of color. The embrace of Trump was largely a white Christian phenomenon. Because we don’t have the luxury of seeing things in black and white.
……….
But I’m struggling. I don’t want to be a part of any organization that would support those at the highest levels who demonize and belittle the vulnerable, that would look the other way in order to hold onto power.
The body count left in Trump’s wake is immense. Add to the list my faith in the white church.
Read the rest of this entry
Reaching people: a better way of doing PR, marketing & advocacy
https://biotheorist.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/a-better-way-of-doing-public-relations5ej-marketing-5e0-advocacy-by-dr.-anthony-g.-payne-2021.pdf
Unholy Hype: Many churches & religious organizations are following the playbook of Madison Avenue & Dr. Goebbels | For Seekers & Other Heretics (wordpress.com)
Sandpiles & prophecy
Back in 1988, I began to come across both lay and professional works on self-organized criticality (SOC). This concerned a phenomenon in nature we probably all observed as children, namely how stacking rocks, pebbles, grains of rice or sand, or just about anything goes along smoothly until a “critical point” is reached in which the whole thing collapses (I often did the “stacking game” using small fossils I fished out of huge gravel piles at home construction sites close to the house where my family and I lived in Alexandria, Louisiana in the mid-1960s). A physicist, Dr. Per Bak, and two of his colleagues published a paper in 1987 which gave mathematical form and expression to this phenomenon, which like most successful explanatory works in science spread quickly and was applied to all kinds of “sandpiles” including neuronal networks in the human brain and the societies and civilization we have created. One academic, University of Melbourne professor of archeology, historical & philosophical studies Dr. Louise Hitchcock applied SOC to the collapse of societies and civilization. On 12-29-2020 an article came out titled Unprecedented’ new crisis coming: Covid-19 pandemic could be a warning for civilization – NZ Herald which looks at what lies ahead for us all in 2021 and beyond and includes input from Prof. Hitchcock.
Read the rest of this entryA false prophet calls out the master purveyor of falsehoods (File this under “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black”)
This is simply too good to pass up:
Read the rest of this entryYou know, with all his talent and the ability to be able to raise money and grow large crowds, the president still lives in an alternate reality,” Robertson said [Bolded emphasis mine]. “He really does. People say, ‘Well, he lies about this, that, and the other.’ But no, he isn’t lying; to him, that’s the truth.” He said Trump has “done a marvelous job for the economy, but at the same time he is very erratic, and he’s fired people and he’s fought people and he’s insulted people and he keeps going down the line.” With Trump, “it’s a mixed bag,” Robertson said, “and I think it would be well to say, ‘You’ve had your day and it’s time to move on.'”
Stem cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Does it work?
Many people have approached me over the years concerning friends, family members or others with Alzheimer’s disease. They all ask a simple question: can an infusion of adult (nonembryonic) stem cells slow, halt or even reverse AD? The qualified answer is: in animal models of AD, yes. In very preliminary human use experiments, yes, but even so what I’ve observed in AD patients treated with various kinds of adult stem cells experience is that their improvements are transient (The AD disease process undoes any gains over time — sometimes in a relatively short span of time).
There are some interesting stem cell based interventional strategies for remediating AD, some of which are outlined in this August 2020 paper: Stem cell therapy for Alzheimer’s disease (nih.gov). This statement in the abstract is very telling: “….many steps still need to be taken before stem cell therapy becomes a clinically feasible treatment for human AD and related diseases. This paper reviews the pathophysiology of AD and the application prospects of related stem cells based on cell type”.
Read the rest of this entryWhat lies ahead?
From a 9-21-2020 text message to a Japanese lady believer in Tokyo:
So many conflicting forces and trends are tearing at the social fabric of America. The news is filled with conflicting, sometimes contradictory stories not to mention skewed and even fabricated news segments and social media posts. I am however seeing one trend surface among some genuine believers: prophetic insights into what is coming which agree with scriptures and are not self-serving. One example: Messianic Rabbi Herschberg (Beth Yeshua International in Macon, Georgia) has stated that the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) showed him that “after November” God is going to create situations that will cause believers to confront their own immorality, greed, corruption, racism and such both in America (and beyond) and then do likewise with many nonbelievers throughout the world (Rabbi Herschberg said “All that can be shaken will be shaken”). I surmise this move of God will result in many believers being convicted of gross sins and then called to repent and commit to obey his commandments. Other prophetically gifted preachers and teachers have been told (by God) the same exact thing. I too have had convictions well up within me that confirm what these men are saying. I have also seen in my spirit an image that comes out of the book
of Revelations: a white horse being readied to ride across the world. I have seen this quite vividly and even witnessed its bridle and other gear being secured in place which means this horse is being readied to be mounted and ridden. I have also seen in my spirit a menorah being lit. This is what I believe this is telling me and all who will receive it: by the time Hanukkah unfolds this year many believers will experience Holy Spirit empowerment and gifting in order to do the things God has for them to do in life. This interior conviction and image preceded comments by Rabbi Herschberg concerning the fact God is going to equip genuine believers and followers of Yeshua with what they need to shine as lights in a world rapidly sinking into darkness and chaos.
Read the rest of this entryGrowing your own food
Beginner Gardening Tips for a Successful Garden – Grow Your Own Food! (19m09s video by Rob Greenfield, posted 6-15-2020)
https://www.communitygarden.org/
If you want to want (or need) to begin growing your own vegetables and fruits, the video above and the 2 organizations I provided links to should get you started.
And, for those who want helpful hints on how to do container gardening right, check out https://www.treehugger.com/secret-container-vegetable-gardening-4863889
Program note: I spent my summer vacations and more lending a hand to my Choctaw maternal grandfather who owned & farmed 300 acres north of the rustic Panhandle town of Plainview, Texas. This equipped me with some insights on how to grow vegetables & various kinds of fruit and keep weeds and insects at bay.
I’ve also raised vegetables and dwarf fruit bushes in various types of containers outdoors down through the years (I am doing this right now on the patio of my Japanese wife and I’s abode in SoCal).
And done stints in Ag labs and greenhouses devoted to growing various culinary mushrooms and more.
I say all this to indicate my familiarity with the challenges that face farmers and home gardeners. I will periodically post helpful hints gleamed from my years of work and experimentation.
America is obviously in dire economic shape right now and backyard and community gardening projects will help growers reduce their food bills and also (hopefully) give them surplus to donate to local food banks.
Personally I am in favor of folks pooling their resources and buying land, setting up fire, earthquake & storm resistant homes (off the grid or nearly so), making use of water & land conserving equipment (high tech & intermediate tech) and devoting acreage to growing many different types of vegetables & fruits. Some who go this route might find merit in setting up a nonprofit co-op or such.
Recently I became a VP/CSO with a nonprofit religious university (More on this later on). This school has a school of ecology with many professors who have worked in agricultural projects and communes abroad. You can bet your bottom dollar I will be tapping these highly educated and experienced professionals for tips, insights and caveats for novice “patio farmers” as well as those who have their sights on buying a farmette or such and living off the land.
Readers can contact me at nativescienceguy at gmail.com.
Using bacteria in tumors to eradicate them
While bacteria were first detected in human tumors more than 100 years ago, Straussman reported in a paper in the May 29 issue of Science that he found bacteria live inside the cells of many cancer types, and that each type of cancer houses unique populations of bacteria.
Breast cancer, which has a relatively high incidence among Jewish women, has a particularly rich and diverse microbiome.
“We believe we can induce an environment where cancer cannot develop,” she said. “Maybe in the future bacteria that stimulate the immune system can be added to immune therapy, so that the cancer can be eradicated more quickly and efficiently.”
Click to read the entire article: https://www.jta.org/2020/07/27/health/israeli-scientists-identify-new-culprit-behind-cancerous-growths-tumor-specific-bacteria
The Israeli scientists posit one approach to eradicating tumors. In 2005 I proposed using specific bacteria to facilitate the electromagnetic heating of tumors to the point of die-off. A quote from my paper and a link to same follow below.
PREVENTING METASTASIS AND ACHIEVING ONCOLYSIS IN SOLID TUMORS BY INHIBITING SPECIFIC METALLOPROTEINASES AND MANIPULATING KEY METABOLIC PATHWAYS. A. G. PAYNE [2005] MED HYPOTHESES RES 2: 553-565.
One permutation to this approach that might prove of utility: Introduce magnetotactic bacterial vectors in vivo which have been genetically engineered or artificially selected to seek out and bind to specific tumor cell antigens. If achievable, the magnetotactic bacteria might provide sufficient iron once inside tumor cells to make achieving electromagnetic heating more certain.
Ship of fools..or the Titanic?
Back in 2006 New Zealand pastor Andrew Strom pulled no punches in laying out why needed nationwide revival (here in the US) was unlikely to take place then or in the foreseeable future. Well, it’s almost July 2020 and it would seem no genuine revival has taken place or is likely to. Is it too late to get on the right track? Listen to Pastor Strom’s sermon and draw your own conclusions.
Read the rest of this entry