Govoernment Spending

 

Cake Flipping

 

Relaxing in My Hot Spring

Each day, I always find time, especially at dusk, to get into my hot tub and relax while looking at the hummingbirds feed and once the darkness descends on the land, I look at the stars in the sky...  sometimes, a falling star (not Hollywood types) more like a shooting star across the sky.

My Hot Springs Spa is over 12 years old and because I have taken care of it, the damn thing has continued to function.  These types of hot tubs like liquids rather than powders in case you have one...  as powders seem to clog up and break down the motor and its moveable parts.

After sitting in the warm waters for a few minutes, I turn on the jets that rather forcefully shoots out water that massages my upper and lower back and neck once I slide down and rest my head on the side.  

I do not keep the temperature up at the highest setting or 104/105 degrees unless it is the middle of the winter, but instead reduce it down to 95/98 degrees during the warmer months.

As the temps start to decline like from the 90's to the 80's, I turn the temp back up to 100.  It is the heat of the water that helps with the massage as well as the relaxing feeling that is easily enjoyed.

It you have not considered a hot tub, you should...

Political Cartoons

 

Cute - Interesting - Weird

 

Solar Powered Airplane

The U.S. Navy is developing an uncrewed solar-powered plane that can remain airborne for 90 days at a time thanks to massive solar panels on each of its wings.

The aircraft, evocatively called Skydweller and built by a U.S.-Spanish aerospace firm Skydweller Aero, could help the Navy keep a watchful eye on the surrounding seas while escorting ships months at a time or act as a communications relay platform. The company was awarded a $5 million contract by the U.S. Navy to develop the aircraft.

The solar-powered plane adds new software and upgraded hardware to Solar Impulse 2, a piloted solar aircraft that flew around the world in 2015-16 but had to stop every five days. The company converted the design into the Skydweller by removing the pilot seat, which allows for a longer range and more space for hardware for autonomous abilities.

The Skydweller has a wingspan of 236-foot and is covered in 2,900 square feet (269.4188 meters) of photovoltaic cells that generate up to 2 kilowatts of power. Its makers also plan to fit the aircraft with hydrogen fuel cells as a backup to boost performance or serve as a backup in case of bad weather.  READ MORE

Classic Sunday Comics

 

Shooting Star

From his perch on the International Space Station, a French astronaut watched a long-running Russian space module break into pieces in a shower of fireworks. What's more, he caught the event on video.

The European Space Agency's Facebook page shows a sped-up timelapse of the module, called Pirs, meeting its fiery demise Monday (July 26) under the watch of Thomas Pesquet.

"Atmospheric reentry without a heat shield results in a nice fireball," Pesquet wrote in the post, which also included a French description. "You clearly see smaller pieces of melting metal floating away and adding to the fireworks."  READ MORE

Video: Watch a spacecraft burn up in Earth's atmosphere from space station
Related: Astronaut watches Russian space station module fall from space in fiery demise (photos)

Sharing Vids

 

Backside of Black Hole

Scientists have finally seen the backside of a black hole and in doing so, they've proved that a 1915 theory posited by Albert Einstein was correct.

Einstein's 1915 Theory of General Relativity predicted that the gravitational pull of black holes is so large that black holes warp the fabric of space, according to The Telegraph. 

His theory posited that this extremely massive gravitational pull was so massive that it twists magnetic fields and bends lightwaves near black holes.

As reported by The Telegraph, a new Nature report proves Einstein's theory correct.

"Fifty years ago, when astrophysicists started speculating about how the magnetic field might behave close to a black hole, they had no idea that one day we might have the techniques to observe this directly and see Einstein's general theory of relativity in action," Standford University professor and research report co-author, Roger Blandford, said.

Einstein's theory stated that because of how black holes warp the space fabric around them, it should be possible to see light waves ejected out of a black hole's backside as the twisted magnetic fields act as a mirror for the black hole. 

This theory was accepted by experts, according to The Telegraph, but it was never technically proven as it was always deemed an unobservable phenomenon.  READ MORE

Plant in Bottle

Living With Cancers & Heart Disease

For the last 13 (almost 14 years) I have been dealing with heart disease from the standpoint of having a heart attack from 3 blocked heart arteries and 5 stents inserted.  Results are that my heart is working normally but I have to be really careful with what I am eating and really careful with my physical exertion so as not to overdo it.  I have handicapped liscense plates because I can no longer walk very far without being out-of-breath.

For the last 13 (almost 14 years) I have been dealing with preventing two types of cancers from simultaneously growing in my body and for the first 10 years was not that successful but for the last 3 years have been relatively successful...

During the last 13 years, I have experienced surgery, chemotheraphy, immunotherapy, and radiation.  My treatments have caused me to experience nausea, fatigue, anemia, and a destroyed immune system along with damaging my thyroid.

The treatments that I took to suppress my Lymphoma caused me to contract Melanoma which from the getgo was very aggressive and moved from my foot to my groin to my neck...  however, once it got to my neck and was surgically removed, the cancer cells were all dead.

I get a PET scan or a CT scan every 3 months to see if my cancers are displaying any metabolic activity.  My next scan is this coming Monday or in two days.

Other than having cancers hanging over your head and having to watch what you eat, and how you must dress when out in the sun, I am living a relatively normal life. 

I don't eat red meat except for maybe once or twice a year.  I don't eat fried foods except for maybe once or twice a year.  I stay away from sugar but that is not as easy as it sounds.

I eat veges, chicken, veal, a variety of beans, and fish mainly.  The fish I prefer is Salmon, Cod, and Flounder.

Goodbye Govenor

Young Athlete

 

Political Cartoons

 

Giant Vampire Bat

Desmodus draculae is an extinct species of leaf-nosed bat that inhabited Central and South Americas from the Pleistocene epoch until the early Holocene epoch.

First described in 1988, its fossils are known from Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Belize, and Bolivia.

Desmodus draculae had a wingspan of up to 50 cm (20 inches) and a body mass of 60 g, making it the largest known vampire bat of all time.

It belongs to the subfamily Desmodontinae (vampire bats), which also includes three extinct and three living species.

“The size of Desmodus draculae was larger than that of a computer keyboard and significantly larger than that of its living relatives,” said Dr. Santiago Brizuela, a paleontologist at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata and CONICET.

The food source of Desmodus draculae and other vampire bats is blood, a dietary trait called hematophagy.  READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

A Few GIF's

 

Around The World

RegentSeven Seas Cruises' 132-night 2024 world cruise sold out in less than three hours.

Its the third straight year the cruise has broken the company's "opening day booking record."

Bookings for the luxury cruise opened on July 14 at 8:30 a.m. ET.

By about 11 a.m., the cruise had been completely booked.

This is the third year in a row the World Cruise has broken Regent Seven Seas' "world cruise opening day booking record," according to a press release.

Females

 

Dopamine

Neuroscientists show that mice can learn to manipulate random dopamine impulses for reward.

From the thrill of hearing an ice cream truck approaching to the spikes of pleasure while sipping a fine wine, the neurological messenger known as dopamine has been popularly described as the brain’s “feel good” chemical related to reward and pleasure.

A ubiquitous neurotransmitter that carries signals between brain cells, dopamine, among its many functions, is involved in multiple aspects of cognitive processing. 

The chemical messenger has been extensively studied from the perspective of external cues, or “deterministic” signals. Instead, University of California San Diego researchers recently set out to investigate less understood aspects related to spontaneous impulses of dopamine. 

Their results, published on July 23, 2021, in the journal Current Biology, have shown that mice can willfully manipulate these random dopamine pulses.  READ MORE