North America’s big four terrestrial carnivores—gray wolves, pumas, black bears, and grizzly bears—have seen a strong recovery in recent decades.

So strong that the risk of a person to encounter or even to be attacked by one of these carnivores has also significantly increased!

"All four species have significantly expanded their population and range (see the figure below), though they remain far below historic levels. ..."

From the abstract:

"Over the past five decades, gray wolves, pumas, black bears, and grizzly bears have made significant spatial and numerical recoveries across North America, enabled by legislative protections, the cessation of predator-eradication campaigns, and changing societal perceptions of large carnivores.

Here, we document the recoveries of these large carnivores and synthesize what is known about their direct effects on ungulate prey and mesocarnivores, as well as their indirect effects on vegetation and broader ecosystem processes.

While large carnivores are widely believed to reduce ungulate populations and promote plant growth through trophic cascades, our synthesis shows that their impacts are complex, context dependent, and shaped by multispecies interactions, alternative stable states, and especially, human activities.

As large carnivores recolonize multiuse landscapes and new technologies improve how we study them, understanding when and where they exert strong ecological effects is essential for predicting outcomes and guiding future conservation and management."

Doomslayer: Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran

Large Carnivores Have Been Recovering in North America

The Ecological Impacts of Large-Carnivore Recovery in North America

Figure 2 Distributions of (a) wolves, (b) black bears, (c) pumas, and (d) grizzly bears in North America.

Tan shading with diagonal hatching shows the historical range; light blue, the range circa 1975; and dark blue, the expansions from 1975 to 2025.

Ancient Scythians leather objects from Ukraine are made of the skin of their enemies, confirming Herodotus' incredible accounts

Ukraine is in the news again! 😊 How many archaeological sites in the Ukraine will be destroyed by Putin the Terrible!

"... A new study has now provided evidence that confirms the Scythians practiced the macabre art of fashioning artifacts from the skin of their enemies.

Researchers analyzed 45 fragments of leather and two fragments of fur found in 2,400-year-old Scythian burial mounds from Southern Ukraine.

They employed advanced peptide mass fingerprinting techniques to analyze leather fragments. ... The collagen and keratin came from many different kinds of animals, but at least in the case of two artifacts, the skin was undoubtedly from Homo sapiens. ..."

From the abstract:

"Leather was one of the most important materials of nomadic Scythians, used for clothing, shoes, and quivers, amongst other objects. However, our knowledge regarding the specific animal species used in Scythian leather production remains limited. In this first systematic study, we used palaeoproteomics methods to analyse the species in 45 samples of leather and two fur objects recovered from 18 burials excavated at 14 different Scythian sites in southern Ukraine. Our results demonstrate that Scythians primarily used domesticated species such as sheep, goat, cattle, and horse for the production of leather, while the furs were made of wild animals such as fox, squirrel and feline species. The surprise discovery is the presence of two human skin samples, which for the first time provide direct evidence of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus’ claim that Scythians used the skin of their dead enemies to manufacture leather trophy items, such as quiver covers. We argue that leather manufacture is not incompatible with a nomadic lifestyle and that Scythians possessed sophisticated leather production technologies that ensured stable supply of this essential material."

Ancient Scythians made leather out of the skin of their enemies, confirming Herodotus' incredible accounts Scientific evidence confirms the Scythians made artifacts from enemy skin, proving Herodotus' ancient tales true.

Ancient Scythians used human skin for leather, confirming Herodotus' grisly claim The ancient Scythians, a nomadic people known for their gold and warrior ways, used human skin for leather, a new study finds.

Ancient Scythians made human leather, research confirms

Human and animal skin identified by palaeoproteomics in Scythian leather objects from Ukraine

Quivers from 47 fragments of 2,400-year-old leather and fur from Scythian tombs, researchers determined that at least two of the samples were human.

Scythian empire

What if Humans Are NOT Earth's First Civilization? | Silurian Hypothesis

Recommendable! The idea that a high civilization may have lived on earth billions of years ago is intriguing. I don't remember I ever heard this hypothesis before.

The many references to the Global Warming hoax and Climate Change religion were irritating!

2700-year-old private toilet found in Jerusalem

Not much has changed in 2700 years! 😄 What and when will be the next innovation?

When did human civilization begin? According to the Hebrew calendar we are now in the year 5782. Does that mean the Hebrews lived about 3000 years without a toilet? (Just kidding!)

"A 2700-year-old toilet from the days of the First Temple in Jerusalem has been discovered by Israel’s Antiquities Authority. Built as a private toilet stall at a time when few could afford such a luxury ...

Carved from limestone, the toilet appears much like the modern-day fixture with a hole at the center leading to a septic tank. At the time the ancient toilet was in use, private toilets were the exclusive province of the rich. ..."

Lost toilets of the First Temple: 2700-year-old private toilet found in Jerusalem - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The toilet was carved from limestone and
was built with a septic tank underneath it.

The history of marriage

Recommendable! There were even marriages between living and deceased!

Princeton study suggests that monkeys, like humans, may have 'self-domesticated'

Very recommendable!

How does the progress of civilization and religious beliefs interact with evolution? How does the good defeat the evil? Are we finding answers to these fundamental questions?

"It’s not a coincidence that dogs are cuter than wolves, or that goats at a petting zoo have shorter horns and friendlier demeanors than their wild ancestors. Scientists call this “domestication syndrome” — the idea that breeding out aggression inadvertently leads to physical changes, including floppier ears, shorter muzzles and snouts, curlier tails, paler fur, smaller brains, and more. Both the physical and behavioral changes appear to come from certain neural crest cells, present before birth and in newborns, that have a versatility akin to stem cells. These neural crest cells can turn into a handful of different things, specifically adrenal cells — which boost the strength of the “fight or flight” response — as well as physical traits like larger teeth and stiffer ears. Ever since Darwin’s time, some scientists have speculated that humans “self-domesticated” — that we chose less aggressive and more helpful partners, with the result that we have shifted the trajectory of our own evolution. ...
The research team showed that the size of a marmoset’s white fur patch was strongly related to how frequently it produced friendly vocal responses to another. This is the first set of data to show an association between a friendly behavior and a physical domestication trait in individual animals. ..."

Princeton study suggests that monkeys, like humans, may have 'self-domesticated' | Office of the Dean for Research

Western Civilization Still Lives In The Dark Ages

Posted: 7/20/2019  Updated: 7/21/2019

We live in the 19th year of the 21 century, we have smartphones, the Internet, supercomputers and so much more. We think, we are so sophisticated and superior compared to our ancestors. What a mirage! What a self delusion!

When you look at the hot, dominant subjects of civil or not so civil discourse in Western societies you are forgiven not to believe that the Dark Ages are still upon us. Medieval superstition trumps everywhere, every day! Barbarism is very much alive!

Diversity is but a modern form of racism (skin color matters again). People like Frederick Douglas or Martin Luther King Jr. must be spinning wildly in their graves

Gender equality nonsense propaganda everywhere. Wild imaginations of a mythical gender pay gap every day! Males are too aggressive and not femine enough! Sexual harassment accusations crop up everywhere, anytime like witch hunts! Government mandated gender quotas are becoming the norm.  When power hungry women determined to dominate and to convert the supposed patriarchy into a matriarchy while males still continue to be chivalrous to ladies.

Global Warming (a.k.a. Climate Change) is the greatest hoax perpetrated on humanity in several generations! The widespread fanatic religious zeal behind this superstition (or pseudo religion) compares very well or even exceeds those prevalent in Ancient or Medieval times. Way too many scientists and highly educated people are accomplices to this hoax! Some things never change so they say!

LGBTQ is the greatest and hyped tribe on earth according to the daily propaganda! Was there ever more tribalism in Ancient or Medieval times? The LGBTQ tribe promotes a colorful, alternative, hip, glamorous, vanity lifestyle! Contrary to their claims, there is not much welcoming at all about their attempt to dominate or impose their lifestyle on the rest of us! Males now directly compete with females in sports! Males freely use Lady’s restrooms etc. etc. What is your sex? Do you have more than one sex? Can we transgender your sex? The age of sex obsession! In the whole scheme of things, the gender of a human being is ultimately so irrelevant, so unimportant! Even highly reputed and respected Western scientific institutions and publications are in on this craze! Ancient and medieval alchemy, astronomy, mathematics etc. were far more scientific than that!

Iconoclasm (destruction or damaging of past symbols for religious or political reasons) is still not eradicated! It is as if the Barbarians and Vandals are still among us. What an irony of history!

Dante Alighieri would be too happy to write a new Divine Comedy!

What to do? Perhaps privatize government public education, Social Security like schemes, government run health care etc. In short, more small and very limited government! 

Why Is Human Progress So Slow?

Posted: 6/29/2018 Updated: 7/1/2018

A Very Focused Reflection On My Life

I am now living in my fifth decade on this planet, but in hindsight it is my impression and experience that human progress is extremely slow. Why? Have you ever wondered?

A Very Brief Look Back In History

The great Renaissance and its humanism is now more than 600 years behind us.

The Age of Enlightenment is now about 250 years old, but human progress is still extremely slow.
The truly amazing Golden Age of Philosophy in Greece, India, and China (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and others; Buddhism, Ashoka, Chandragupta and others; Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Mozi and others) happened about about 300-500 years BC and human progress is still extremely slow!

Western countries are doing particularly worse compared to other countries. My focus here will be mainly on Western countries.

Human Progress Defined

Ideals of human progress:

1. More individual liberty
2. More individual self reliance
3. More individual responsibility for oneself and other humans, animals, plants, and nature
4. To Live By The Golden Rule
5. Charity and tolerance towards other living creatures

Reality Shock

We still live in an age where:
Collectivism largely dominates or even represses human progress
Central governments dominate local and regional governments
Considerable ignorance, prejudice, and superstition are bliss for way too many contemporary humans
Too many individuals are unwilling to learn from history or reduce their ignorance
Too many individuals have way too much faith in the salvation by big government
Physical violence and grossly uncivilized behavior (incivility) is still a major influence on our daily lives. Mob violence or intimidation is still encouraged instead of universally condemned and punished

Is civilization indeed still only a thin veneer?
To what extent is Thomas Hobbes Leviathan still relevant in our time?
Why is the Pretense of Knowledge (Friedrich Hayek) still so widely prevalent among our contemporaries?
Why is it still so difficult to correct or check the arrogance of power?

Major Causes

1. Misguided and presumptuous elites rule
2. Big government usurped, standardized, and monopolized the education of our children about 160 years ago
3. Big government usurped and monopolized money
4. Big government grows and expands incessantly without necessary and sufficient checks and balances
5. Incompetent, elitist career politicians impose an ever larger welfare state and ever more laws and regulations on the rest of the common man and woman

One Important Lesson Of History

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” (George Santayana)

It is very long past high time to privatize the education of our children so that they may finally have a better chance to learn a much less distorted history of humanity!

Our elected representatives (often incompetent, lifelong career politicians) would not get away with many of their absurd policies if the citizens were better educated and willing to assume responsibility in public office!

Dangerous Complacency Towards Chemical Weapons

Posted: 4/15/2018

I observe a dangerous naivete or complacency by many contemporaries about the use of chemical weapons in our time. We further observe that the leaders of Russia, China, Iran, and still NATO member Turkey are obstructing or even aiding and abetting the dictator of Syria.

No civilized society can tolerate the use of chemical or biological or nuclear weapons against civilians. In Syria, we have now witnessed several large attacks on civilians in urban areas where chemical weapons were used. It was terrible enough that former war criminal and dictator Saddam Hussein of Iraq used poisonous gas on the Kurdish minority in Iraq.

It appears that many people have forgotten the great civil society achievement in chemical arms control treaties when chemical weapons (in particular poisonous gas) were banned or controlled in several international treaties as early as 1675.  This diplomatic process culminated in the Hague Convention (1899), Geneva Protocol (1925), and more recently in the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993). All civil societies of the world are obliged to uphold these momentous achievements with force if necessary.

Thus, President Trump, Prime Minister May, and President Macron are justified to use surgical strikes against the war criminal, 2nd generation dictator in Syria to destroy facilities where research & development or production & storage of chemical weapons is occuring.

Whenever Government Becomes Bigger It Crowds Out And Weakens Civilization

Trigger

Here is a very readable, concise article about this subject regarding British society and government in the 20^th century by Alastair Paynter published on 2/13/2013 in the Freeman Magazine. It also contains some interesting links to more literature on the subject.

A Basic Definition Of Civilization

Civilization is very simply defined here as free and responsible individuals voluntarily cooperating with one another and assisting each other to their mutual benefit in a myriad of ways especially in the absence of a powerful, coercive government. The moral code governing these individuals can be as simple as a commitment to adhere to the, e.g. Ten Commandments.

Excerpts From The Article

A few quotes from this article:

1.       “When the State seeks to perform the duties that ordinarily would be carried out through people’s voluntary social bonds, it damages these bonds and weakens civilization.”

2.       “One prominent—but by no means solitary—example of this diminution of society is the replacement of private charity with the welfare state. … This unnatural intervention weakens the sense of duty, custom, and manners which animate an organic system of civil society. State intervention has not only debased the very concept of charity, but reduced individual responsibility to others …”

3.       “Proponents of the welfare state tend to ignore the plain evidence that wherever State interference hasn't cramped or enervated them, voluntary assistance and mutual aid have been the norm. Before the advent of the welfare state, this assistance came in the form of charity and mutual associations called friendly societies [Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 article about these societies]. In 1911, the year the Liberal government introduced compulsory national insurance, around 9 million people (of the 12 million covered by the scheme) were already members of such mutual aid associations. That’s 75 percent. During the nineteenth century, there had been a vast proliferation of friendly societies, which sought to provide social security and sometimes medical assistance to their members.”

4.       “It is remarkable how a once-liberal (i.e., liberty-loving) country [Great Britain] could be so steadily inculcated with social democratic ideals. What was once considered healthy and good has come to be seen as aberrant and alien. Thankfully, a persistent germ of the individualist spirit still remains in Britain.”

Big Government Suffocates The Human Spirit

One may add that once big government takes over, e.g. charity human innovation and human spirit suffer.