End of August 2023

Today, is the last day of August 2023...  this month, like all other months before, once ended we will never see again, except for maybe in photographs.

If you are like me, the photos that you take, you very seldom go back and look at them...  and, when you do, it is difficult to remember why you took them.

But, it is not so much the end of a month as it is the passage of time.  It has been over a YEAR since I had my back fused.  It was not a small surgery as L2-L3-L4-L5, and S1 were all fused together.  While there was no pain after the surgery which most people around me thought there would be, my biggest challenge was learning to walk comfortably again.  A process that I am sure all these months later, I have successfully accomplished.

If I walk with a cane or pushing a grocery cart, I am fine but if I walk unaided, then there is still a bit of a struggle, although I no longer limp.

The passage of time is a wonderful thing because BAD DAYS fly by just as quickly as GOOD DAYS when you are in your 70s.  On the other side of the coin, because time passes by quickly, one feels like one day one woke up as 70 years of age, and the next day one woke up at 75 years of age.

It is difficult to understand this concept when one is under fifty years of age...  even though turning 40 is a big milestone in most people's lives.

Regardless of what is happening around me, the end of August will ALWAYS represent the END OF SUMMER.  

September, October, November, and parts of December will ALWAYS be FALL.  January, February, and March, will ALWAYS be WINTER.  April and May will ALWAYS be SPRING and June, July and August will ALWAYS be SUMMER.

Since I am a traditionalist and see four distinct seasons that are almost equally occurring within the span of three months, AUGUST ends summer...

With that said, there will be unusually warm weather between now and the end of December, even though there will be periods of cool fall weather.

And, I will probably have to continue mowing the lawn and weed eating until the middle of October...

I am sure that weather in the Tennessee Valley is different than other parts of TN, North Carolina, Kentucky, and South Carolina but we are fortunate.  While this is a great place to live, we don't really need anymore people to move into this area...  THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Labor Day Weekend Holiday

 As we move towards the LABOR DAY WEEKEND, I am reminded of the holiday.

Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. The three-day weekend it falls on is called Labor Day Weekend. Wikipedia

This holiday has been observed for about 141 years of which many of us are not aware.

I remember when I was a boy in Alexandria, VA, summer was bordered by two long weekends.  Memorial Day weekend on the front end and Labor Day weekend on the tail end.  School usually began the day after Labor Day.

The reason that changed was because teachers bitched that they were not being paid enough money...  so, in order to increase their wages, the school year was extended...  consequently, school re-opened their doors before the Labor Day Weekend holidays.

While working, many employers penalized you, if you did not work on either side of the holiday.  Of course, you could avoid that penalty by taking a vacation day on Friday.

My approach was to take two vacation days on either side of both Memorial and Labor Day weekends so that I could get two weeks vacation for only 4 days.  That 5th day would be taken on one side of the July 4 holiday.

Since most employers gave me a minimum of two weeks, my second week was taken between two weekends, leaving right after work on Friday.

Now that I am not working, it was only today that I realized we were heading into a long weekend which prompted this posting.

It is important at least from labor's point of view to have time off from work.  Some of us enjoys or enjoyed our work, while others did not.  Most of time when employees do not like their work, it is because of their SUPERVISOR and not the actual work itself.

While this is associated with blue collar workers, it is also what happens within the ranks of management.  Most of the time, supervisors are ASSHOLES because there is a perception that their subordinates will not work or do what is right with someone standing over them making sure it gets done right.

Why does that bother me?

When I was teaching, my supervisor would tell me how to teach...  even though that supervisor had no experience teaching or what little experience teaching that they had, the students gave them POOR EVALUATIONS.

How could they advise me on what to do when they could not even do it well themselves?

Timeshare Deception

Yesterday, or should I say last night, we got a phone call from a salesperson representing the timeshare that we own.  We got ripped off and deceived when buying this timeshare and tried to GIVE IT BACK TO THEM without any exchange of money and they refused.  We did not pay our maintenance fees and got turned over to a collection agency...  and after many letters finally paid the fee along with the penalty.

This salesperson started the conversation by saying we were a valuable client who had a history of paying their fees on time and because of that loyalty, the timeshare company wanted to reward us.

RIGHT AWAY WE KNEW SHE WAS LYING...

The Timeshare company wanted to reward us with a 4 day, 3 night stay at one of 4 locations:  VA, Las Vegas, and two in Florida.  We would pay $150 up front (that night) and once we listened to a benefits presentations (where no one was trying to get us to buy anything) we would get our $150 back plus $100...   Our first thought was BULLSHIT...

Why did we have to pay anything if we were getting it back?

No Timeshare company is going to meet with an owner about benefits WITHOUT TRYING TO SELL THEM SOMETHING...

Did she think we were naive and stupid?

We explained to her that we did not want to go to Vegas or Virginia which left Florida.  The closest location in Florida was 10 hours away from where we lived by car and we could not afford an airflight and car rental.

At 76 and 71, we did not want to drive 10 hours for THREE NIGHTS!

She could not understand our reluctance because we were getting this free...

After 30 minutes trying to explain our situation, we were at an impasse because we did not understand her point of view and she could not understand our point of view.  We told her we were not interested and that we would pass but she refused to give up.

My wife finally hung up on her.  She called back 3 times and we refused to answer the phone.

If she is going to lie to us about how loyal we are (and she obviously had our file) then we immediately knew that the deal she was offering was bogus and was not going to unfold as she said it would.

We asked if we could extend our stay longer than 3 nights because of the ten hour drive, and she said we could only go to 4 nights and that extra day would cost us about $200 which would leave us with a $50 profit, a 10 hour drive, and having to listen to a BS presentation that would be a high pressure sales meeting.

WATCH OUT FOR TIMESHARE SALES PEOPLE!!!

 

East Tennessee: An Outdoor Paradise

While I am not a HUNTER, hunting is very popular in East TN.  What is available in this area is:  white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, black bear, rabbits, squirrels, ducks and geese.  Some like to hunt raccoon with dogs.

Fishing is also popular in this area, such as: salmon, bass, trout, sturgeon, carp, catfish, mussels, and minnows.  The best time of the year to catch salmon is May through October.  Salmon species include: chinook, coho, sockeye, and pink.

In addition to hunting and fishing in East Tennessee, there are several lakes where camping and RVs are permitted.  In addition to camping around these lakes, there are numerous places that have well defined and laid out hiking paths.  If you can camp, you can swim in the lake and have campfires and picnics.

Many people have pontoon boats and sail around the lake and up and down its tributaries.  In addition to these pontoon boats, you will see canoes, rowboats, kayaks, as well as motorized boats.  Oftentimes, these boats are pulling skiers.

East Tennessee stretches from the tri-cities area of Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City, down to Greeneville, Morristown, Jefferson City, over to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg (Smoky Mountains), back over to Knoxville and then down to Chattanooga.

Where my wife and I live in East TN, we have two lakes on either side of us, Cherokee and Douglas.  A few years ago, we purchased two Dagger cruising kayaks, 10 feet and 12 feet in length, and kayaked on both lakes every weekend for about 2-4 hours.  

We carried the kayaks on the top of our vehicle and would pack bottles of water along with a few snacks.  Typically, we would kayak around for 90 minutes, stop at an island in the middle of the lake, rest, drink water, eat our snacks, the kayak around for another 60-90 minutes before returning home.

The only reason that we stopped kayaking was that we both began to experience back problems which prevented us from getting in and out of the kayaks, and sitting down inside the kayak for extended periods of time.

I am sure that there are other outdoor places that are equally as fulfilling as those of East TN...  it is just that after living here for over 30 years, and my wife for over 50 years, we have grown quite fond of this area.

Parakeets

 

Robot in the Cockpit

While the concept of automotive “autopilots” are still in their infancy, pretty much any aircraft larger than an ultralight will have some mechanism to at least hold a fixed course and altitude. Typically the autopilot system is built into the airplane’s controls, but this new system replaces the pilot themselves in a manner reminiscent of the movie Airplane.

The robot pilot, known as PIBOT, uses both AI and robotics technology to fly the airplane without altering the aircraft. Unlike a normal autopilot system, this one can be fed the aircraft’s manuals in natural language, understand them, and use that information to fly the airplane. That includes operating any of the aircraft’s cockpit controls, not just the control column and pedal assembly. Supposedly, the autopilot can handle everything from takeoff to landing, and operate capably during heavy turbulence.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) research team that built the machine hopes that it will pave the way for more advanced autopilot systems, and although this one has only been tested in simulators so far it shows enormous promise, and even has certain capabilities that go far beyond human pilots’ abilities including the ability to remember a much wider variety of charts. The team also hopes to eventually migrate the technology to the land, especially military vehicles, although we’ve seen how challenging that can be already.

Posted in Robots Hacks, Transportation Hacks

Tagged airplane, artificial intelligence, Autopilot, aviation, ChatGPT, robot, robotics

Somewhat Political

 

Preparing for the Athletic Seasons

As we move into the end of August, we acknowledge the beginning of the school year.  With that beginning of the school year, comes the FOOTBALL Season for high schools, colleges, and the pros.

Actually, football practice no doubt for high school began at the beginning of August and quite possibly earlier for colleges, and probably never really ended for the pros, although I am sure that they were given a couple of months off to heal souls and injuries.

I played all sorts of sports in high school but never was interested in sports in college.  And, honestly never even considered an opportunity with the pros.  I was not tall enough, strong enough, or talented enough to go that fall but that is not what stopped me.  I just lost interest.

Today, I would venture to say that if the pros from 20 years ago were playing today that they would not be good or talented enough to play in the pros.  This also applies to the pros from 40 years ago as well.  And the pros today would not be good enough to play in the pros 20 years from now either.

The professional ranks of athletics changes that much and that fast in 20 years.  And, the window might not be 20 years, it may be 12-15.   So, the average player probably plays only 10-12 years before new talent pushes them out of the top slots.

Whatever money they make they must do in 10 years and whatever money they save they must also do in 10 years.  If these athletes are smart enough or advised well, they will invest their money in other businesses like restaurant franchises, or hotels, or resorts.

NASCAR drivers put their money into car dealerships.  I know Rusty Wallace from Knoxville, TN owns just about every car dealership in Knoxville and the surrounding areas.

So...  for high schools and colleges, first there is football...  then basketball comes along...  then baseball...  mixed in with all of these male sports is female sports and track and field events, swimming, and gymnastics.  You also have archery, tennis, equestrian, shooting competitions...  although many of these are not as popular as the first three mentioned.

Not only do players make or break their careers by avoiding injuries, the coaches must have winning seasons or else they are replaced by a new coach or fresh blood.  It is true that coaches influence players but if the team just doesn't blend well together, there is no coach in the world who can change that.

It is not surprising that coaches move around a lot from one school to the next...  this happens more in college than in high school, but it is a hell of a way to make a living, and does not offer much security.

Hiding

 

Quantum Computing 10 Times More Efficient

In the world of quantum error correction, an underdog is coming for the king.

Last week, new simulations from two groups reported that a rising class of quantum error-correcting codes is more efficient by an order of magnitude than the current gold standard, known as the surface code. 

The codes all work by transforming a horde of error-prone qubits into a much smaller band of “protected” qubits that rarely make mistakes. But in the two simulations, low-density parity check — or LDPC — codes could make protected qubits out of 10 to 15 times fewer raw qubits than the surface code. 

Neither group has implemented these simulated leaps in actual hardware, but the experimental blueprints suggest that these codes, or codes like them, could hasten the arrival of more capable quantum devices.

“It really looks like it’s coming to fruition,” said Daniel Gottesman of the University of Maryland, who studies LDPC codes but was not involved in the recent studies. “These [codes] could be practical things that can greatly improve our ability to make quantum computers.”

Classical computers run on bits that rarely misfire. But the particle-like objects — qubits — that power quantum computers lose their quantum mojo when just about anything jostles them out of their delicate state. 

To coax future qubits into usefulness, researchers plan to use quantum error correction, the practice of using extra qubits to redundantly encode information. It’s similar in spirit to protecting a message from static by speaking each word twice, spreading out the information among more characters.

The Canonical King
In 1998, Alexei Kitaev of the California Institute of Technology and Sergey Bravyi, then of the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Russia, introduced the quantum error-correcting surface code. It organizes qubits into a square grid and executes something like a game of Minesweeper: Each qubit connects to four neighbors, so checking designated helper qubits allows you to discreetly snoop on four data-carrying qubits. 

Depending on whether the check returns a 0 or a 1, you can infer whether some of the neighbors have erred. By checking around the board, you can deduce where the errors are and fix them.  READ MORE...

Quantum Mechanics Explained

 

More From an Amateur Chef

I am not sure if calling me an amateur chef is totally accurate or not, since I have no nor formal or informal training at all.  I look at recipes to see the list of ingredients but then do not follow the recipe's instructions.  

Most of the time, I am just tossing stuff together to see if it takes good or not.  Interestingly enough, I never taste while I am cooking to see if it needs anything, because I would not know how its tastes nor would I know what to add.

Recently, I have had a couple of successes that I would like to share with you.

The first one started with a can of yellow squash and Vidalia onions. I like both of those but I knew I needed to build it up a little.  I started to cook a turkey burger in a pan so that I could chop it up into tiny pieces rather than cook it like a hamburger.  Once it was cooked, I added the can of squash and onions and let that cook a while.  To that mixture I added some angel hair spaghetti noodles and once it was all properly combined, I let it cook awhile to boil out some of the juice and make it thicker.

Not only did boiling out the juices help, but the dish was delicious.

My second creation starts with hard boiling 4 eggs for 12 minutes once the water starts boiling.  Let the eggs cool, add cold water and let them stand for an hour or two.  Peel the shells off and chop them up into very tiny bits and pieces with a fork.  To that I added 4 green onions that were cut up into small slices.  Pepper was added next along with Parseley and chives.   I just sprinkled until I thought there was enough in the bowl.

To this mixture I added bacon bits and shredded cheese that was both white and yellow.  Finally, 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise were added and everything was mixed up as thoroughly as possible.

I will toast some English muffins and spread a spoonful of the mixture on each half for breakfast tomorrow.  I usually have just one English muffin but I may just have two...  anticipating that it is going to taste good.

These two meals may not seem like much but I enjoy taking the time to pretend that I am a chef, knowing that my personality would never allow me to be a real chef.  

From what I have seen on the Food Network, being a chef is TEDIOUS WORK, requires a good memory, and a great sense of taste...  and creativity does not hurt either.

Cannot Avoid Politics any Longer

Being a politically aware person, I cannot continue to voice my opinion about things without eventually coming back to our current political situation.

Our former President Trump, did many wonderful and good things for the American people and their economic wellbeing.  However, Trump's personality and behavior puts him somewhere in between being a DICK HEAD and an ASSHOLE.

Despite that negative side of his attitude, Donald Trump DOES NOT DESERVE to have been indicted 4 times and charged with 91 felonies when Joe Biden as Vice President and now as President is and has, in my opinion, committed TREASON by peddling influence to other countries in the world.

AND...  it really pisses me off that the mainstream media is covering up his crimes by not bringing them to the attention of the American public.

AND...  it also pisses me off that the Biden administration has WEAPONIZED the DOJ and the FBI to do their dirty work and perpetuate their criminal activities.

TRUE...  none of this has been proven...  but the evidence is building up thanks to whistleblowers and Hunter Biden forgetting about his laptop which had all this incriminating evidence still on the hard drive.  HOW STUPID WAS THAT?

I is my HOPE and DESIRE that the GOP via the HOUSE continues to investigate the BIDENS until there is so much evidence that the JUSTICE department has no choice but to go after them.

It is also my HOPE and DESIRE that the GOP in Congress both the House and the SENATE start fighting fire with fire when it comes to dealing with the DEMS.  TURNS ABOUTS IS FAIR PLAY.

The Republicans need to start treating the Democrats like the Democrats have been treating the Republicans.   I would be willing to be that more that 50% of Americans now feel this way.

As far as the 2024 Presidential Election is concerned, there is absolutely no one from either party that I would like to see become President.  

Biden is too old to be elected again and it would be simply indescribable if Kamala Harris were to become President.

Trump should never be President again, even if he is cleared on all charges...

DeSantis may be good for Florida but he would be over his head as President.  Plus, he does not have the mountain oysters to stand up to Russia or China. 

That leaves NO ONE...  which means one of these scenarios is going to happen, unless Biden drops out of the race, and Michele Obama or Gavin Newsome takes his place.  Don't think RFK would even be considered even if he is a Kennedy.

A dark horse is NIKKI HALEY...  she has experience as a governor, and with the UN, has political savvy, a great global reputation, and the iron will and determination to put both Russia and China in their place.

SHE WOULD HAVE MY VOTE...

The Old Man in the Valley

 I have been opinionated all my life...  from the time I first got pissed off at something until my age as it stands right now which is 75.  The odds are that I will be opinionated until I did which does not bode well for my wife...  because I am a real pain in the ass because of my opinions and it is difficult, but not impossible, for me to change my mind.

My sister, brother, and daughter have had enough of my opinions and have made the decision to have very little, if anything, to do with me.  At first that bothered me because we were family but then I realized that they simply no longer wanted to tolerate my opinions because they did not agree with their views.

That is a hell of a reason to turn your back on family but that is what happened.

As for me...  I have learned (these past few years) that the only person that really cares about me...  is me...  and, that there is not a damn thing that I can do about the behavior of others...  all I can do is analyze and control my own behavior.  My biggest teacher in that was my wife.

I once point in time, I was very controlling and had no idea what I was doing.  When my family continued to control me, I realized what I had been doing to my wife.  Now, the situation has reversed and she tries to control me.  This causes us to butt heads, but I can easily see what she is doing now and what I had been doing.  I try to roll with the punches and ignore her behavior.  Most of the time that works.

I learned tolerance and patience from our three cats...  not sure how that happened but these cats do not give a damn about my behavior with other humans as long as I don't yell at them and give them attention throughout the day.  In exchange, they want to lay on the couch with me and offer their companionship, even though they are not totally away of what they are doing.

They do not see me as the old man in the valley.  They do not see me as an opinionated asshole.  They do not see me as someone who has no family or that many friends.

They do not see me as a retired veteran or as someone who is sick with cancer.

For them, I am their guardian and someone on which they can count from one day to the next.

Odd how my next best friend outside of my wife are my three cats.

Saturday Night Live

 

Chinese Breakthrough in Laser Weaponry Technology

High-energy laser weapons can now operate ‘infinitely’, thanks to a new cooling system that completely eliminates the build-up of waste heat

The technology could significantly change the face of battle by extending engagement times, and increasing range and damage, researchers say

Chinese military scientists have announced a major breakthrough in laser weapon technology, claiming they have developed a new cooling system that allows high-energy lasers to operate “infinitely” without any build-up of waste heat.

According to scientists at the National University of Defence Technology, in Changsha, Hunan province, the new cooling system completely eliminates the harmful heat that is generated during the operation of high-energy lasers. The issue has been a major technical challenge for laser weapon development.

With the new technology, weapons can now generate laser beams for as long as they want, without any interruption or degradation in performance.

“This is a huge breakthrough in improving the performance of high-energy laser systems,” said the team led by laser weapon scientist Yuan Shengfu in a paper published on August 4 in Acta Optica Sinica, a Chinese-language peer-reviewed journal.

“High-quality beams can be produced not only in the first second, but also maintained indefinitely,” they said.

The new cooling system uses advanced structures and optimised gas flow to remove heat from inside the laser weapon, while minimising turbulence and vibration and improving mirror cleanliness.

It has the potential to significantly change the face of battle by extending engagement times, increasing range and damage, and reducing logistics and costs, according to the researchers.   READ MORE...

The Wave

 

Hump Day

 It is perceived by some perhaps many that Americans work 9am until 5pm, Monday through Friday...  therefore, when Wednesdays arrives, that day represents the middle of the week or HUMP DAY.

That perception is not true for all of us.  When my father worked for the Federal Government, he did work 9-5 and Monday through Friday.  However, every job that I ever had started at 8am and lasted until 6pm sometimes longer and it was quite often that I had to work on Saturdays and Sundays.

The perception also falls short of reality for most manufacturing jobs because those jobs are split into 3 shifts and last 6 days a week.  Those 3 shifts are 7am-3pm, 3pm-11pm, and 11pm-7am.

Additionally, many hospitals are going to a 12 hour shift 4 days a week or a 12 hour shift 3 days a week where you are also off 3 days.

And, fire departments have 24 hour shifts with weekends off and a weekend shift for 48 hours with 5 days off.

There are all sorts of employment shifts and hours as unions have tried to get management to accommodate worker demands.  Sometimes these unions are successful and sometimes they are not.

What it boils down to is that HUMP DAY no longer applies to the American Worker and I am not sure if it ever did.  However, there is still a mythology around Hump Day that the workers like to embrace when they can, signifying that the work week is HALF OVER.

What this tells me is that the American Worker (not management) really does not like to work.  Could this be because management treats them and pays them so poorly?

Landing

 

Neuroscience Breakthrough

See-through 3D model that shows the axon (red), medium spinal motor neuron (green), and astrocyte converging at the synapse (yellow). Credit: Center for Translational Neuromedicine, University of Rochester and University of Copenhagen





Scientists have created one of the most detailed 3D images of the synapse, the important juncture where neurons communicate with each other through an exchange of chemical signals. These nanometer-scale models will help scientists better understand and study neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and schizophrenia.

The new study appears in the journal PNAS and was authored by a team led by Steve Goldman, MD, Ph.D., co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester and the University of Copenhagen. The findings represent a significant technical achievement that allows researchers to study the different cells that converge at individual synapses at a level of detail not previously achievable.

“It is one thing to understand the structure of the synapse from the literature, but it is another to see the precise geometry of interactions between individual cells with your own eyes,” said Abdellatif Benraiss, Ph.D., a research associate professor in the Center for Translational Neuromedicine and co-author of the study. “The ability to measure these extremely small environments is a young field, and holds the potential to advance our understanding of a number of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases in which synaptic function is disturbed.”

The researchers used the new technique to compare the brains of healthy mice to mice carrying the mutant gene that causes Huntington’s disease. Prior research in Goldman’s lab has shown that dysfunctional astrocytes play a key role in the disease. Astrocytes are members of a family of support cells in the brain called glia and help maintain the proper chemical environment at the synapse.

The researchers focused on synapses that involve medium spiny motor neurons, the progressive loss of these cells is a hallmark of Huntington’s disease. The researchers first had to identify synapses hidden within the tangle of the three different cells that converge at the site: the pre-synaptic axon from a distant neuron; its target, the post-synaptic medium spiny motor neuron; and the fiber processes of a neighboring astrocyte.   READ MORE...

Russell's Paradox

 

FACT: The Fabric of Space is Curved

Albert Einstein and others proved that gravity exists and that it is a force of nature.  These mathematicians, scientists, physicists, and astronomers also proved that the fabric of space is also curved due to the gravity that exists around planets.  

It is debatable whether or not this gravity exists when there are no planets around...  but then there is dark matter and dark energy that must be dealt with and the concept that some force is responsible for holding this vast universe together... 

While I am not a scientist, I can read and I can understand what these experts are saying...  and, without this force of gravity, our universe would simply dissipate into nothingness.  Everything would be so far apart that there would not nothing to hold anything together.

The oceans on earth are held in place by the land masses and by gravity, if one or both of these fields of containment were not present, the oceans would just flow into the atmosphere and eventually disappear.

NOW...  understanding there is gravity and this gravity curves the fabric of space, then it is theoretically possible for the beginning of time to curve around and merge with the end of time...  This would mean that time and space are cyclical in nature...

What would happen when the end of time meets the beginning of time?

No one knows for sure, but that point in time is referred to as achieving SINGULARITY.  However, no one knows if singularity actually exists or not.  But if it does, then the BIG BANG actually came from the explosion that ended all life in the universe...  so that it could start all over again.

HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS ALREADY HAPPENED?

The Mysteries of Life

Why were you born?

Why were you born when you were born?

Why were you born to your parents?

Why were you born where you were born?

What was accomplished by your birth?

WHO MADE ALL THOSE DECISIONS FOR YOU?

Hardly anyone thinks about any of this because there are NEVER ANY ANSWERS...  so, why worry about the questions?

Yes...  that is true...  but, it does not stop me and a few others from wondering about these questions...

Even though there are no answers to these questions, it begs the THOUGHT that we are not in control of our destiny.

If someone makes the decision on our birth does that same person or another one make the decision on our death?

If they do, then what criteria do they use to decide who will live and who will die?

AND IF, someone decided our birth, they also decided:

• our skin color
• our eye color
• our hair color
• our physical condition
• our predisposition to disease
• our mental abilities
• our physical appearance
• our height

Yes, this comes from the DNA mixing of our parents, but our parents were also decided for us as well...  so, the points above had to be taken into consideration.

Whoever has this capability, has an intellect far, far superior to our intelligence...  and, it may be a level of intelligence that we never attain...  on the other side of the coin, this person simply could be the future of human beings and we advanced to the point where we can go back in time and influence the direction of the future.

Some of us believe that this is not how mankind develops but that this interference comes from EXTRATERRESTRIALS who are using the human race on which to perform experiments.

Which one seems more likely to you?  Or, perhaps neither of these explanations seem plausible.  No one knows for sure...  at least no right now.

But, the fact remains that we did not CHOSE OUR BIRTH...

 

Rain... Rain... and, more rain...

It started raining last night while we were sleeping, and we woke up to rain and it has continued to rain throughout the morning...  more than likely it will continue to rain throughout the day as well.

The symbolism of RAIN has been used in literature for hundreds of years and will continue to be use by writers.

Rain can be used to symbolize unhappiness, rebirth, foreboding, determination, the breaking of a drought, and a pause for introspection.  Perhaps the most notable use of rain as a symbol has been used in the writing of The Bible with the GREAT FLOOD...

How many movies or TV shows do you remember watching where rain was a dominate feature of the show...  and, the characters were constantly operating in the rain...  or disappearing in the rain as they sought vengeance against something or someone.

Typically, we see rain in the following ways:

• Rain is needed to grow crops
• Rain is needed by humans and animals for rehydration
• Rain is needed in cooking
• Rain is needed for cleanliness
• Rain can cause floods
• Rain can cause deaths
• Rain can cause destruction and damage

Personally, I use rain water to make my coffee in the mornings if and when available.  Rain water is pure and is without chemicals or in need of filtration.

I remember watching a movie about the old west and settlers traveling from the east coast to the west coast as pioneers and to start a new life.  They discovered rather quickly that the water they had access to in creeks and rivers MUST BE BOILED first before they could drink it, otherwise they would get sick and possibly die from all the bacteria.

While rain is seen as both a positive as well as a negative force of nature, I prefer to see rain as a positive influence...  as I believe it does more good than harm.  Once you understand the harmful nature of rain, it can be avoided...  and since it can be avoided, it is then POSITIVE.

Tai Chi

 

FIFTH Fundamental Force of Nature

Quarks and antiquarks, which interact with the strong nuclear force, have color charges that correspond to red, green, and blue (for the quarks) and cyan, magenta, and yellow (for the antiquarks). Any colorless combination, of either red + green + blue, cyan + yellow + magenta, or the appropriate color/anticolor combination, is permitted under the rules of the strong force. If new phenomena appear in these well-studied systems, they could be indicative of a new fundamental force beyond the known four.



Back in the late 1800s, only two forces, electromagnetism and gravity, were thought to describe all of the interactions that occurred in the Universe.

Over the 20th century, new phenomena resulted in the discovery of two more fundamental forces: the strong and weak nuclear forces, revealed by precise high-energy experiments.

Now, in the 21st century, more precise experiments than ever before are occurring, and each anomaly holds the tantalizing possibility of revealing a new fundamental force. Will we ever find a 5th?

Despite all we’ve learned about the nature of the Universe — from a fundamental, elementary level to the largest cosmic scales fathomable — we’re absolutely certain that there are still many great discoveries yet to be made. 

Our current best theories are spectacular: quantum field theories that describe the electromagnetic interaction as well as the strong and weak nuclear forces on one hand, and General Relativity describing the effects of gravity on the other hand. 

Wherever they’ve been challenged, from subatomic up to cosmic scales, they’ve always emerged victorious. And yet, they simply cannot represent all that there is.

There are many puzzles that hint at this. We cannot explain why there’s more matter than antimatter in the Universe with current physics. 

Nor do we understand what dark matter’s nature is, whether dark energy is anything other than a cosmological constant, or precisely how cosmic inflation occurred to set up the conditions for the hot Big Bang. 

And, at a fundamental level, we do not know whether all of the known forces unify under some overarching umbrella in some way.

We have clues that there’s more to the Universe than what we presently know, but is a new fundamental force among them? Believe it or not, we have two completely different approaches to try and uncover the answer to that.  READ MORE...

De all we’ve learned about the nature of the Universe — from a fundamental, elementary level to the largest cosmic scales fathomable — we’re absolutely certain that there are still many great discoveries yet to be made. Our current best theories are spectacular: quantum field theories that describe the electromagnetic interaction as well as the strong and weak nuclear forces on one hand, and General Relativity describing the effects of gravity on the other hand. Wherever they’ve been challenged, from subatomic up to cosmic scales, they’ve always emerged victorious. And yet, they simply cannot represent all that there is.
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Top Stories00:0501:00Recognize the “performance paradox” and break freefrom stagnation at work


There are many puzzles that hint at this. We cannot explain why there’s more matter than antimatter in the Universe with current physics. Nor do we understand what dark matter’s nature is, whether dark energy is anything other than a cosmological constant, or precisely how cosmic inflation occurred to set up the conditions for the hot Big Bang. And, at a fundamental level, we do not know whether all of the known forces unify under some overarching umbrella in some way.

We have clues that there’s more to the Universe than what we presently know, but is a new fundamental force among them? Believe it or not, we have two completely different approaches to try and uncover the answer to that.

Unsafe

 

My Father and I

My father died in 2001, 22 years ago.  He died the day after Thanksgiving, and I was fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving Day with him in the hospital.  He was in the hospital because of the flu and they were planning to discharge him on Monday.  

We were told that his major organs just gave out all at once.  He must have known something was wrong because that morning he called my mother as we were leaving the house to go to the hospital.

At the graveside funeral there were several hundred people who showed up from all over the US as he was that well respected and admired.

I had written a poem the morning of the funeral about spending the last day of his life with him and helped him sit up in the hospital bed to keep him from coughing.

My father played football in college and worked for the Federal Government for 40 years at the Department of Agriculture and was the Agricultural Attache in Egypt, Poland, and Holland before retiring at the age of 62.  He received a government pension and a military pension because he stayed in the Navy Reserves for 30 years.

As far as a father to me, he was not a very good role model.  He drank one glass of Bourbon everyday and overdrank whenever he was at a cocktail or dinner party.  He was an adulterer and verbally abused my sister and I.  He never taught me how to do any home repairs except putting in a new window pane.  He never came to any of my athletic events while I was in high school.

That must have bothered him a little because when my brother went to high school (he was eight years older than me) our father never missed any of his athletic events.

However...  my father supported me in anything that I ever wanted to do and was willing to pay for any type of training that I might want to have without expecting me to do anything with that training.

My father was the type of man that no one ever questioned what he had to say or expected from you.  In other words, no one ever argued with him even if they wanted to.  In most cases he was always right.

He had a silver tongue and could easily convince anyone to do anything for him.  He also had a way with words when he wrote letters that were so convincing that he always got what he was asking for.

My mother told me when I was older that he would sit on the side of the bed when it was time for me to go to bed as a child and read stories to me.  His voice would change with each character in the book.  His style was very entertaining, but I don't remember any of it.

I remember as a young man that I was so angry with him that before he died I would tell him exactly what I thought of him and all the bad things that he had done to me.  When I had my chance to do that, I just did not feel the need to let him know how I felt.  There was no point to what I wanted to do.

About 12 years before he died, he was diagnosed with some strange disease that the doctors told him would kill him in a little over a year.  He beat the odds and lived much longer than expected.  The disease did cost him to have his right leg cut off just below the knee.

A once strong and vibrant man was reduced to a frail man sitting in a wheel chair.  I didn't feel pity for him or at least did not want to express it...  but, I was sad his strength was taken away from him.

At the end of his life, all I could think about was the good times that we had had together and my mind never once dwelled on anything negative.

I am just like my father in so many ways and did not realize it until I turned 60 and started experiencing my own health problems...  and, that got me reflecting back on my life and all the bad things that I had done to my daughter and my first wife before we divorced.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

 

Too Much Heat

 

Buyers Regret Buying EVs

A LUXURY vehicle dealer has shared numerous reasons that car buyers sometimes regret buying electric automobiles.

The YouTube creator revealed drawbacks that he's recognized in the development of various brands of EVs and also noted some of the reasons the cars are seen as the vehicles of the future.

He mentioned issues with Tesla's charging stations like how long they have to sit plugged in 

before powered up      Credit: Getty

On his account, Mark Holubetz (@ECPP) said he posts content with the goal of teaching his subscribers of over 200,000 YouTubers "everything about premium, luxury, and exotic cars."

"There are a lot of reasons to buy an electric car, but there are also many reasons not to," captioned a recent video.

"When you compare electric [versus] petrol or ICE cars (internal combustion engine) then you might think you're getting a big improvement when you go electric, but you might just regret buying that car."

"Many people believe electric cars are the future," he said in the clip while walking around a dealership lot.    READ MORE...

Painting

 

Shoulder Problems

A few weeks ago, I decided to take two skids that had been used to ship our flooring and make one skid with little to no space between the slats.  In order to do this, I had to remove the slats.  They were all nailed down, so as I began to pry out the nails, I found myself exerting more and more pressure...  when one nail finally popped out, it pulled my should muscles and I felt an excruciating pain in my right shoulder.

It was all I could do to hold my arm motionless towards the ground as if it was lifeless or dead until the pain went away.  When I went back to removing nails, I found I had no strength in my right arm so I had to postpone what I was doing until my should get better.

A few weeks later, I was at my family doctor for my annual check up and mentioned my shoulder and it was suggested that I go to therapy.  

The therapist said after testing the movement of my shoulder that I had damaged my rotator cuff and without an MRI there was no way of telling how serious the injury was.  In the meantime, I could go through some therapy and if the injury was not that bad, the rotator cuff would heal itself.

There are basically three muscles that need to be tested.  Using a ball the size of a soccer ball is used for the testing as long as the ball as some flexibility when being pushed.

Hold the ball against the wall and push in towards the wall with your hand as you face the wall.

Second, with the ball against the wall, turn sideways and use the back of your hand to push the ball in.

Third, with your left side facing the wall, push inward using the palm of your hand.

These three exercises will let the therapist know which muscle has been injured.

In my case, I could not really push in with the back of my hand.  So, exercises were designed to focus on that area while not completely ignoring the other two muscles.  I was to have 9-45 minute sessions three times a week.

After 7 sessions, the therapist told me that my injury may not heal on its own and that I needed to decide if I wanted surgery or if I could live with it.

At my age, surgery would be difficult and even under the best of circumstances would take two months maybe three months to recover.

Hip and knee surgery have much much shorter recovery periods, especially when one is 75 years old.

Surgeons won't do anything without an MRI, and I am not too fond of getting an MRI.  So, my thoughts are to continue therapy at home and see if I can live with it.

When I first started therapy, I could not lift my right arm up enough to comb my hair, but I can do that now...  which shows improvement.

I am hoping it will heal itself...