My Biased Views

1977 was when this caricature was drawn for me by a local NC artist...  I was 30 years old...  that was 44 years ago...  I kept my stache for several years then I got over the need for facial hair...  mainly because everyone was doing it...  I also started cutting my hair short once everyone was growing their hair long...  that's just the kind of person I am...  I try not to be like everyone else...  and, in so doing, I don't have many friends...  but, I am honest to myself and have my own integrity...

I am a Christian, but I do not attend institutionalized religion churches...  and, it is not because of all the hypocrisy that I see inside those walls but because those who preach to me...  don't really teach me anything...  I learned more about faith and religion but reading the Bible cover-to-cover myself.

I survived the 1960's and I survived Woodstock but I have not survived the music of the 60's and 70's because lyrics aren't even close to the lyrics of those decades...  we have become intellectually ignorant and have no desire to show that in our music...  so it reflects this emptiness.  I am a Vietnam Veteran but I don't believe in wars, nor do I own a firearm even though I have the right to do so.

I hold a BA in English and an MBA with a focus in Strategic Planning but my entire 45 year career had nothing to do with either of those two degrees.  I made above average grades but no one ever asked to see my transcripts before hiring me, including educational institutionals who had hired me to teach.  Just another form of hypocrisy.

I have no student debt because I used the GI Bill to pay for my education.  In fact, I have no debt at all and have been debt free for over 15 years.  I use a credit card but I always pay it off before any interest is added.

"I"...  "I"...  "I"...  how else do you expect me to share who I am or who I am not?

My thoughts will, for the most part, be controversial as I like to get people to think and I like to rock the boat.  Thinking outside the box is the key to intellectual growth...  so, let's start with this...

I believe in GOD but only as an extraterrestrial...

 

8 Types of People

 

My Daily Journey

As a child, I learned the value of play.

As a teenager, I learned the value of sports.

As a young adult, I learned the value of service.

As a mature adult, I learned the value of love.

As an middle-aged adult, I learned the value of work.

As a senior citizen, I learned the value of health.

As a retiree, I learned the value of being alone.

When alone, I learned the value of meditation.

When meditating, I learned the value of thoughts...

What is thought?

Is thought a memory?  or an idea?  or a concept?'

Is thought good or bad or indifferent?

Have you ever thought about:

What is our purpose here?

Why are we here?

Why is the universe so large?

Are we the only human life forms in the universe?

Is there a cosmic consciousness?

Where is my journey taking me - was the question that I have asked myself?  And, while I have no answers, I understand, in a fundamental way, that my journey is taking me somewhere...  and, that is not just to my death...  it is taking me to an awareness...  to an enlightenment...

Obviously, I need money to live...  but, I do not live for money...  and, there is a big difference because my quality of life is impacted by that decision...  in the sense of:  what kind of quality of life do I want to have?

How big of a house do I need to own?

Do I need to have a reliable vehicle?

How much food do I need to eat each day?

How can I maintain good health?

Do I need to void my mind of all thought?

My journey provides me with a series of questions that I try to answer throughout the day, knowing that all my answers are always going to be incomplete as I really won't know the answers when I want to realize them.  I will understand these answers only when I need to be aware of the answers for which I seek.

Understanding that it just happens this way, is the first step of your journey...

laughs

Filters of Consciousness

In addition to the basic capacity for sense perception, the Unified Theory of Knowledge (UTOK) identifies three primary domains of human consciousness. The first is the experiential or primate self, which includes both the capacity for subjective experience and the manner in which perceptions become referenced against motives and emotions that are relevant to one's self. The basic features of this domain of consciousness is shared with other mammals. The second domain is the ego, which refers to the language-based narrating capacity of your interpreter system. It is the “I” that describes, evaluates, and explains the “me” when you are engaged in explicit self-conscious reflection. Finally, your persona refers to the way you project your identity out into the social world to manage impressions and regulate your role and place in the social field.


These domains are specified in UTOK via Justification Systems Theory (JUST)2. In particular, JUST argues that we can understand the evolution of the human ego and persona as arising out of the fact that with propositional language came the problem of having to justify one’s self to others. UTOK proclaims this is a central problem that shapes the structural and functional arrangement of our language-based propositional thought. It also makes very clear predictions regarding the relationship between the domains of consciousness. Specifically, JUST posits that there should be specific kinds of filtering processes that should be present between both the experiential self and the ego and the ego and the persona. These dynamic processes are where we find two of the three filters of consciousness.


According to JUST, the ego must narrate what is happening to the primate experiential self and do so with the task of developing a justifiable narrative of events. This means that there should be filters associated with how the ego construes the experiential self. Specifically, it should work to filter out impulses, images, ideas, and feelings that are unjustifiable. And it should then work to develop justifiable narratives for those experiences, drives, and images that are acknowledged. In addition, powerful thoughts and feelings that the ego cannot control or deny should be experienced as alien and “ego-dystonic.”


Of course, therapists of a psychodynamic orientation have long identified precisely these kinds of processes and dynamic relations between self-consciousness and subconscious processes. Indeed, the idea that the ego sits atop the more animalistic portions of our mental lives and filters out undesirable processes via repression or suppression and then rationalizes those portions to manage our sense of self in the relational world is a basic set of insights from the Freudian tradition. It is because of this set of insights from psychodynamic theory that UTOK labels the filter between the primate-experiential self and the ego the "Freudian Filter." It operates between nonverbal images, drives, and impulses and verbal narration and, at this interface, the primary dynamic this filter is attempting is to translate the experiential self into a justified narrative and also regulate it so that it conforms.  READ MORE...

Sea Lion Chasing Boat

JORO Spiders

A female Joro spider crawls across a branch. Credit: Davis et al, Physiological evaluation of newly invasive jorō spiders (Trichonephila clavata) in the southeastern USA compared to their naturalized cousin, Trichonephila clavipes, Physiological Entomology (2022).

If you live in Georgia, it's hard not to notice the state's latest resident.

The bright yellow, blue-black and red spiders' golden webs will be all over power lines, in trees around town and even on your front porch come summer.

The Joro spider first arrived stateside around 2013 and has since spread across the state and Southeast. But new research from the University of Georgia suggests the invasive arachnids could spread through most of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.

There's really nothing we can do to stop them. But that's not necessarily bad news.

Joros don't appear to have much of an effect on local food webs or ecosystems, said Andy Davis, corresponding author of the study and a research scientist in the Odum School of Ecology. They may even serve as an additional food source for native predators like birds.

"People should try to learn to live with them," he said. "If they're literally in your way, I can see taking a web down and moving them to the side, but they're just going to be back next year."

"The way I see it, there's no point in excess cruelty where it's not needed," added Benjamin Frick, co-author of the study and an undergraduate researcher in the School of Ecology. "You have people with saltwater guns shooting them out of the trees and things like that, and that's really just unnecessary."  READ MORE...

Drones

 

Innovative New Magnet

PPPL physicist Yuhu Zhai in front of a series of images related to his magnet research. 

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have designed a new type of magnet that could aid devices ranging from doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks to medical machines that create detailed pictures of the human body.

Tokamaks rely on a central electromagnet known as a solenoid to create electrical currents and magnetic fields that confine the plasma—the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei—so fusion reactions can occur. But after being exposed over time to energetic subatomic particles known as neutrons emanating from the plasma, insulation surrounding the electromagnet's wires can degrade. If they do, the magnet could fail and reduce a tokamak's ability to harness fusion power.

In this new type of magnet, metal acts as insulation and therefore would not be damaged by particles. In addition, it would operate at higher temperatures than current superconducting electromagnets do, making it easier to maintain.

Fusion, the power that drives the sun and stars, combines light elements in the form of plasma to generates massive amounts of energy. Scientists are seeking to replicate fusion on Earth for a virtually inexhaustible supply of power to generate electricity.

"Our innovation both simplifies the fabrication process and makes the magnet more tolerant of the radiation produced by the fusion reactions," said Yuhu Zhai, a principal engineer at PPPL and lead author of a paper reporting the results in Superconductor Science and Technology.  READ MORE...

Shock

 

Just A Few More Thoughts

 There is a southern expression that really applies here:  OPINIONS ARE LIKE ASSHOLES, EVERYBODY HAS GOT ONE...  and, I am cetainly no execption...

Are my opinions biased?

Of course they are...

Are my opinions from the heart?

That's affirmative as well...

In 1970, Edwin Starr, wrote the lyrics to the song WAR...  here is an excerpt:

War what is it good for?

Absolutely nothing...

And yet, Americans are constantly going to war...  but, not just a war like the Korean War, Vietnam War, or the war in Afghanistan...

We have racial wars, educational wars, political wars, religious wars, perception wars, freedom of speech wars, vehicle wars, border wars, marriage wars, and the obvious one would be relationship wars...

We are constantly fighting each other endlessly over what most of us might believe or perceive to be STUPID SHIT.

So, why do we do this?

POWER

CONTROL

EGO

PRIVILEGE

ELITE

I remember when I first started workimg after college and if I had an idea and presented to my boss, he would say to me that it was not a good idea but 3-6 months later, present it to his boss as if it were his idea....

Why are Americans like this?

Our society, I fear, will never change and if they will never change, then our global world can never come together and live life as it was intended to be lived...  although, maybe this was the way it was intended to be lived...

From The Back Porch

There is nothing more majestic that watching sunrise...  and as we all can well imagine, sunrise is different from a variety of locations all over the world.  Watching the sunrise is an old pagan tradition, I have read, but be that as it may, it is still fascinating to watch, especially from my back porch.

As the valley lights up this morning, the clouds hide the magnificent ball of sun from being seen, but watching the light unfold is a miracle in and of itself.

Up early were you?

As a matter of fact I was...

Why?

Simply put, I could not sleep any longer...

This is one of the few mornings that the cats (of which we have 3) were not sitting at the door, whinning for me to get up and give them their morning treat.

It's a habit that we started years ago and repeat daily.

We humans have routines as well...  that were started long ago by someone who conditioned us like our parents and possibly later by an influential grade school teacher.

For me, it was my parents who taught me that the first thing that I should do before leaving the bedroom for breakfast was to make my bed...  they assured me that I did not have to do this if I needed to use the bathroom first.

Next, was the routine of breakfast as my father considered that to be the most important meal of the day, with lunch being second and dinner was important as well just not as much.

Meals were always a time for the family to talk and share whatever it was that we wanted to share with each other and sometimes the sharing got personal and had obviously violated privacy...  and, another routine was established that was simply don't share private stuff.

Over 70 years later, I still eat that most important meal of the day...  breakfast...  but, I typically don't even think about eating it until late morning...  and, when I say late, it is usually almost noon.  Around 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm, I eat small meals maybe just pimento cheese on a toasted English Muffin or a couple of apples or a bowl of soup.  As we grow older we don't need much of a routine to sustain our lives.

Reflections are a powerful source of memories and the older we become the more reflections we have and the more memories we remember...  and, it is in those moments of reflection that we finally understand who we are and what we have become.

War

 

Bouncy... Bouncy...

Hyper-Realistic Art

(Pocket-lint) - We've seen plenty of incredible images captured on film and with digital cameras in recent years. Whether brilliant photographs from space, amazing images from a new perspective or astounding aerial photographs snapped with drones, there are plenty of incredible images out there to enjoy.

There are artists out there though, who with a steady hand, plenty of patience and incredible talent have managed to create artwork so astounding and breath-taking you'll struggle to believe they aren't real images.

Dispell your disbelief and join us on this journey of discovery. With paintings, drawings and sculptures that are so good, you won't believe your eyes.

Sweet treats

They say the first bite is with the eye and we all enjoy a sweet treat from a vending machine, but this image really plays tricks on you too.

Roberto Bernardi has worked the oil onto the canvas so well here it even includes the reflection of a photographer in the glass of the machine.

Empire State Building in oil

At first glance, you might dismiss this image as a rather dull photo of New York City.

The classic tourist snap of the Empire State Building and surrounding skyline. When you learn though, that this image was actually created by hand, it becomes entirely more impressive.

Raphaella Spence has a real talent for creating hyper-realistic art and has been crafting and exhibiting her art since the late 1990s.

TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS AND SEE MORE FANTASTIC ART, CLICK HERE...

Classic Sunday Morning Newspaper Cartoons

 

Killing Pancreatic Cancer Cells

A research team led by scientists at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has discovered a molecule that inhibits the growth and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells through the iron metabolism pathway.

Their findings, recently published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, pave the way toward the development of a new drug candidate for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The molecule, MMRi62, targets iron metabolism to kill cancer cells and the harmful proteins that encourage their growth and spread, suggesting that further development and refinement of this compound could lead to a new type of pancreatic cancer therapy.

"MMRi62 causes degradation of an iron-storage protein called FTH1, as well as a protein that is mutated in PDAC, resulting [in] inhibition of metastasis and ferroptosis, a form of cell death triggered by free cellular iron," says Xinjiang Wang, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Roswell Park. READ MORE...

Hot Tub

 

Taking a Giant Leap

ORNL’s Joseph Lukens runs experiments in an optics lab. Credit: Jason Richards/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists' increasing mastery of quantum mechanics is heralding a new age of innovation. Technologies that harness the power of nature's most minute scale show enormous potential across the scientific spectrum, from computers exponentially more powerful than today's leading systems, sensors capable of detecting elusive dark matter, and a virtually unhackable quantum internet.

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Freedom Photonics and Purdue University have made strides toward a fully quantum internet by designing and demonstrating the first ever Bell state analyzer for frequency bin coding.

Their findings were published in Optica.

Before information can be sent over a quantum network, it must first be encoded into a quantum state. This information is contained in qubits, or the quantum version of classical computing "bits" used to store information, that become entangled, meaning they reside in a state in which they cannot be described independently of one another.

Entanglement between two qubits is considered maximized when the qubits are said to be in "Bell states."

Measuring these Bell states is critical to performing many of the protocols necessary to perform quantum communication and distribute entanglement across a quantum network. And while these measurements have been done for many years, the team's method represents the first Bell state analyzer developed specifically for frequency bin coding, a quantum communications method that harnesses single photons residing in two different frequencies simultaneously.  READ MORE...

Treading Water