Sunday, September 12

Understanding America...

 



Many people want to see America as country with a lot of faults while many people want to see America as a country that has no faults at all...  BOTH EXTREMES ARE WRONG as is evidenced by the song Monster by Steppenwolf released November 1969...

While history does repeat itself, one must fully understand the past in order to make plans and/or change for the future...  America has grown and has changed but America still repeats its past sins over and over again as if it has not learned anything...

Despite repeating the past, America has economically and financially grown to be the most powerful country in the world...  however, that dominance is now being challenged by CHINA...

  • China has a larger military than the USA
  • China has a larger navy than the USA
  • China's economy is growing faster than the USA
  • China owns 1/3 of America's debt
  • China is aggressive pursuing Space exploration
  • China stated it wants to dominate the world

AMERICA is no longer great...  and, I am not saying that to say America is a bad country...  but it is losing their leadership position in the world because a group of people think America no longer needs to be dominate...  that it should use those resources to give everything to America's citizens...

There is nothing wrong with that until China decides that it wants to control the USA...  then, what will we do?

Will we fight back?
Will we ask our immigrants to fight for us?
Will our WOKE military want to fight?

Our future reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song that later was made popular by Janis Joplin...  BIG YELLOW TAXI

Building a Global Community

The biggest problem with the world today is RELIGION and the fact that each religion perceives that they are correct and the other religions are wrong and are willing to die for their beliefs as they try to convert the rest of the world over to their beliefs...


As a rebuttlel to this religious frenzy, there is a growing number of people who believe in no religion at all...  and it is this group of people who actually might save the world from destruction because they have no beliefs that they are trying to force on others...


What is odd about all religions is that each set of beliefs is contingent upon one's faith that they are correct in what they believe or think that they believe because there is absolutely no PROOF whatsoever to support their religious claims.


We have many, if not all religions/philosophies that believe in a CREATOR or some kind of supreme being... l basically because it is logical to assume that there has to be a beginning and an ending to everything...  and yet, Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most intelligent human beings before he died believed in SPONTANEOUS CREATION which requires no creator at all...


BUT AGAIN, all speculation...  No proof...  No facts...


YET...  there is proof that most of the wars fought during the creation of the world were because of RELIGION and trying to force others to believe like someone else believes, rather than allowing each person to have their own beliefs.


One day when the world finally accepts visitors from the sky called extraterrestrials and that they visited earth and gave us knowledge so that our cultures and societies could advance, and that mankind took their visitations and created a religion around them...  then, we will be able to put aside our religious differences and work together on building a better global community...

Purple Kiss: Zombie











 

Offshore Wind Farm

Combined with the existing Gwynt y Mor turbines, the wind farm would be
among the largest in the world

A consultation into plans to build one of the world's biggest offshore wind farms off the north Wales coast has been launched.  About 100 turbines could be constructed as part of plans for Awel y Môr, between Colwyn Bay and Llanfairfechan.

RWE Renewables said it would be 10.5km (6.5 miles) off the coast, to the west of the existing Gwynt y Môr turbines.  They would cover an area of 88 sq km (34 sq miles) and the turbines could be as tall as 332m (1,089ft).  The energy firm said the new farm would be able to power 900,000 homes.

The same developers are behind Gwynt y Môr, which has 160 turbines, off Llandudno, in Conwy, and is one of the UK's largest offshore wind farms.  According to RWE, the maximum number of turbines planned for Awel y Môr has dropped from 107 to 91.

Taken together there could be a total of 251 turbines across
both Gwynt Y Môr and Awel Y Mor


Taken together there could be a total of 251 turbines across both Gwynt y Môr and Awel y Môr, making it one of the biggest wind farms in the world.  If approved the scheme could be operational by 2030.  The firm expects to submit its application to the UK government in 2022.

A preliminary report outlining maps, plans and details of potential negative impacts - on sea life, birds, fishing, and ocean currents - has been published.Noise onshore is also being considered, along with the farm's possible effects on tourism and conservation.  READ MORE

Classic Sunday Newspaper Cartoons





















 

Artists and Their Private Jets



Artists and bands must swap private jets for trains, festivals and venues need to generate more of their own renewable energy and gig tickets should include free public transport.  

These are just some of the recommendations being made by scientists at the University of Manchester to help the music industry reduce its carbon emissions to stop climate change. 

The roadmap for live music was based on tour data supplied by the band Massive Attack.  The findings are being shared across the industry and, it's hoped, will inspire millions of fans to live more sustainably, too.

What are the recommendations?
Since 2019, scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research have been poring over every detail of Massive Attack's last tour.  They then used lessons learned to create a roadmap for the whole industry.

Their recommendations for "super low carbon practices" deal with how musicians, promoters, tour managers and agents should work in order to keep the rise in global warming restricted to 1.5C.

The suggestions cover how artists move around, the venues they play at, and how fans get to events:
  • Plan tour routes in a way that minimises travel and transport
  • Include travel by public transport in the ticket price
  • Generate renewable energy on site, e.g. solar panels
  • Gig and concert venues should use renewable energy
  • Use energy efficient lighting and sound equipment
  • Use electric vehicles and trains to travel between venues
  • Better bike storage at music venues
  • Avoiding flying and eliminating private jets
  • Perform at venues that are taking action to reduce their building energy use
  • Offer incentives to fans who choose to travel by public transport

TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...

Cat In Box


 

Spider Invasion



Forget Halloween or Boxing Day with your family, the scariest time of the year is already here: spider season.  But what may be a petrifying period for us is actually a blast for the arachnids as they're out looking for love.

"The ones we see scuttling around in the house - they're usually the male house spiders," entomologist, author and self-proclaimed 'bugman' Richard Jones tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.  "The ones you see running across the carpet in front of you freaking you out, most often it'll be a male out on some sort of amorous pursuit.

"They're more mobile than the other sedentary females. And that's why we see them at this time of year."

'They do not invade our houses'
House spiders are descended from species that come from the Mediterranean or North Africa, which is why they like living in our warm, dry homes and won't be found building webs in the garden.  Those ones have no interest in coming indoors.  "The garden spiders are looking very big and obvious at the moment - but they remain outdoor creatures, and they do not invade our houses," says Richard.

Although he does say it's "highly likely" that if a house spider or daddy-long-legs does come crawling in through your window, it's because one of your neighbours has chucked it out of theirs.  READ MORE

Splashing Wave


 

Saturday, September 11

American Pride

 AMERICA IS A CAPITALISTIC AND A DEMOCRATIC BULLY...

The tragedy of 9/11 was horrific to say the least and the unnecessary lives lost...  and, the fact that it happened on American Soil that our military nor our National Security Agency or our CIA or our FBI could have prevented is the ultimate in incompetence...  however, we brought this on ourselves...  on our families...  on our sons and daughters simply because as Steppenwold said in their song MONSTER...  "we wanted the whole world to be like us..."


How wrong is all of this???

Deadly wrong apparantly...  and yet, we continue to stick our noses into the political and military affairs of other countries in the hopes that we can turn them into Americans...

Why do we think that the rest of the world should be like us?

  • We lead the world in the purchase of illegal drugs
  • Our educational system K-12 is no longer the best in the world
  • We have systematic racism all around us
  • We have a huge problem with obesity
  • We have a huge problem with alcohol
  • We have a huge problem with opioids
  • We are no longer a religious country
  • We have a 50% divorce rate
  • We have a huge amount of national debt
  • Wealthy people hide their money from taxes
  • We never fix any of our problems
  • Our Justice systems favors the wealthy
  • We cannot control crime in our cities
  • Businesses only care about profits
  • Our political parties cannot compromise
AMERICA is no longer the great country she once was...  unless you are wealthy and then you don't notice what has happened...  Politicians care more about their prospects for re-election than they do about improving the quality of life for the people...  outside of making the wealthy people pay for it which cause resentment and further division.

AND YET, this is still the best country in the world in which to live...  so, you can just imagine what the rest of the countries are like...

Economic Forecasting Models show that the global economy is moving away from the USA and towards China and Asia, and between 2030 and 2050, America will loose its global economic dominance....

AND NO ONE IN POWER OR CONTROL SEEMS TO CARE...




NEVER FORGET

 











China Not Impressed




US climate envoy John Kerry has told China that climate change is more important than politics as tensions between the two countries continue.  He made the remarks following two days of talks with Chinese leaders in the city of Tianjin.

But China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned on Wednesday that the worsening relationship could hamper future co-operation on climate issues. Both countries have outlined steps to tackle climate change.  But Mr Kerry has called on China to increase its efforts to tackle carbon emissions.

Tensions between the two countries have worsened in recent months with disputes over China's human rights record, the South China Sea and the Covid-19 pandemic.  Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Kerry said he had told the Chinese that "climate is not ideological, not partisan and not a geostrategic weapon".

"It is essential... no matter what differences we have, that we have to address the climate crisis," he said   Earlier, Mr Wang called on the US to "stop seeing China as a threat and an opponent", accusing Washington of a "major strategic miscalculation towards China".

"It is impossible for China-US climate co-operation to be elevated above the overall environment of China-US relations," he said. China became the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2006 and is now responsible for more than a quarter of the world's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

President Xi Jinping has said he will aim for China's emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for the country to be carbon neutral by 2060. But it is not yet clear how he plans to achieve this.  Mr Kerry said he aimed to meet Chinese leaders again ahead of the upcoming COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow this year and push for stronger emission reduction targets.  READ MORE  

Foxes


 

Colder Winters



A new study shows that increases in extreme winter weather in parts of the US are linked to accelerated warming of the Arctic.  The scientists found that heating in the region ultimately disturbed the circular pattern of winds known as the polar vortex.


This allowed colder winter weather to flow down to the US, notably in the Texas cold wave in February.  The authors say that warming will see more cold winters in some locations.  Over the past four decades, satellite records have shown how increasing global temperatures have had a profound effect on the Arctic.



Warming in the region is far more pronounced than in the rest of the world, and has caused a rapid shrinkage of summer sea ice.  Scientists have long been concerned about the implications of this amplification of global change for the rest of the planet.

This new study indicates that the warming in the Arctic is having a significant impact on winter weather in both North America and East Asia.   The researchers detail a complex meteorological chain that connects this warmer region to a rotating pattern of cold air known as the polar vortex.

The authors show that the melting of ice in the Barents and Kara seas leads to increased snowfall over Siberia and a transfer of excess energy that impacts the swirling winds in the stratosphere above the North Pole.

The heat ultimately causes a stretching of the vortex which then enables extremely cold weather to flow down to the US.  There has been an increase in these stretching events since satellite observations began in 1979.  The scientists believe this vortex stretching process led to the deadly Texas cold wave in February this year.  READ MORE  

Siamese

 


Facebook Apologizes




Facebook users who watched a newspaper video featuring black men were asked if they wanted to "keep seeing videos about primates" by an artificial-intelligence recommendation system.

Facebook told BBC News it "was clearly an unacceptable error", disabled the system and launched an investigation.  "We apologise to anyone who may have seen these offensive recommendations."  It is the latest in a long-running series of errors that have raised concerns over racial bias in AI.

'Genuinely sorry'
In 2015, Google's Photos app labelled pictures of black people as "gorillas".  The company said it was "appalled and genuinely sorry", though its fix, Wired reported in 2018, was simply to censor photo searches and tags for the word "gorilla".

In May, Twitter admitted racial biases in the way its "saliency algorithm" cropped previews of images.  Studies have also shown biases in the algorithms powering some facial-recognition systems.

Algorithmic error
In 2020, Facebook announced a new "inclusive product council" - and a new equity team in Instagram - that would examine, among other things, whether its algorithms exhibited racial bias.

The "primates" recommendation "was an algorithmic error on Facebook" and did not reflect the content of the video, a representative told BBC News.   READ MORE