This Year

This year is closing in on its own demise as it only has 3 months left to live...  and, what do we, as Americans and citizens of the world have to show for this 2022 year?

• Hurricane IAN in Florida
• Gas prices increasing again
• Food prices continuing to increase
• Unregulated illegal immigration
• Increase in fentanyl in the US
• Companies laying off workers
• Increase in crime and violence
• Attacks on Trump's integrity
• CRT training in public schools
• A WOKE military gaining strength
• Trans males in female sports
• Censorship by mainstream media
• Busing of illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities

Living in East Tennessee, we don't see all the crap in our backyards that is going on in other states and cities...  and, to tell you the truth, we are thankful that we live where we live...  even though it may not be as progressive as Atlanta, Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Chicago, Philadephia, Seattle, Los Angeles and other cities that are in a similar situation...

East TN has none of this shit going on and I doubt that it will change because the perception is that East TN does not have much to offer its residents...  we are a bunch of backward rednecks according to our neighbors who live in the north...  I for one am thankful that you see us like that...  because that means you will stay the hell away...

I for one, hold a masters degree and have over 45 years of management experience in the workplace...  I have traveled all over the US and Europe which is not such a big deal but it is probably more than you living in the North have done.  I am a Vietnam Veteran and still hold animosity against my fellow citizens who treated me the way they treated me while I was in the military.  At one time, I had a working knowledge of French, Spanish, and Arabic.  What about you???

Stay away from East TN...  we don't want you here...  we want to keep our backward redneck attitudes to remain like they are...  we are comfortable and have all that we need.  We don't want more money...  what we want if more life as we have it but not your kind of life.

Today is a lawn mowing day ahead of the rain...  Live long and prosper in your wisdom.

Walking to Live Longer

 

I met with my lumbar fusion surgeon yesterday and was reprimanded for all my silly questions that had very little to do with my recovery like asking for therapy to strengthen my legs so I could climb stairs.  The surgeon had bend my legs and lift them up while sitting on the exam table and he pushed them both down effortlessly which mean my core strength is NOT THERE...

My core strength is not there because of my age and my inactivity since 2015 when I retired.  Sitting behind a desk all my working career did not help either.  But, focusing on my back issues, I was having a problem for about 4-5 months before the surgery...  so his advice was for every day down (as he put it), it takes 2-3 to recover.

With this in mind and if I walk every day, it will take me at least 8-10 months and perhaps 12-15 months or somewhere in between those 2 time frames.  Suffice it to say, I am looking at a good 12 months in order for me to return to normacy.  

So far, it has only been 4 months, so I have a good 8 months to go...    my next milestone is going to be at the end of 2022 or December 31, 2022 which is a good 3 months from now or a total of 7 months after surgery...  

However, this milestone is only viable if I am willing to walk a mile or more every day around the neighborhood.

At 75 years of age, this is my new life whether I like it not and will be your life if you don't start walking.

Fat Fish

 

Most Powerful Magnet in China,

China launched construction of the world’s most powerful pulsed magnet facility in the city of Wuhan on Tuesday.


The upgraded pulsed high magnetic field facility at Huazhong University of Science and Technology will produce a short – but extremely strong – magnetic field at 110 Tesla, more than two million times stronger than that of the Earth.


The current record of 100 Tesla for pulsed magnetic field is held by a facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US state of New Mexico.


The strongest pulsed magnetic field that China can generate at present is 70 Tesla.  READ MORE...

Juggling

Nasher Prize for Sculpture

The Nasher Sculpture Center created a special prize in 2015 to celebrate “a living artist who elevates the understanding of sculpture and its possibilities,” and a Black woman is receiving the honor for the first time.

According to The Washington Post, Senga Nengudi, 79, an acclaimed artist whose unique sculptures incorporate nylon pantyhose and other miscellaneous items and spans more than half a century, is the 2023 recipient of the Nasher Prize from the Dallas-based museum.

Nengudi’s work, which has ably addressed the feminist and Black arts movements, is renowned for defying expectations and elevating artistic expression to a new level. 

For example, she once hung “fabric spirits,” fashioned from flag material from fire escapes in Harlem, to represent what she called the souls of the people she encountered there.  READ MORE...

Animal

 

USA Versus Columbia

I boarded a plane holding hands with my mother and fraternal quadruplet brothers at 7 years old. She sacrificed her upper-class life in Bogotá, Colombia, venturing into the unknown as a single parent of four and immigrating to Miami for us to achieve educations in English and dreams in dollars.

Just over two decades later, I've come back for the reason she left: the pursuit of happiness. For my mom, that meant safety and opportunity during a time when our country was considered one of the most dangerous in the world. In certain parts, it still is. I built on her foundation to seek opulence.

"The ones that live there are the ones that can, not the ones that want," my private driver commented while arriving at Poblado, my new neighborhood. I blushed, thinking I was finally included in the elite.

"You can't just give up," my mom said on the phone when I arrived.

But entering my two-bedroom, two-bathroom doorman apartment with a balcony overlooking a city surrounded by mountains did not feel like defeat. I treated myself to dinner at a renowned restaurant and walked out thinking, "How cheap!" The next day, I paid $13 for a manicure and pedicure, then $37 for a facial.

You can't buy happiness, but I suddenly felt the high of power and access that doesn't exist in the US for a freelance writer.

I couldn't afford my lifestyle in New York

TO READ MORE CLICK HERE...

Running Horse on Beach

 

Big Dog

 

Saturn's Missing Moon

Scientists propose a lost moon of Saturn, which they call Chrysalis, pulled on the planet until it ripped apart, forming rings and contributing to Saturn’s tilt. This natural color view of Saturn was created by combining six images captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on May 6, 2012. It features Saturn’s huge moon Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. Below Titan are the shadows cast by Saturn’s rings. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute




According to a new study, a “grazing encounter” may have smashed the moon to bits to form Saturn’s rings.

Swirling around the planet’s equator, the rings of Saturn are an obvious indicator that the planet is spinning at a tilt. The belted gas giant rotates at a 26.7-degree angle relative to the plane in which it orbits the sun. Because Saturn’s tilt precesses, like a spinning top, at nearly the same rate as the orbit of its neighbor Neptune, astronomers have long suspected that this tilt comes from gravitational interactions with Neptune.

However, a new modeling study by astronomers at MIT and elsewhere has found that, while the two planets may have once been in sync, Saturn has since escaped Neptune’s pull. What was responsible for this planetary realignment? The research team has one meticulously tested hypothesis: a missing moon. Their study was published in the journal Science on September 15.  READ MORE...

Momma

Unemployment Will Rise - Lost Jobs

The Federal Reserve escalated its fight against inflation this week, instituting a major rate increase and saying more will likely follow. The moves will cause a jump in the number of unemployed Americans by the end of next year, the central bank said.

The Fed has put forward a series of aggressive interest rate hikes in recent months as it tries to slash price increases by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the approach risks tipping the United States into a recession and causing widespread joblessness.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday acknowledged that rate hikes would cause pain for the U.S. economy, as growth slows and unemployment rises. He added, however, that "a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain later on."

The job losses forecasted by the Fed this week would by the end of 2023 raise the unemployment rate from its current level of 3.7% to 4.4%. That outcome would add an estimated 1.2 million unemployed people, according to Omair Sharif, the founder of research firm Inflation Insights.  READ MORE...

Bird Attack

Ancient City of Palmyra

ARCHAEOLOGISTS CONDUCTING A STUDY TO ESTIMATE THE MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY OF THE LAND AROUND PALMYRA ARE REVEALING NEW INSIGHTS THAT QUESTIONS THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.

Palmya is located in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date an early settlement to the Neolithic period, with the first documented mention of the city dating to the early 2nd millennium BC.

Palmyra’s wealth was generated through a system of trade networks, funding the construction of monumental projects such as the Great Colonnade, the Temple of Bel, and the distinctive tower tombs.  READ MORE...

Sea Lion

 

Some of the Best

Downstairs

 

AI Generated Art

As interest grows for AI-assisted artwork programs like DALL-E, so do the controversies surrounding their legal and ethical implications. The newest example of this nebulous realm might be its thorniest yet. As Ars Technica and elsewhere reported yesterday, New York-based artist Kris Kashtanova claims to be the first known artist to receive a US copyright registration for Zayra of the Dawn, a graphic novel featuring latent diffusion AI-assisted artwork.

“I was open how it was made and put Midjourney on the cover page. It wasn’t altered in any other way. Just the way you saw it here,” Kashtanova wrote in an announcement posted to Instagram last week. “I tried to make a case that we do own copyright when we make something using AI. I registered it as visual arts work. My certificate is in the mail and I got the number and a confirmation today that it was approved.” Kashtanova also noted that they first got the idea to show that artists “do own copyright when we make something using AI” from a “friend lawyer.”

Earlier this year, the US Copyright Office ruled against awarding copyrights to AI systems themselves. “The courts have been consistent in finding that non-human expression is ineligible for copyright protection,” the Office reasoned in February, citing previous cases involving attempts to copyright based on “divine inspiration,” as well as that time someone tried to secure copyright protection for a monkey selfie.

Right now, there is a big distinction between granting copyright solely to an AI learning system and granting the same licensing rights to a human who collaborated with an AI learning system on their project, as is the case right now with Kashtanova’s Zayra of the Dawn. That said, critics have already noted that the graphic novel’s title character bears more than a passing resemblance to the actress, Zendaya. Generative image AI programs often rely on celebrities for human references since there are so many widely available photos of them. This usually happens without said celebrities’ knowledge or consent.  READ MORE...

Dirt Bike

Super Earths Are Common

Astronomers now routinely discover planets orbiting stars outside of the solar system – they’re called exoplanets. But in summer 2022, teams working on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite found a few particularly interesting planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their parent stars.

One planet is 30% larger than Earth and orbits its star in less than three days. The other is 70% larger than the Earth and might host a deep ocean. These two exoplanets are super-Earths – more massive than the Earth but smaller than ice giants like Uranus and Neptune.

I’m a professor of astronomy who studies galactic cores, distant galaxies, astrobiology and exoplanets. I closely follow the search for planets that might host life.

Earth is still the only place in the universe scientists know to be home to life. It would seem logical to focus the search for life on Earth clones – planets with properties close to Earth’s. But research has shown that the best chance astronomers have of finding life on another planet is likely to be on a super-Earth similar to the ones found recently.  READ MORE...

Slow Moving

Letting Hair Go Gray

Caring for your hair properly requires life-long learning. Seemingly every decade, your strands undergo a major change, whether that's puberty, pregnancy, or the natural aging process. But one of the most jarring transitions is when the grays start growing in faster than you can color them, and it feels like you're at the salon for a touch-up every two weeks. At that point, you may wonder: should I stop dying my hair? If you need an added push, read on to hear from hair stylists about the key benefits of letting your hair go gray. Their arguments just might persuade you to cancel your next trip to the salon.

It's a simple fact: if you stop dying your hair, it will become healthier. Just think about what happens when you color your strands. According to Healthline, applying dye lifts the hair's protective proteins so the chemicals can penetrate the strand and change its color. While this might result in a dazzling hue, it weakens the hair, which can cause brittleness, dryness, and overall thinning.

According to Ghanima Abdullah, cosmetologist and hair expert for The Right Hairstyles, this is especially true of dying gray hair, which is already more fragile than fully pigmented hair. Grow your hair out in its natural hue, and you'll likely notice a dramatic improvement in its look, feel, and the level of maintenance it requires.  READ MORE...

Black & White Fish

 

What Have We Here?

As we transition from one month into another month, it is only fitting that I mention other transitions that are taking place in this country...  and, I could have said this great country of ours but I no longer see it as great.  Yes, it is the best place to live and offers the freedoms that other countries do not, but that does not make it great.  LEADERSHIP makes it great...  and right now we have piss poor leadership because we are more interested in playing party politics than doing what is right for the American people.

In other words, what is right for the American people is the following:

• A strong and growing economy
• A strong and powerful military
• Leagal Immigration Only
• Plenty of available jobs
• Low sustainable inflation
• An elite system of education
• Protecting our resources
• Protecting our intellectual property
• Protecting our technology
• Adhering to the rule of law

While this list may seem to be unattainable...  it once was the soul and heartbeat of this country.  It was the bedrock of this country...  our foundation on which we built GREATNESS and became the LEADER or ROLE MODEL for the rest of the world.  That is no longer the case.

We are just seen as a wealthy arrogant nation who wants to tell everybody else what to do and how to do it and when to do it...  

We no longer respect ourselves, so why should we respect others?

1. Our country is in crisis
2. Our country is in turmoil
3. Our country is seriously divided
4. Our leaders perpetuate this division

My question is WHY?

Dog and Steps

 

Values of Penny Coins

In 2009, the United States Mint marked the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth with a four-coin series of circulating commemorative cents. Known as the “Lincoln Bicentennial” series, the program consisted of four different reverse designs marking major milestones in Lincoln’s life.

The 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial Designs
The obverse for Lincoln pennies remained the same in 2009. The difference with the new commemorative coins was the 2009 Lincoln cent reverse.

The first commemorative reverse, named “Birth and Early Childhood in Kentucky”, showed a rough log cabin similar to the one where Lincoln was born.

The second design was named “Formative Years in Indiana”. This design portrayed a young adult Lincoln taking a break from rail splitting and studying with a book. Lincoln was largely self-taught as a young man.

The third design, “Professional Life in Illinois”, shows Lincoln in front of the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. Lincoln worked as a lawyer in Springfield and served in the State Legislature.

The fourth and final design in the series was named “Presidency in Washington, D.C.”. It shows the United States Capitol under construction as it appeared on the day of Lincoln’s first inauguration. This scene is meant to invoke Lincoln’s determination to rebuild the nation after the Civil War.

The Value of a 2009 Lincoln Cent
The combined mintage of all four designs from both the Philadelphia and Denver Mints was more than 2.3 billion coins. Combined with the fact that many millions of Lincoln Bicentennial cents were saved by the public, it is small wonder that they are so seldom seen in circulation.  READ MORE...

Wavy

Civilizations' Dark Side

When agriculture emerged about 10,000 years ago, people were able to settle in one place; this is when "civilization" emerged.

The term "civilized" has come to connote some group of people who are relatively "advanced" in some important ways relative to others.

The concept of "evolutionary mismatch" forces us to re-examine just how "advanced" our "civilized societies" truly are.

We often think of the modern, "civilized" world as being somehow luxurious and advanced relative to how most people lived thousands of years ago. And some people will often think of others who are "in the third world" or who currently live in nomadic bands, just as our ancestors all did prior to the agricultural revolution, as "less than civilized," which has all kinds of negative connotations.

The evolutionary perspective in the behavioral sciences forces us to truly question this conception of civilization. In the same breath, the evolutionary perspective forces us to question so many features of our own lives today.  READ MORE...

Sanford & Son

Professors Trained At Elite Universities

One in eight tenure-track professors at US institutions got their PhDs from just five elite 

US universities, according to a study.Credit: Paul Marotta/Getty

US universities hire most of their tenure-track faculty members from the same handful of elite institutions, according to a study1. The finding suggests that prestige is overvalued in hiring decisions and that academic researchers have little opportunity to obtain jobs at institutions considered more elite than the ones at which they were trained.

Specifically, the study, published in Nature on 21 September, shows that just 20% of PhD-granting institutions in the United States supplied 80% of tenure-track faculty members to institutions across the country between 2011 and 2020 (see ‘Hiring bias’). 

No historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) were among that 20%, says Hunter Wapman, a computer scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and a co-author of the paper. One in eight US-trained tenure-track faculty members got their PhDs from just five elite universities: the University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Stanford University in California; and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“It’s not surprising, but it is jarring” to see these data, says Leslie Gonzales, a social scientist who studies higher education at Michigan State University in East Lansing. 

“There’s so much brilliant work and training of brilliant scholars that’s happening outside of this tiny sliver” of institutions, including at HBCUs and HSIs — and it’s being overlooked, she says.  READ MORE...

Big Hair

 

Seahorse

 

End of Our Solar System

Evolution of the Sun during its main sequence lifetime. Each curve shows one of the Sun’s characteristics compared with the current Sun. The red curve shows its luminosity (brightness). Credit: Wikipedia.

This is the 11th and final chapter in the Solar System’s story. It is about the long-term future of the Solar System, which will come to an end in about 100 billion years.

Our Solar System is on its way out. Slowly.

Over the next several billion years, a series of unfortunate events will take place, spanning from the not-so-great to the truly tragic. Afterward, our Solar System will be gone: all of the planets will be lost and the Sun will be a solitary white dwarf. (Pause to wipe away tears).

I will guide us through our Solar System’s future, one step at a time. Since Earth is our home base, I’ll include a key event affecting life on Earth. 

Here are the five steps to come:

1. Earth’s oceans will boil off.
2. The rocky planets’ orbits may go unstable, leading to a potential giant collision between planets.
3. The Sun will become a red giant and swallow the rocky planets.
4. A passing star will trigger a dynamical instability among the remaining planets.
5. A passing star will strip away the final planet.

It is a near certainty that each of these events will happen, with the exception of number 2 (which has only a relatively small probability). But it will take about 100 billion years to reach the end.

Let’s get to it.

1. The end of liquid water (and life) on Earth
The Sun is ever-so-slowly heating up. Today, it’s about 30% brighter than right after it formed. As the Sun converts hydrogen to helium in its core, the mean molecular weight increases, thus increasing the core’s temperature and thus the rate of the fusion reaction (called the proton-proton chain). This slowly increases the Sun’s energy output.  READ MORE...

Moving Through