Earth's Twin

THE EIGHT PLANETS of our Solar System aren’t the only ones we’ve ever had — they’re merely the survivors.

But that doesn’t mean the other planets were destroyed. Earth may have a long-lost sibling somewhere in interstellar space. At least one rocky planet, around the same mass as Mars, may have been booted out of the early Solar System.

These are just some of the findings compiled in a recent review paper in the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, taking a look at the mysterious third zone of our Solar System, those points past Neptune and out into interstellar space.

Today, the planets in our Solar System are neatly sorted by size and composition:

• The four rocky inner planets orbit in the space between the Sun and the Asteroid Belt
• The outer Solar System is the realm of giants — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — which gathered enormous masses of gas and ice around their rocky cores
• Beyond Uranus and Neptune lies the realm of the dwarf planets, like Pluto, Eris, Sedna, and their even smaller neighbors, whether dwarf planet or comet

And that’s a little strange. As if something is missing.

“It seems unlikely that Nature created four giant planet cores, but then nothing else larger than dwarf planets in the outer Solar System,” planetary scientists Brett Gladman of the University of British Columbia and Kathryn Volk of the University of Arizona write in the review.  READ MORE

Focused

 

THe Iron Mountain

It’s not often we get a glimpse into the road not taken.  There was a movement in the early 1900s to preserve the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains and create the national park.

But that movement came with consequences. Whether those consequences were good or bad depends on your point of view.

Ultimately, people lost their homes, their land and their way of life for the greater good. Communities were erased. Bizarre fairly lands built for the amusement of the ultra-rich were abandoned back to the mountains.

Loggers who were clearing great swaths of the forest were forced to look elsewhere.  I think by and large, we’re all quite pleased with how things turned out. We love the national park, and the areas surrounding the park drive the local economy.

But what if things had turned out differently? What if the parks had remained private land?

Maybe it would have turned out like Foxfire Mountain Adventure Park, located not far from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Sevierville.  It’s a wonderful place with lots of manmade adventure, where you can hike the natural beauty of the Smokies.

Foxfire Family Adventure Park in Sevierville
The park was founded by the Postlewaite family. Prior to 2009, it was chiefly a cattle farm. By 2009, the family was ready to sell the farm for financial reasons.

However, during an Alaskan vacation, Marc tried ziplining. They called the realtor, took Foxfire off the market and built an adventure park, offering some of the best ziplining in the region.  READ MORE

Movement

 

Afternoon Ramblings

Life is short...

Life passes by quickly...

Life is change...

Life is temporary...

So...  what are we supposed to do with our lives?

Do we have a purpose?

Is there meaning with our existence?

It's complicated...  and yet, it is also simplistic...  in that we are born...  we live a certain amount of years...  we die...  and then...  what exactly?

No one knows although plenty have offered speculations...  especially the various religions and spiritual beliefs that say there is an after-life to which we journey after death.  An after-life without a body, as we become a spirit of sorts...  but, not necessarily a ghost per se...

And...  it is unclear if this spirit has a mind or a brain or a consciousness that comes with a memory or memories...  or, if it just floats around like a cloud in the sky pushed along by magnetic dark energy and matter.

However, some believe that there is a cosmic consciousness that is floating around in the universe that is comprised of all the knowledge and energy in the universe both past - present - future...  but, it is unclear if this cosmic consciousness is a repository for knowledge from humans or from ALL LIFEFORMS...  even though there is no conclusive proof that other lifeforms even exist.

It is also unclear to most of us if there really is a CREATOR that we refer to as GOD because of our exposure to The Bible, The Koran, and other religious texts and manuscripts that have been discovered from the following:

1. Christianity
2. Islam
3. Judaism
4. Sikhism
5. Baháʼí Faith
6. Atenism
7. Hinduism - complex and depends upon the individual

On the other hand, faiths like:

• Buddhaims
• Janism

Just as many texts and manuscripts exist that address the concept of MANY GODS...  however, there is always ONE of these many gods who controls and/or is the leader of these other gods...  which is tangential to this one god concept and the foundation of CREATIONISM.

Was the universe and everything inside the universe created...  or was the universe spontaneously created out of nothing...  which begs the question how does one get SOMETHING FROM NOTHING?  So, if one believes this, then one does not support the notion that the universe was actually created but that it just came into being...  hence, no creation.

AND...  does any of this really matter to someone who just wants to get high on drugs and fornicate...  or to someone who just wants to wants to work in a factory and drink beer....  or to someone who just wants who just wants to sell illegal drugs to dopers????

Our entire universe and everything inside it, may just be millions of lines of programming code for as Matrix-like construct that is operating on someone's computer screen as some sort of virtual reality game to avoid doing their homework...

Mankind, however it was developed, lives in its own imaginative concept of reality that suits their purposes and nothing more...  we are a selfish and self-centered species who evolved with two inherent drives:  SURVIVAL & GREED.  Those who are not blessed with those two motivating atributes simply have a meaningless but oblivious life and who are unaware of anything outside their sphere of influence...

These people were simply born, evolved into adults, eat for nurishment, fornicate for pleasure, defecate out of necessity, and die out boredom and their final awareness of insignificance.  They either dance to the music or march to the beat of someone else's drums...

 

On My Back Porch

Most days, I sit out on my back porch when the weather is mild to hot and there is minimal humidity like today...  it has nothing to do with the fact that it is also Sunday in the Valley...  yesterday was spent moving landscaping rocks and tilling up the ground around a miniture Japanese Maple so that we could sow grass seed and no longer have to worry about planting flowers and weeding...  the decision comes with age not with the fact that we are tired of flowers.

We don't like to work outside on Sundays to give respect to what this day represents religiously and not because we are "born again" Christians...  although for me, I was baptized after 18 months of life and raised in a Christian family until I left home after high school.  My faith will always be a part of who I am, even though I do not believe nor do I support institutionalized religions...  and, those reasons are my own and there is no need to share them.

This morning, my wife and I discussed finances in that the cost of our healthcare has increased and no doubt will increase again...  along with gasoline prices and food prices which impacts us most often as we have numerous medical appointment throughout the month all of which are in Knoxville about 30-50 miles away depending upon the location of the office.

At age 74 and 69 respectively, my wife and I are no longer that keen on driving a long distance to enjoy 5 days of vacation at a coastal town in South Carolina or Florida or along the Gulf Coast, nor are we that keen on flying overseas to see what Europe has to offer...  and, with COVID hanging around like a bad neighbor, we have absolutely no desire to live on a cruise ship for 7 days.

Presidents and elected officials come and go every so often and while most of us only pay attention to the 4 year or 8 year cycles, there are elections being held every two years referred to as the 'mid-terms' and typically influence the power of the House and Senate...  and, while that is interesting to some of us, it no longer is of interest to me because NOTHING EVER CHANGES or at least in my situation, nothing has changed since the mid 1960's...  therefore, I no longer give a shit about politics.

There is RACISM in this country...  there is no doubt about that...  but, racism is not just about the whites, it is also about the blacks as they perpetuate just as much as the whites do...  look at their communities...  look at their churches...  look at their cultural centers...  look at the hatred they have for whites...

Racism in the USA will never change...  as long as there are differences among and within the human race and there are differences with which we are born and they will never change...  Some blacks are lighter than other blacks and those two groups don't care for each other...  yet, dark blacks like to marry light blacks or whites because of the status that brings them for some reason...

BUT...

THE REAL PROBLEM IS NOT...

• Blacks or whites
• Democrats or Republicans
• Educated or non educated
• Religious or not religious

THE REAL PROBLEM IS...

MONEY AND WEALTH

MILLIONAIRES

BILLIONAIRES    

These people CONTROL EVERYTHING...  and set into motion circumstances and scenarios that have people who are not in their financial domains FIGHTING EACH OTHER...  which on the surface is very clever but it is also destructive...  and, this destruction will NEVER HURT the wealthy as it diverts attention away from them...

Dolly Parton

In 1990, the high school dropout rate for Dolly Parton's hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee was at 34%.

Research shows that most kids make up their minds in fifth/sixth grade not to graduate.

That year, all fifth and sixth graders from Sevierville were invited by Parton to attend an assembly at Dollywood.

They were asked to pick a buddy, and if both students completed high school, Dolly Parton would personally hand them each a $500 check on their graduation day.

As a result, the dropout rate for those classes fell to 6%, and has generally retained that average to this day.

Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels.

That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.

During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education.

The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge.

What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.

On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of "Coat of Many Colors" dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.

Happy 74th Birthday Dolly Parton!

A Little Funny

 

Charity Money

WHERE DOES CHARITY MONEY GO??? 


The Terry Fox organization contributes $0.83 for every dollar raised to cancer research.

The Canadian Cancer Society : $0.22 for every dollar raised.

Admin costs for the Terry Fox Run are low because most of the admin costs are paid by its many volunteers. Only $0.17 is used for run promotion and supplies. Every person organizing & managing absorbs all expenses other than the run donor sheets and some signage.

Do you know that the CEO of Shriners' , the Imperial Potentate, makes $0.00 per year? How about that for a salary? There are 22 hospitals helping kids in Canada , the USA and in Mexico . His salary is matched by the Provincial Potentate's income which is also $0.00 per year.

So the next time you see a Shriner in a mall, selling whatever, give generously.

Same for the Lions Clubs ---100 per cent of money raised for charity goes to charity. Even Lion's dinner meetings are paid for out of their own pockets.

As you open your pockets for yet another natural disaster, keep the following information in mind.

We have listed the charities from the highest (worst paid offender to the lowest (least paid offender).

The worst offender , for the 11th year in a row is UNICEF ,whose CEO receives $1,200,000 per year, plus a Rolls Royce for his exclusive use wherever he goes, and an expense account that is rumored to be well over $150,000.

Only pennies from the donations go to the UNICEF cause (less than $0.14 per dollar of income).

The second worst offender this year is Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross.

Her salary for the year ending in 2009 was $651,957 plus expenses. She enjoys 6 weeks fully paid holidays including all related expenses during the holiday trip for her and her husband and kids, and 100% fully paid health & dental plan for her and her family....for life!

This means out of every dollar they bring in, about $0.39 goes to charity causes.

The third worst offender, again for the 7th time, was Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way. He receives a $375,000 base salary (US funds), plus so many expense benefits it's hard to keep track as to what it is all worth, including a fully paid lifetime membership at 2 golf courses (1 in Canada, 1 in the USA), 2 luxury vehicles, a yacht club membership, 3 major company gold credit cards for his personal expenses... and so on....

This equates to about $0.51 per dollar of income going to charity causes.

Fourth worst offender, in the fourth spot for every year since this information has been made available since 1998, is amazingly yet again, World Vision. Its President (Canada) receives $300,000 base salary, plus a home valued in the $700,000 - $800,000 range (completely furnished, all housing expenses, including taxes, water/sewer, telephone/fax, HD/high speed cable, weekly maid service and pool/yard maintenance), fully paid private schooling for his children, upscale automobile, and a $55,000 personal expense account for clothing/food, plus a $125,000 business expense account.


And get this: because it is a "religious based" charity, World Vision pays little or no taxes, can receive government assistance and does not have to declare where the money goes.


Only about $0.52 of earned income per dollar is available for charity causes.

Of the some sixty-odd charities we looked at, the lowest paid President/CEO/Commissioner was heading up a charity group in Canada .. We found, believe it or not, that it was...

Ready for this...?

I think you might be surprised...
It is none other than...

The Salvation Army 's Commissioner Todd Bassett, who receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization.

Which means about $0.93 per dollar earned, is readily available and goes back out to local charity causes.

Truly amazing...

Mystgerious Surge in Atmosphere

Levels of molecular hydrogen (H2) in the atmosphere have surged in modern times due to human activity, according to new research.

When scientists analyzed air samples trapped in drilled cores of Antarctica's ice, they found atmospheric hydrogen had increased 70 percent over the course of the 20th century.

Even as recent air pollution laws have sought to curb fossil fuel emissions, hydrogen emissions have continued to rise with no signs of slowing down. There's a chance that leakage is to blame.

Molecular hydrogen is a natural component of our atmosphere due to the breakdown of formaldehyde, but it is also a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, especially from automobile exhaust and biomass burning.

While hydrogen doesn't trap heat in the atmosphere on its own, it can indirectly impact the distribution of methane and ozone. After carbon dioxide, these are the two most important greenhouse gases, which means global hydrogen levels can also perturb the climate.

Nevertheless, the sources and sinks of atmospheric hydrogen are rarely studied. We don't even have a good estimate of how much humans have emitted since industrial times.

The current study is the first to offer up a solid figure. Between 1852 and 2003, air samples from near the South Pole of Antarctica suggest atmospheric hydrogen jumped from 330 parts per billion to 550 parts per billion.

"Aging air is trapped in the perennial snowpack above an ice sheet, and sampling it gives us a highly accurate account of atmospheric composition over time," explains Earth scientist John Patterson from the University of California Irvine.  READ MORE

Classic Sunday Newspaper Cartoons

 

Big Cat

 

USA - China Trade History

This Week in China’s History looks back at U.S. Secretary of State John Hay’s 1899 “Open Door Note” that purported to support China’s sovereignty and the principles of free trade, but arguably did just the opposite.

It’s a cliche among historians to define particular decades — almost any decade, if we’re given the chance — as “pivotal.” With that in mind, I’d still argue that the importance of the 1890s for China’s foreign relations is hard to overstate. The Qing empire entered the decade with hopes that the self-strengthening program reinvigorated after an 1884 defeat by France was finally bearing fruit. 

The 1894 war with Japan ended any illusions about that: China was unable to defend its territorial interests. The rest of the decade was the “carving of the melon,” to use the parlance of the day, as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan divided the ailing dynasty.

The process had actually begun decades earlier. The Opium Wars spawned a British colony at Hong Kong and a handful of semi-colonial “treaty ports,” which grew in number and autonomy over the course of the century. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun ceded more than 230,000 square miles of Manchuria to Russia. But it was in the 1890s that China seemed truly in peril.

The spark to the fuse on China’s partition was not lit by Europeans, but by Japan. The terms of the 1894-95 war gave Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, jutting south from Manchuria toward Shandong. The Japanese claim was soon renounced thanks to international pressure.

The Europeans, it would seem, did not appreciate the Japanese usurping their colonial prerogative — yet the move suggested that the informal imperialism that had guided much of European policy toward China might need to be reconsidered. Might it be time to divide China, formally, among the European powers?  READ MORE

Have You Ever Noticed

 

Bay Leaves

Many ladies add bay leaves to their foods, especially in the cooking of rich Indian dishes, meat and poultry. Many don't know why bay leaves are added to food!

When a woman was asked why, she said, "to flavor the food". If you boil the bay leaves in a glass of water and taste it, it will have no flavor. So why do you put bay leaves in the meat or other food?
The addition of bay leaves to meat converts triglycerides to monounsaturated fats and, for experimentation and confirmation:-
Cut a chicken into two halves, cook each half in a separate pan and place on one a bay leaf, and cook the other without a bay leaf.

Observe the amount of fat in both pans after cooking!
If you have bay leaves, there is no need for a pharmacy, as recent scientific studies have shown that bay leaves have many benefits....
They help to get rid of many serious health problems and illnesses......

The benefits of bay leaf
1.  Treat digestive disorders and help eliminate -
•Lumps
•Heartburn
•Acidity
•Constipation
Hot bay tea regulates bowel movements 
•lowers blood sugar
•is an antioxidant,

2.   By eating them, or by drinking bay leaf tea for a month, the body is able to produce insulin
3.   Eliminates bad cholesterol and relieves the body of triglycerides.
4.   Useful in treating colds, flu and severe coughs, as it is a rich source of vitamin "C"
5.  You can boil the leaves and inhale steam to get rid of phlegm and reduce the severity of coughs
6.   Protects the heart from seizures and strokes, as they contain cardiovascular protective compounds
7.   Rich in acids such as caffeic acid, quercetin, eigonol and bartolinide, substances that prevent the formation of cancer cells in the body
8.   Eliminates insomnia and anxiety. If taken before bed, helps you relax and sleep peacefully.
9.   Drinking a cup of boiled bay leaves twice a day breaks down kidney stones and cures infections.

Private Jet Attendants

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

After decades as a flight attendant on private jets, Lori has encountered it all. There was a pot-bellied pig that took a plane ride by itself, a celebrity’s guard dog that bit a member of the crew, and a British footballer who asked if he could change his knickers. “He got butt-ass naked right there in front of me,” said Lori, who asked to be identified only by her first name.

That wasn’t her only run-in with the footballer. On another trip, he boarded his plane in New York after spending the night partying with his wife. As Lori made her way to the athlete’s cabin, his assistant asked her to stop. “They’re shagging in the back,” the assistant said. She shrugged and stayed out of the way.

“I don’t think that’s inappropriate personally, because this is literally their flying home,” she told The Daily Beast. “They pay millions and millions of dollars. If I was them, and I was paying that amount of money, and I wanted to shag my husband, I would do it.”

Such is the life of a flight attendant for the ultra-rich, where customers pay anywhere from thousands of dollars for a single charter to millions for a full-time share of an aircraft. The variance in passengers’ behavior is just as wide.

Attendants divulged a host of wild accounts to us—from outlandish tips to lascivious escapades. Most spoke under the condition of anonymity, since they signed non-disclosure agreements and feared compromising their relationships with clients and employers.  READ MORE