Timeless quote from Martin Luther on the Basilica of St. Peter

Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wish to give of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St. Peter,

From his 95 theses (1517).

On Pearl Powder

I've seen freshwater pearl powder being presented as healthy primarily due to it being a natural source of various minerals. Although the sales talk sounded convincing, it's probably good to verify the claims.

Pearl powder is part of traditional Chinese medicine and was mentioned in the Hai Yao Ben Cao. First of, freshwater pearl powder contains primarily calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and magnesium carbonate, and some proteins, glycoproteins, and polysaccharides (Loh et al., 2021; Latire et al., 2017). Pearls according to a test with a spectrometer also contains 0.2% natrium, 0.04% manganese, 0.03% strontium, and even smaller amounts of barium, magnesium, and lead (Karampelas et al., 2019). These elements are normally present in drinking water or food and either not harmful or even an essential nutrient. Compared to the lead pipes that many old houses still have, these levels of lead should not be a problem (and some also claim that lead is not as unhealthy as the WHO is presenting).

Show more

On the Health Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation

We've all seen or heard people who claim that electromagnetic radiation has negative health effects. I decided to look into the scientific literature to see whether the claims are true and if yes what health effects one could expect. The search is a preliminary one so it will not be particularly structured.

As a start, Wikipedia makes an interesting claim on the non-ionizing radiation page. The article writes that:

Non-ionizing (or non-ionising) radiation refers to any type of electromagnetic radiation that does not carry enough energy per quantum (photon energy) to ionize atoms or molecules—that is, to completely remove an electron from an atom or molecule.

Show more

A new description for the YouTube Wikipedia "fact checking"

In a YouTube comment, someone gave a great description for the Wikipedia fact-checking:

The correct description for this "context" is "the blue box of gaslighting". In general, the word "context" visible above the box is also misleading since providing "context" is often an euphemism for lying.

Brought you to by a comment below a AwakenWithJP video.

What to do to understand the Western world

If you want to understand the Western world, just read the scriptures of the three main religions. Even when you are not religious that DOES NOT MEAN other people are also not religious. Billions of people read these scriptures weekly if not daily. They explain 90% of what's happening.

I'm often reading books where some author put in countless hours of research to figure out a certain event, and while I'm reading it and can't help but notice that it's often exactly in accordance with the religious beliefs of the subject.

Companies are Lying About AI Layoffs

Companies are saying that the economy and AI are causing the large amount of tech layoffs, but Vanessa Wingårdh looked at the H-1B visa data and noticed that the companies are lying.

She argues that the American employees are being replaced by cheaper H-1B visa workers. WSJ also reported on this due to some senators speaking up. As proof she uses the H-1B data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When filtering by fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2025, the number of Beneficiaries Approved for some of the big corporations as of 30 June 2025 are shown in the second column below. I also searched a bit for news articles about layoffs and put those numbers in the third column.

Show more

Wolves in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, we currently have about 100 wolves walking around. Politicians say this is a "natural phenomenon" and that they walked here from their own volition. Meanwhile animals in rural areas are being killed by these wolves and even a runner has been attacked, while the government forbids the shooting of them because they want to first "establish a healthy state of conservation." The media is now even informing people about how to spot the difference between a wolf and a dog.

Show more

The Real Enemy Isn't Who You Think It is

Transcript from a video from Chase Hughes:

Let me say you one thing that is true. You and that weird uncle that you argue with at thanksgiving, you are not enemies, you are both being played. You are both being manipulated. And the second that you realize that, the second you look across the isle and see a fellow human being instead of some caricature cartoon, is the moment that the scam starts to collapse.

Let me be crystal clear about one thing. The real enemy isn't your democrat neighbor with the yard sign that pisses you off. It is not your republican uncle who posts stupid memes on Facebook. The real enemy is entrenched power. It is entrenched power that thrives on one piece of fuel and that fuel is chaos. The real enemy is those people that profit when you are divided and distracted, and most importantly, when you are dehumanizing your fellow American. This was never about left versus right. It was always about the people versus the powerful.

Show more

Old Books vs. Modern Books

I’ve been reading many old books lately and would summarize the situation as follows:

Old books - Crappy cover, great content.

Modern books - Great cover, crappy content.

The Government Is Lying to You

From Comedy Central Stand-Up:

Now there are just certain people I have no time for like if you're sexist or homophobic, or if you don't believe in conspiracy theories. How don't you believe in any conspiracy theories? I understand not all of them. Not most of them. But you don't believe in any conspiracy theory? You think the government is just batting 1000 and telling us the whole truth? That's a strong stance to take.

- Ron Funches