Giant ARC

A newly discovered crescent of galaxies spanning 3.3 billion light-years is among the largest known structures in the universe and challenges some of astronomers' most basic assumptions about the cosmos.

The epic arrangement, called the Giant Arc, consists of galaxies, galactic clusters, and lots of gas and dust. It is located 9.2 billion light-years away and stretches across roughly a 15th of the observable universe.

Its discovery was "serendipitous," Alexia Lopez, a doctoral candidate in cosmology at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the U.K., told Live Science. Lopez was assembling maps of objects in the night sky using the light from about 120,000 quasars — distant bright cores of galaxies where supermassive black holes are consuming material and spewing out energy.

As this light passes through matter between us and the quasars, it is absorbed by different elements, leaving telltale traces that can give researchers important information. In particular, Lopez used marks left by magnesium to determine the distance to the intervening gas and dust, as well as the material’s position in the night sky.

In this way, the quasars act "like spotlights in a dark room, illuminating this intervening matter," Lopez said.

In the midst of the cosmic maps, a structure began to emerge. "It was sort of a hint of a big arc," Lopez said. "I remember going to Roger [Clowes] and saying 'Oh, look at this.'"

Clowes, her doctoral adviser at UCLan, suggested further analysis to ensure it wasn't some chance alignment or a trick of the data. After doing two different statistical tests, the researchers determined that there was less than a 0.0003% probability the Giant Arc wasn't real. They presented their results on June 7 at the 238th virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Natural Versus Sexual Selection

Natural selection can reverse evolution that occurs through sexual selection and this can lead to better females, new research shows.

The study — led by the University of Exeter and Okayama University — examined broad-horned flour beetles, whose males have exaggerated mandibles, while females do not.

Male beetles with the largest mandibles win more fights and mate with more females — an example of “sexual selection,” where certain characteristics (like a male peacock’s tail) improve mating success.

However, having bigger mandibles requires a masculinized body (large head and neck), and a smaller abdomen — which, for females, limits the number of eggs they can carry. A masculinized body is not good for females.

Experimentally enhanced natural selection through predation, however, targets the same males favored by sexual selection and this results in the evolution of less masculinized bodies and better-quality females.

In the study, broad-horned flour beetles were exposed to a predator called the assassin bug, which ate males with the largest mandibles.

By removing these males, predation effectively reduced the benefits of sexual selection and this means natural selection has an increased impact.

After eight generations of this, females produced about 20% more offspring across their lifespan, compared to a control group of beetles where large-horned males were not removed by predation.

“Males and females of every species share genes, but in some cases — including broad-horned flour beetles — the genes good for one sex aren’t always ideal for the other,” said Professor David Hosken, of the University of Exeter.

“We see this process, known as intralocus sexual conflict, across the natural world.

“For example, humans share the genes for hips — which males need for walking, and females need for both walking and childbirth. Optimal hips for women would be broad enough to allow childbirth, while optimal hip width for men is narrower.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

I Am Not WOKE nor Am I Awake...

 

One of the members of the SQUAD recently said that if
someone was against Critical Race Theory then that meant that they were a RACIST.

When I hear people say that shit, all it does is makes me more angry at their stupidity and generalizations and trying to blame lack of agenda support on racism.  As we say in EAST TENNESSEE, that dog don't hunt...

Using that logic I must be against God and Religion because I support a woman's right to choose...  I must be against the Second Amendment because I don't want to own a firearm.  I must be against the Progressives because I believe in the FIRST FRIGGING AMENDMENT...   now that dog do hunt...

Because of the Black Lives Matter Movement, I don't want to do a damn thing to help the blacks...  And, because of Critical Race Theory, I am not even more supportive of the Confederate South and all that it stands for...  except, I think that slavery is fundamentally flawed because we should only be slaves to God...

I think half of the UNITED STATES right now is AGAINST:

• Black Lives Matter
• Critical Race Theory
• Being WOKE
• Support Cancel Culture

AND...  I think the blacks might have just OVER-PLAYED their hand on this one.  Think about this one:

WHAT CAN YOU DO WHEN HALF THE POPULATION IS AGAINST YOU???

Starbucks

 I happen to like Starbucks coffee and while it may be a little pricey...  I still like to purchase it, especially when I am given a Starbucks card to use...

I always get the same thing:  a large vanilla cappuccino...

Mapping Interstellar Space

Using data from NASA’s IBEX satellite, scientists created the first-ever 3D map of the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space.

For the first time, the boundary of the heliosphere has been mapped, giving scientists a better understanding of how solar and interstellar winds interact.

“Physics models have theorized this boundary for years,” said Dan Reisenfeld, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author on the paper, which was published in the Astrophysical Journal on June 10, 2021. “But this is the first time we’ve actually been able to measure it and make a three-dimensional map of it.”

The heliosphere is a bubble created by the solar wind, a stream of mostly protons, electrons, and alpha particles that extends from the Sun into interstellar space and protects the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation.

Reisenfeld and a team of other scientists used data from NASA’s Earth-orbiting Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite, which detects particles that come from the heliosheath, the boundary layer between the solar system and interstellar space. 

The team was able to map the edge of this zone — a region called the heliopause. Here, the solar wind, which pushes out toward interstellar space, collides with the interstellar wind, which pushes in towards the Sun.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Hating White America

 
Critical Race Theory -  teaches that all

whites are oppressors and that all blacks are the ones being oppressed...  it also divides the races making sure that whites are different from blacks and in some cases teach people to HATE THE WHITE RACE...

60% of the population is white

14% of the population is black

There is much to hate about  the United States of America but hating a different race is not one of them...

If you want to hate...  then hate:

• POLITICIANS
• The WEALTHY
• MANAGEMENT
• FAKE    NEWS
• People who HATE
• Socialism
• Government Control
• Double Standards
• Ice on the roads
• Racism

NOTE:     the more we hate each other, the more our enemies can take advantage of us by dividing us even further.    Who wants to defend a country that they HATE???

Wandering Elephants

A herd of elephants traipsing through southwest China has captured the imagination of millions.

Monitored by hundreds of police officers assisted by drones, the massive animals reached Kunming in southern Yunnan province earlier this week after traveling some 300 miles from their native nature reserve, state-owned media reported.

Adam Chang was hired to deliver corn and pineapples to the elephants, which on average stand 11 feet tall and weigh 11,000 lbs.

He said what he saw was amazing.

“I saw them picking apart the corn with their trunks,” he told NBC News over the messaging and social media app WeChat.

“They are just so much more lively than those I saw in the zoo. It almost felt as if they had a holy aura around them,” he said.

While news of their migration has spread across China and gone viral online, with many expressing wonder and fascination, experts warned that this rare journey could indicate the inevitable and damaging consequences of human encroachment on the elephants’ natural habitat.

The herd reached Kunming on June 2, despite efforts from police to lure them back home. The animals took their time crossing what would have been busy thoroughfares, eating and stumbling into irrigation ditches before going to sleep in woods nearby.

After trending on social media in late May, many netizens were awestruck, while some complained about the destruction left in their wake.

Jason Cao, owner of a Yunnan mining company contracted by the government to deliver their feed, said he didn’t think the damage they caused was serious.

“Elephants are holy animals that can bring fortune and peace in Chinese culture, so we are very happy the elephants came,” he said.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Crime and Violence

We have had the second amendment since 1776 and while this amendment is designed for law abiding citizens, any half way intelligent person knows that criminals are going to find a way to provide themselves with weapons...  and, if the government and other reasonable people think that making it more difficult to own firearms is going to cut down on shooting deaths, then perform a GOOGLE search and see how easy it is to find step by step directions on how to make a bomb.

If a crazy person wants to kill people for whatever reason, would you rather have those deaths be the result of a bomb explosion or bullets from a semi-automatic weapon?

Personally, I don't want either to happen but how do you think AMERICA is doing on its war with illegal drugs?

Why do Americans purchase more illegal drugs than anywhere else in the world?

We have all sorts of police forces and narcotics squads trying to stop the flow of illegal drugs and yet those people who want them always find a way to procure them...  

Should we do away with the police because they cannot stop crime?

HUMAN NATURE dictates that the more you tell me that I cannot do something the more I am going to want to do it...

Right now, our police department is perceived as being NO LONGER APPROPRIATE to regulate Americans in cities...  but, those complaints are coming from BLACK AMERICANS not WHITE AMERICANS.  It would appear that WHITES have no problems with police and BLACKS have a problem with police because they perceive that LAW ENFORCEMENT (including both whites and blacks) are RACIALLY PROFILING them.

SO...  why is a black law enforcement person, RACIALLY PROFILING another black person?

There are ENLIGHTENED POLITICIANS called LIBERAL DEMOCRATS who believe that if we pour a ton of money into our cities and give blacks a better place to live, better education, better healthcare, and a reason to grow up successful, that it will reduce crime, especially in our inner cities.

HELL...  I think it is worth a try...  and, we should with all due haste dismantle our police departments and use that money to give blacks more opportunities.  Perhaps, we should give them THE EXACT SAME OPPORTUNITIES that the blacks perceive the whites received automatically.  NOT MORE...  just the same.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL THE LAID OFF LAW ENFORCEMENT employees?

Who gives a shit about them...  we just care about BLACKS...

It is important for BLACKS TO PERCEIVE that WHITE AMERICA EMBRACES them in the same way that it has embraced whites...  except, the embracing that this country does is not for EVERY WHITE...  just the WEALTHY WHITES...

Living in a Utopia

A utopia is an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens.  The term was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the south Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South America. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia, which dominates the fictional literature from the 1950s onwards, chiefly because of the impact of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). 

However, the term can also denote actual experiments in what participants regard as a vastly superior manner of living, generally in what are termed intentional communities. In common parlance it is synonymous with "impossible", "far-fetched", and "deluded".

Literary utopias focus on, amongst other things, equality, in such categories as economics, government and justice, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology.  

 Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. SOURCE:  Wikipedia

The television series Star Trek was based upon a Utopia under the control of a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT:   The United Federation of Planets.  And, it was this Federation that operated much like our United Nations but with a hell of a lot more power.  

People did not have to work unless they wanted to and if they did work they were paid according to their level of skill, not necessarily education but some form of formalized training in order to acquire those skills.  They were paid in credits but everything was provided for them:  housing, clothes, transportation, medical, etc.

And, no one bitched about it costing too much money or that one's taxes would be increasing...  it was just an accepted lifestyle.  However, there were some that rejected this space-age lifestyle and preferred to live "off the grid" so to speak but they were non violent and wanted to be left alone.

Star Trek was an instant success because of this ideal lifestyle and living conditions and complete acceptance without concerns or regret...

BUT, that will never happen today because most people do not want to be controlled by the government...  which is one of the main reasons why we wanted our independence from Great Britain.  We wanted to be free of government but we also wanted religious freedom as well...  and, the freedom to be able to say whatever without fear of going to jail.

Utopia's are nice concepts but they are impractical because of man's desire to be different...  no body agrees with everyone else ALL THE TIME...  and, this is exactly why Utopias will always FAIL...  except in Star Trek.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER...

Because of BLM...

 I am more keenly aware of black people than ever before and now I see them as different than me in so many ways and that even though we are still Americans, we are different type Americans...  

White people live in their own communities while black people live in their own communities.  White people go to their own churches while black people go to their own churches.  Wherever I go, I always see more whites than blacks whether that is to:

• Walmart
• Lowes
• A shopping Mall
• A movie theater
• Myrtle Beach, SC
• Most restaurant
• Best Buy
• Weigel's Convenience Store
• UT Medical Center
• UT Cancer Center
• Our family clinic
• Toyota repair center
• Douglas or Cherokee Lakes
• RV camping areas
• Kohls

Before, I would not have paid any attention to what black people were doing, but now, and because of BLM and all the violence that I see surrounding BLM, I am more aware of black people around me and more cautious when I am around them and the violence they might follow.

The more that Critical Race Theory is pushed in our school systems, the more I AM AGAINST what it teaches and the fact that it is separating blacks and whites...  and, painting us as two separate and distinct races...

I don't really care if black see me as the oppressor and see themselves as the oppressed because I am not changing my behavior for them or for anyone else.  In short, I want to avoid anything that has to do with blacks and focus on the white race and what we have accomplished as a race without the help of the blacks.

WAKE UP AMERICA...

Our Brains and a Conscious Universe

As humans, we know we are conscious because we experience and feel things. Yet scientists and great thinkers are unable to explain what consciousness is and they are equally baffled about where it comes from.

"Consciousness — or better, conscious experience — is obviously a part of reality," said Johannes Kleiner, a mathematician and theoretical physicist at the Munich Center For Mathematical Philosophy, Germany. "We're all having it but without understanding how it relates to the known physics, our understanding of the universe is incomplete."

With that in mind, Kleiner is hoping math will enable him to precisely define consciousness. Working with colleague Sean Tull, a mathematician at the University of Oxford, U.K., the pair are being driven, to some degree, by a philosophical point of view called panpsychism.

This claims consciousness is inherent in even the tiniest pieces of matter — an idea that suggests the fundamental building blocks of reality have conscious experience. Crucially, it implies consciousness could be found throughout the universe.

If the researchers can answer how our brains give rise to subjective experience, there's a chance their mathematical model could extend to inanimate matter too, they said.

"A mathematical theory can be applied to many different systems, not just brains," Kleiner told All About Space via email. "If you develop a mathematical model of consciousness based on data obtained from brains, you can apply the model to other systems, for example, computers or thermostats, to see what it says about their conscious experience too."

Some prominent minds lend weight to the view of panpsychism, not least renowned Oxford physicist Sir Roger Penrose, who was among the first academics to propose we go beyond neuroscience when looking at consciousness.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

I'm Not A Professional Writer

Although, one could make the claim that I am because I have had some of my writing published in a book and on a variety of social media forums and my own blogs but none of it has been for the exchange of money, and therefore would not be considered, by me, to be professional as I think of being professional as being paid to do something.

However, regardless of being professional or not, I have been writing relatively seriously since 1972 and really serious in 2015 when I retired from full time employment.  My writing since since 1972 has been poetry, short stories, and opinion articles that is pretty much all that I write when posting my thoughts on my blogs.

From 2015 until the present time, I have been writing full blown novels of at least 300 MS Word pages which translates into about 450 paperback novel pages...  so, my novels are full length so to speak...  My first one took the longest time and is entitled:  The Cosmic Priesthood:  the unveiling of consciousness and is about the main characters desire to find and assemble 12 keys that he believes will SAVE THE WORLD...  The forces of evil are trying to stop him and outweigh the forces of good that are trying to help him.  That is when the Cosmic Priesthood steps in...  (completed)

Their rationale for helping our character is to maintain balance in the universe, and sometimes these Priests help and sometimes they don't.  Interestingly, there is a group of Priests that are against our character's actions...  and, the reason why is only revealed if you read the novel.

My second novel is entitled:  HOLD ON and is about one of the evil characters in my first novel and about how he tries to corner the market on honeybees.  He is also involved in a variety of other illegal activities and is eventually brought to justice but not by the law...  perhaps by the goodness of the universe one could say.  (completed)

My third novel which to this day is only have finished, is entitled:  CODENAME: Hanging Church and is about an American Spy working in Cairo, Egypt trying to track down the secret organization that is behind all the terrorist activities in the middle east, Europe, and other places.  He is also a hired assassin for the CIA, performing those duties on the side. (work in progress)

My fourth novel is a sequel to the first entitled:  The Cosmic Priesthood: Beyond the Milky Way and takes place in the year 2253 and earth has been all but abandoned and living on a variety of planets in our solar system.  There is only one government composed of all earth countries, The Galactic Corporation of Commerce and Interplanetary Exploration.  Our colonies on these planets are being invading by a society from a different galaxies in a different dimension.  The Cosmic Priests are able to tap into the power of the Cosmic Consciousness imbedded in the whole of the universe.  (completed)

My fifth novel is entitled:  Ghost Dancer and is about sex trafficking and drug trafficking on Native American Reservations all over the USA for the pleasure of wealthy individuals located in the US and Canada and maybe other places as well.  I have completed a chapter outline and have written an introduction but done nothing else.  (work in progress)

My sixth novel is entitled:  Lost Creek Diaries and is about a small college in the south, specifically in the foothills of TN beside the Great Smoky Mountains and that when the college was formed in 1835, it was created a college and as a brothel.  A slave diary was kept exposing what was going on but the practice has continued up until the present.  The Mexican Drug Cartel, The Russian Mafia, and the Japanese YAKUZA are involved as they lauder money through a Native American Casino.  (work in progress)

My seventh novel is entitled:  Caucasian Male and was started because I wanted to write about my life but I also wanted to write about what it was like living as a white person, especially in the light of BLM, ANTIFA, and Critical Race Theory.  (work in progress)

I have 7 other novels rolling around in my head for a total of 14 if I ever live long enough to write them all...  I have not really thought about publishing them and not sure that I want to go through the shit of receiving rejections...  Just the fact that I wrote them is what is important to me.

Being Sexually Fluid

The way we think about sexuality is changing. Where there was once a single, well-known rainbow pride flag, today, a wide array of colourful flags fly to showcase the diversity of orientations. People seem increasingly open to discussing their sexuality, and more unconventional, even formerly “invisible”, identities have become part of an increasingly mainstream discourse. With the open dialogue, sexual identities are becoming less rigid and more fluid.

But new data show that this shift is more prevalent in one group: in many countries, women are embracing sexual fluidity now at much higher rates than they have in the past, and more significantly than men are overall.

So, what accounts for this discrepancy? Experts believe there are many factors that feed into this progression, especially changes in social climate that have let women break out of conventional gender roles and identities. With these new insights, however, the question remains: what does this mean for sexual fluidity in the future for all genders?

A notable shift
Sean Massey and his colleagues at the Binghamton Human Sexualities Research Lab in New York have been studying sexual behaviours for about a decade. In each of their studies, they asked participants to report their sexual orientation and gender. They’d never before looked at how that data changed over time – until Massey and colleagues recently realised they were sitting on a treasure trove of information about sexual attraction.

“We thought, gosh, we've collected this data for 10 years,” says Massey, an ssociate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Binghamton University. “Why don't we go back and look and see if there's been any trends?”

They found that between 2011 and 2019, college-age women had increasingly moved away from exclusive heterosexuality. In 2019, 65% of women reported only being attracted to men, a notable decrease from 77% in 2011. The number of women exclusively having sex with men also dropped between those years. Meanwhile, men’s attraction and sexual behaviour stayed mostly static in the same time frame: about 85% reported sexual attraction to women only, and close to 90% reported engaging in sex exclusively with women.  

Father's Day

Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood
and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. Wikipedia

As a father myself, I understand the importance of a father in a child's life and while my father did not provide me with what I needed in life outside of discipline and responsibility, I tried to allow my daughter to grow as she wanted to grow without my influence on what I wanted her to become.  She did well in high school, college, and in her professional life as well.

However, somewhere along the line but only after moved overseas and began living in China, she stopped all communications with me and left me with NO IDEA why she had decided to do this which served to only increase her hatred and bitterness towards me in my mind.  I tried to reach out several times, including her FB page but she still refuses to contact me, especially at those times when contact should be made like:

• Christmas
• Birthday
• Father's Day

Interestingly, I had gotten mad at my father as well and I cannot even remember why nowadays but I refused to reach out to him as well...  I think my abandonment of my father lasted for about 10-15 years...    So, turnabouts is fair play or so they say...  anyway, there is nothing that I can do about my daughter... all I can do is regulate my own behavior...

What Was There Before?

 

BLAME the GOP or TRUMP for EVERYTHING

As I have mentioned before...   I am a liberal in my beliefs and actions as ANYONE...  but, I am NOT A DEMOCRAT.

As I have mentioned before...  I am a conservative in my financial dealings as most NO ONE...  but, I am NOT A REPUBLICAN.

I am well educated

I am well experienced

I am a Vietnam Veteran

I am an anti-war protestor

I don't exercise my right to vote because that right is bullshit

But, to blame everything either on TRUMP or the GOP is like telling everyone that you have your head firmly implanted into your anal region.

One of the days, the media is going to realized that they have been fooled by the Democrats and are going to start wondering why the hell isn't our country getting any better.

Hell Trump is Gone

COVID locked down the cities

Biden gave us stimulus money

Why do we have inflation?

What did those frigging Republicans do while Trump was President that is causing us to have inflation NOW???

I mean for Christ's sake he was a WHITE FRIGGING SUPREMACIST...  you could just tell that by the words that came out of his mouth...  and, it was in his eyes as well...  And, the rest of the world hated him as well...

Now the world LOVES BIDEN...  his is like a father to all the communists, socialists, Marxists, and terrorists...

The Mexican Drug Cartels love him because of our open borders giving them easy access to moving drugs into the USA so Americans can get HIGH and zone out and not care about their future.

THAT ASSHOLE TRUMP TRIED TO STOP DRUGS FROM ENTERING THE USA...  he should be arrested and put in jail for doing that...  he's a criminal.

AND...  don't you also realize that TRUMP and the GOP caused the inflation that we are experiencing today...  By doing what they did...  caused all hell to break lose after BIDEN undid everything TRUMP had done...  IF Trump had not done what he did...  we would have have this problem...

JUNETEENTH

 ALL SLAVES IN AMERICA WERE GIVEN THEIR FREEDOM...

Since I was born Caucasian and have no desire to feel guilty because of being born white, I see no reason why I should even celebrate this holiday because it really does not pertain to me like July 4 pertains...  and, all I do for the 4th of July is cook a hamburger and put up the American Flag outside on the front porch.

I am no politician and I am glad that I never had that desire, but I fear that Juneteenth is going to send the wrong message here in the US and that after whites are forced to take a day off by either the government or their employers, that they will do absolutely nothing to celebrate black freedom...  

Why are we not authorizing a Federal Holiday for all the Native Americans to whom we gave their freedom as well by putting them on RESERVATIONS...  

To be honest, I have more empathy for Native Americans than I have for Black Americans...  because UNLIKE BLACKS they were here first and WHITES took their land and their freedoms away from them...

To me, our Federal Government is making a mistake and will begin to cause more division than ever before by recognizing the different between whites and blacks.

BACK PORCH...

Recollections,

Cogitations

&

Broodings      

______________________________________________

I remember not too long ago, about 30 years or so, about the time that I moved to East TN from the Piedmont of NC, that I found myself professionally in demand because I possessed skills that were taken for granted in NC, but that were just coming to fruition in TN.  The skills about which I write were:  Total Quality Management, Statistical Problem Solving, Team Oriented Problem Solving, Process Improvement, and Strategic Long Range Planning, along with !SO 9000/2000, QS 9000, and ISO/QS Auditing and being hired as a consultant not just for these but to help organizations prepare for Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, which had been modeled after the Deming Prize in Japan.

My cup runneth over with high paying consulting contracts of no less than $2,500/day plus expenses or $100/hour plus expenses.

In NC, all this training had already been done and was in their past and they were moving on to something newer and more progressive...  which was actually more of the same just packaged differently with a different focus like seemless manufacturing...  that was kinda silly because the OLD MAN FORD started seemless manufacturing when he came up with the assembly line.

So, I rode the crest of that WAVE from 1990 until 2015 when I retired...  after spending my last 3 years teaching business class for a local, but still small and never wanting to really grow university..  And, after having worked 60 plus hours for over 20 years, it was a difficult adjustment trying to find work to do just to fill 20 hours...  The university required 4 to 5 classes taught each semester which is 12-15 hours and then 5-8 hours had to be spent as office hours in case a student wanted to come in and talk to you about something.

So, if there were any papers to be graded, I used my time for that, and possibly class prep but there really wasn't much of that either because all the business knowledge that was in the textbook, was also in my head after so many years of working in the field.

Of course, there might be a meeting or two to attend once a month which took a couple or three hours but being a professor is BORING unless you are on tenure or seeking tenure and you need to research and publish...  then, teaching 12 hours is almost too many.

Back Porch Cogitations

The Valley was hot today...  in the 90's but the humidity was low so it was rather comfortable out on the back porch.  However, the cats prefer outside in the warmth rather than inside in the air.  The day reminded me of some of those old movies that take place in the south and there is always a big ole hound dog or two laying around on the wooden porch or dirt ground.

I waited until after 6:00 pm to mow the lawn to keep out of the heat of the sun so that I could continue to wear shorts and a t-shirt rather than cover up with long sleeves.  There was no one else outside, but then again, there seldom is as our neighbors like to spend most of their time indoors.   And, for that matter so do I but for different reasons, I suppose.

I watched only a little news this morning as it was SOS and please don't confuse this with the SOS served in the Navy mess halls...  but, it appears that national news stations get fixated on one or two topics and then spend the rest of the day and week, running those topics into the ground with redundant coverage.

Chicken Noodle News (CNN) was the first to do this when they started 24/.7 news coverage.

We have had several Hollywood actors decide to get into politics and their reasons are unclear other than they want to use their celebrity status to acquire votes so that they can attempt to force their thoughts and beliefs on others whether they are right for the people or not seems not to be of any concern to them.

I suppose they have a "right" to do this but I doubt very seriously if they would be kind towards a politician who tried to make it in Hollywood...  but for many...  turnabouts is never fair play.    Still that does not seem to matte...  especially to those who woke up being WOKE.

I have no sympathy for woke  people, nor do I have any sympathy for those cities where crime and violence is on the increase because they have defunded the police departments so that money can be diverted to helping black people can have better SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS on their way from childhood to adulthood.

I also don't give a rat's ass about being told that I am an oppressor because I was born white and free, like the lions in Africa.  I am not who my father was nor his father nor his father nor his father or the one before that.  I am me from 1947 to the present...  no more no less...  and, my grandfather was a druggist but neither was my father or me...  so, there was no influence there...  

My father worked for the federal government all of his career while staying in the naval reserves and when he retired he received TWO PENSIONS...   I did not work for the government, nor did I work anywhere long enough to have received a pension.  How frigging different can I be than that?

I was born in NC which makes me a Southerner.  And, like I said, I was born white and free.  I was born with natural athletic abilities that were never developed and I was born with artistic abilities that were never developed either.    I am not as wealthy as my father was and I have no idea if I am more happy or not.

I enjoy who I am and what I have become.

Being a Scorpion

Scorpio is my birth zodiac sign...  and, if you believe in that nonsense then according to the positive side, I am:

• determined
• brave
• loyal
• honest
• ambitious

However, this negative aspects are:

• jealous
• secretive
• resentful
• controlling
• stubborn

Some might say that these 10 bullet points fit me perfectly while others might say, not at all...  Personally, I am not sure if they do or not because I like the sign of Scorpio and don't mind being affiliated with it at all...  I can think of worse things that could describe a person and I could easily fall into those other categories as well...  I don't perceive myself as anything other than different than most and perhaps that is because according personality traits, I am an INTJ...