Friday, January 3
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Popeye, Tintin, and "A Farewell to Arms" among popular intellectual properties that entered the public domain yesterday; works in the public domain are free for all to copy, share, and build upon (More)
> Five people charged in Argentina in connection with October 2024 death of One Direction's Liam Payne (More) | Justin Baldoni files $250M libel lawsuit against the New York Times over their coverage of Blake Lively's allegations against Baldoni of harassment (More)
> "Squid Game" season 2 hauls in 68 million views in its first four days, a Netflix record-high for a series opening weekend (More)
Science & Technology
> Montenegro formally extradites Terraform Labs cofounder Do Kwon to the US; Kwon is accused of defrauding investors of $40B in a collapsed crypto scheme in 2022 (More)
> Astronomers detect origin of latest fast radio burst—high-energy explosions of radiation that last for a second or less—coming from a galaxy about 200 million light-years away (More) | Learn more about FRBs, first discovered in 2007 (More)
> Protein in mosquito spit found to inhibit blood clotting and help transmit deadly parasites; findings could lead to gene-editing interventions that help combat diseases like malaria (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close down Tuesday (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq -0.9%), but overall surge in 2024; Nasdaq rises almost 29% on the year, driven by tech stocks, followed by S&P (+23%) and the Dow (+13%) (More)
> Securities and Exchange Commission writes off $10B in fines it says it can no longer collect; reasons range from court decisions to companies having gone bankrupt (More)
> Gas exports from Russia to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines end, as Ukraine declines to renew transit deal amid ongoing war (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Former President Jimmy Carter to lie in state in the US Capitol next Thursday; flags to be held at half-staff for 30 days (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> Wide range of new laws at the state level become official; includes 20 states with increased minimum wage, Florida's ban on social media for children under 14, and more (More)
> US House of Representatives to vote for speaker tomorrow; current speaker Mike Johnson (R, LA-4) can afford only one no vote from GOP caucus, has been endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Being Frugal
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My wife and I have been debt free for twenty years and are thankful that we had the common sense to deny ourselves things while we paid that debt off.
We still use a credit card to buy stuff but we pay it off before we accrue any interest. Our credit card is a Delta AmEx card so we get frequent flyer mileage as well. To date, we have over 300,000 frequent flyer points.
We, as mentioned before, only buy what we need not what we want. We buy, year old vehicles every ten years that have been leased for a huge reduction in price but still almost new.
We don't smoke nor do we drink alcohol which saves us a ton of money while maintaining good health.
We buy quality so that our purchases will last a long time rather than having to be replaced like computers every 3-5 years.
It is not difficult to live like we do and we deny ourselves very little because we have changed our lifestyle and simply do not need as much, but we do enjoy ourselves and are very content with what we have.
We live in East TN which helps with a lower cost of living. While our location is not like NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, we are not missing the negative stuff that those larger cities provide like traffic congestion, smog, long lines, and crime.
Groundbreaking NASA Battery
In a groundbreaking development, NASA has unveiled a new solid-state sulfur selenium battery to revolutionize the aviation industry by replacing traditional gas-powered engines with electricity.
This innovative technology not only promises to significantly reduce harmful emissions but also opens up possibilities for faster and more efficient electric airplanes. In this article, we explore the implications of this breakthrough, its potential to transform air travel, and the challenges that lie ahead.
Air travel is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), commercial air travel in the United States alone accounts for 10% of transportation emissions and 3% of the nation's total greenhouse gas emissions. READ MORE...
Thursday, January 2
In The NEWS
Below are some important, interesting, or otherwise fun stories that moved 1440 staff in 2024. What was your favorite? Let us know here.
2024 total solar eclipse over North America.
"Witnessing this year's solar eclipse was especially memorable as I experienced it alongside my kids and saw their amazement firsthand." —Ashley L.
Why it's so hard to correctly predict the weather.
"Think I’m not alone in being occasionally frustrated by the weather forecast catching me either without my umbrella or leaving my sunglasses at home. I could never understand why the forecast could be so inaccurate sometimes! This was the perfect background explainer that left me feeling sympathy for my local weather team." —Mitchell K.
Boy born deaf can hear again thanks to novel gene therapy.
"There’s nothing sweeter to me in life than music and the voices of the people I love. So this incredible innovation bringing those gifts to this 11-year-old boy for the first time (and eventually, many others) made me happy and hopeful." —Teddy B.
100 small acts of love, told through stories by people in love.
"This heartwarming collection of stories showcases the beauty of everyday gestures and how love can be expressed in countless ways, reminding us that it's often the little things that make the biggest impact in our relationships." —Sony K.
Ohio twin sisters celebrate their 102nd birthday.
"I'm a sucker for our Humankind section, and as a mother of twins, I found this story to be so inspiring. It’s such a blessing that these twins have lived 102 years together and it brought me so much joy to see them share their celebration." —Kellie S.
10 funny vintage slang words people should start using again.
"I realized there’s no need to 'make fetch happen' when the vintage slang in this article already exists. I was grinning like a gigglemug thinking of these words coming out of my kids' sauce boxes. By the end, I felt arf’arf’an’arf from laughing so much." —Aaron E-L.
Do organ donors transfer memory?
"Such a refreshing read. Normally, I don’t always understand science-related articles but it was fascinating to think about the mini lives our organs hold and what that means for our souls." —Lauren R.
Wild orangutan self-treats wound.
"This story reminds us how much we still have to learn about the natural world and the incredible behaviors of the species we share it with. Rakus’ self-medicating act shows us that even in the modern age, nature continues to surprise us." —August M.
World's oldest cheese discovered.
"Sometimes you need to know how the stock market is doing, who won the election, and if we're putting people on Mars anytime soon. But sometimes you need to know about cheese. I loved the write-up on the 'World’s Oldest Cheese' being discovered in Xinjiang, China. Things like this can be endlessly fascinating." —Scott J.
Notre Dame Cathedral bells ring for first time since 2019 fire.
"Paris is one of my favorite cities, and seeing Notre Dame in 2018 was breathtaking. Knowing this historical cathedral was saved and restored makes me even more excited to visit again." —Erika B.
... and Paris hosts the 2024 Olympics.
"I was thrilled to attend my first Olympics in Paris, along with my parents. France did a fantastic job hosting the games, which saw Team USA lead all countries with 126 medals, including performances by some of my favorites like Simone Biles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Team USA men’s and women’s basketball." —Bobby A.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Our New President
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Do we think 2025 will be a good year, better than 2024 or not as good?
Obviously, we have changed Presidents and have gone from a Democratic one to a Republican one. Democrats are fearful this new Republican president will destroy democracy. They also think that this new President is a FASCIST and will completely change the political landscape in Washington DC.
Aside from the threat of World War III hanging over our heads, we have a National Debt that is growing wildly out of control, and our nation is more divided now than it was in the 1960s.
Our new president's first move will be to remove all illegal immigrants, starting with those who have committed crimes or are on the terrorists watch list. His next move will be to shrink government by removing all the excesses and redundancies that have built up over the decades.
With that done, one of his first tasks is to open up the spickets for gasoline and natural gas by drilling for petroleum crude oil. That flush of gasoline should have an impact on prices, but it may take a few months for it to filter throughout the economy.
I guess that only time will tell, however, I will tell you this that my wife and I have prepared ourselves so that whoever became our President, our finances would never change that we would continue living just like we have been living for the last decade.
China's Supersonic Jet
CHINA is vying to take on the 'Son of Concorde' with an even faster supersonic jet that could blast from London to New York City in less than two hours.
Beijing-based Space Transportation - also known as Lingkong Tianxing Technology - has been carrying out test flights and recently reached a speed of 3,106 mph which is four times the speed of sound, according to Chinese media.
The so-called Jindouyun engine, or JinDou400, could enable travel twice as fast as the iconic Concorde. In the latest test it was able to reach altitudes over 65,600 feet, the company claims.
It achieved this by doing away with compressors and turbine parts you find in most rocket engines, relying on detonation combustion technology instead. This tech uses a detonation ramjet to create essential thrust. READ MORE...
Wednesday, January 1
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