Sloths

 

Belief in God Drops

The percentage of Americans who say they believe in God has dipped to the lowest number in the past nearly 80 years, according to a new Gallup poll published Friday.

The Values and Belief poll, conducted from May 2 to 22, showed 81% of people answered that they believe in God. That is down six percentage points from the 87% of respondents who said they believed in God in the 2017 poll. This year is the lowest percentage in Gallup’s trend since the public opinion polling company first asked the question in 1944.

This year’s poll found 17% of Americans said they do not believe in God.

When asking the question first in 1944, again in 1947, and twice each in the 1950s and 1960s, a consistent 98% of respondents said they believed in God. When Gallup asked the question nearly five decades later, in 2011, 92% of Americans said they believed in God.

A subsequent survey in 2013 found belief in God dipping below 90% to 87%, roughly where it stood in three subsequent updates between 2014 and 2017 before this year's drop to 81%.

The poll found that the belief in God has plummeted the most in recent years among young adults and people on the left of the political spectrum, namely liberals and Democrats.  READ MORE...

Monster

 

Ending Racial Disparities

 

DALLAS (AP) — After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth this weekend, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to get national recognition said it’s important that people learn the history behind it.

“We need to know so people can heal from it and never let it happen again,” said Lee, whose 2 1/2-mile (4-kilometer) walk through Fort Worth symbolizes the 2 1/2 years it took after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the Southern states for the enslaved people in Texas to be freed.

A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 19 the nation’s 12th federal holiday, people across the U.S. gathered at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about history and addressing racial disparities. Many Black people celebrated the

day just as they did before any formal recognition.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved people of the state — two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War.

“Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments,” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “They confront them to grow stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do.”

A Gallup Poll found that Americans are more familiar with Juneteenth than they were last year, with 59% saying they knew “a lot” or “some” about the holiday compared with 37% a year ago in May. The poll also found that support for making Juneteenth part of school history lessons increased from 49% to 63%.  READ MORE...

Imagine

 

Ancient Black Death Mystery

Researchers believe they may have found ground zero for the deadliest plague in human history, the Black Death — pulling the veil off a mystery that has been shrouded for nearly 700 years.

A paper published in Nature on Wednesday details how a team of archaeologists and geneticists sequenced the genome of plague bacteria found in medieval corpses that predate the first plague outbreaks in Eurasia. The make-up of this ancient bacterial DNA has led researchers to believe it was the origin for almost all subsequent strains of bubonic plague.

Samples of this original Yersinia pestis bacteria, the pathogen that causes bubonic plague, were found in northern Kyrgyzstan, in villages that were along the old Silk Road trade route in Central Asia.

The study began several years ago when Philip Slavin, an economic and environmental historian for the University of Stirling, came across records that a pair of 14th-century cemeteries had a significant amount of tombstones dated from 1338 to 1339. Ten of these tombstones explicitly referenced pestilence.

This was unusual because, prior to this study, the earliest deaths associated with the plague were in 1346 in the Crimean Peninsula.

“When you have one or two years with excess mortality, it means something funny is going on there,” Slavin said at a news conference.  READ MORE...

Sufer

 

Bill O'Reilly Speaks Out

 

Mother Ship of Drones

An aerial view of Whitsun Reef, Spratly Islands, South China Sea imaged 24 March 2021.

Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2021)

China has launched the world's first crewless drone carrier that uses artificial intelligence to navigate autonomously in open water.

Beijing has officially described it as a maritime research tool, but some experts have said the ship has the potential to be used as a military vessel.

The autonomous ship, the Zhu Hai Yun (pictured here) is around 290 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 20 feet deep and can carry dozens of air, sea, and submersible drones equipped with different observation instruments, according to the shipbuilder, CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipping Co.

It describes the vessel as "epoch making" and the "world's first intelligent unmanned system mother ship."  READ MORE...

What do Table Manners Say About You?

 

A Little Mishap

Yesterday morning, I was in the kitchen toasting an English Muffin and decided that while it was cooking I would get the jelly and a spoon.  We have had irobots cleaning our floors every day because of 3 cats for over 3 years and their noise is still present but sounds like background noise so it is pretty much ignored by me.  

That ignoring worked to my disadvantage as when I turned the damn irobot was right behind me and after my first step, I immediately fell.  My arms instinctively reached out and hit the top of our free-standing island, slowing me down enough to land on my knees and not bounce off the island and onto the floor quite possibly landing on my back or side.

I stayed in that position for a couple of minutes waiting for the onset of additional pain but none arrived, so I pulled myself up and called out to my wife as I headed back to the bedroom to lay flat on my back on our bed.  My wife entered the room and checked me out as I explained to her what had happened.  She found nothing.

But, as the day gradually unwound, my lower back began aching more and more so I spent more than normal today laying on my back on the bed.

I don't think I damaged the surgery but I do think my already beat-up back muscles went into action as soon as they realized I was falling...  it will take a couple of days perhaps to get them calmed back down.

Lesson Learned:  pay attention to everything in your house or in your environment, even if you don't think there are any hazards around...  because they are there and they will reach up and bite you in the ass like they did me.  Don't take anything for granted and make sure you are aware of sound and anything around whenever you decide to move or change locations.

Inevitable Growth

Since the birth of the USA, about 250 years have passed by to get us to where we are in 2022...  Since a generation spans about 20-30 years (25 on average), those 250 years have given us 10 generations...  10 generations is a lot of time, for instance:

• My family
• My Parents
• My Grandparents
• MY Great Grandparents is still only 4 generations and I have no memory of my Great Grandparents because I never met them...  and, about the only memory of my grandparents were when I was a young child up through my first marriage that my grandfather attended.  Shortly thereafter he died...   I was 21 years old.

So, this should impress upon you the the absolute length of 250 years.

1772/1776

1. Underwater warfare - submarine - the Turtle
2. Chronometer - accurate time
3. Underwater exploration with scuba
4. Indoor Plumbing
5. The Kitchen Stove
6. Electricity
7. Mechanical Motion
8. Steam Engines
9. Multi-tasking - revolving bookstand
10. The Spinning Mule
11. The Cotton Gin
12. Bubbles in Water (Soda)

EARLY 1900s 

there were 600,000 telephones in American homes across the USA

by 1905 - 2.2 million telephones

by 1910 - 5.8 million telephones

by 1915 - first transcontinental cable laid connecting telephone service from USA to Great Britain.

by 1973 - first mobile phone released to the public

First Computer

1830s -  Charles Babbage invented the first digital computer

1951 - first keyboard invented to access computer

1974 - the first personal computer

What do we have in 2022?

You name it, we have it...

• smart phones
• smart vehicles
• smart homes
• wristband computer phones (iwatch)
• electric vehicles
• surgeon robots
• artificial intelligence
• online classes
• virtual learning head devices
• students can perform virtual surgeries
• space flight
• reusable spacecraft (returning to base, landing upright

How Fast is Technology Growing? 

By 2025...

38.6 billion smart devices will be collecting, analyzing, and sharing data.
The web hosting services market is to reach $77.8 billion 
70% of all tech spending is expected to go for cloud solutions.
There are 1.35 million tech startups.
Global AI market is expected to reach $89.8 billion.
There are 4,383 million internet users.
Solar energy adoption has grown by around 50%.

Imagine This

 

RULE OF LAW - Part II

Three middle-aged wealthy men who were influenced by Great Britain wrote The Federal Papers describing the CORE VALUES of the American People, because these aristocrats did not believe that the common man did not have the ability to articulate something so intellectually important.  And, while that might be true, it is highly arrogant, egotistical, with an air of astronomical self-importance...

So, what are are American CORE VALUES?

• Highly Religious
• Hard Working
• Equality
• Family Oriented
• Community Oriented
• High Moral & Integrity
• Honesty & Fair Play

UNFORTUNATELY, these core values only pertained to the caucasian race that most immigrated from Europe.  Very few if any extend out into the black communities or other minorities.  And, most importantly, 80% of Americans no longer believe in any of these as their CORE VALUES...

Young American was comprised of Aristocrats who settled the north and provided us with our manufacturing base while the south was settled unorthodox aristocrats who relied on immigrants that had been released from European prisons.  This formed the North/South hatred that is still in existence today.

Since 1776, America has changed dramatically not only in its populations of immigrants but in how each ethnic group perseceives and tolerates other ethnic groups.

Blacks have made the overt decision to challenge America's RULE OF LAW by not following it as much as they are trying to destroy it...  Blacks have seen first hand that America's RULE OF LAW does not pertain to everyone equally and fairly which has caused much negative reflections in their various ethnic bands spread throughout the United States.

TODAY, our RULE OF LAW is shot to hell and for all intense and purposes does not exist at all except in the minds of our law makers on Capital Hill who continue to perceive that they are making laws that will benefit a majority of the people...  when in reality their bills and laws are highly partisan....  like this current movement to completely halt the use of petroleum crude oil...  

Their idiocy extends to closing down pipelines in the US/Canada that made us energy independent so that if we needed any additional oil, we would be forced to buy that our from our enemies making them wealthier than they were before...

NO RULE OF LAW HERE...

We have millions of immigrants crossing into our country along the southern border making each one that enters our RULE OF LAW country doing so by breaking the law...

How can anyone say that we have RULE OF LAW in the USA when illegal immigration is out of control?

NO RULE OF LAW HERE...

The Supreme Court of the US interprets the RULE OF LAW that the CONGRESS passes to determine if these laws align themselves with the guidelines in the US Constitution or not.  If these laws do not, they are deemed unconstitutional and can no longer be enforce.

The US Constitution makes it an illegal act for people to protest outside the homes of the Supreme Court Justices in an effort of intimidation to persuade them to vote a different way.

Today, there are hundreds of civil protestors in front of a few of the home of Supreme Court Justices trying to persuade them not to overturn Roe V Wade....

This is blatantly against the law and the current Department of Justice refuses to enforce the law and disperse the crowd.

NO RULE OF LAW HERE

Wild Animals

 

A Little Light Thinking is in Order

MIND - BODY - SOUL

The trinity of the homo sapiens...  and that unique characteristic that differentiates from animal, fish, and fowl, no matter how large...  while we share different bodies and similar organs in some species as well as a limited capability mind, no other creature or species is in possession of a soul...  even though some believe that our soul is the spark of life...  Our spark of life is the fertilization of an egg, but then we still have a soul.  So, what is it that our soul is connected to?  

Some believe it is a vast cosmic consciousness that appears to float aimlessly in our universe.  Others believe it to be the spiritual connection to the trinity of God.  Still, others believe that our soul enables us to distinguish good from evil...  However, in the realm of the universe, there is no good or evil, just existence or non-existence, action, and opposing action.

Each part of the homo sapiens trilogy must be acknowledged and nourished if one is to live a fulfilling life....  with the understanding that a fulfilling life is the equality of the trio.  Oftentimes, we address one of the three and sometimes two of the three but never all three simultaneously...  which seems a little odd to me given our so-called common sense and intelligence.

Typically lacking is the soul or spirit if you prefer but it is not about being religious or not religious...  it is about being spiritual and spirituality is not necessarily a religion or belief as much as it is an understanding of a concept.  The concept is that something extremely superior to us created this universe as well as its purpose.  Religious Faith points to a God, Jesus, and a Holy Spirit and if one believes in Jesus then one has a pathway to heaven and eternal life.  Given the size of the universe (that is still expanding) that concept no longer seems to fit, if it ever did...  and yet, there must be a creator.

Can you imagine the explanations that will be tossed around by religious leaders when science finally proves the existence of multiple dimensions and multiple verses in which there is an over-abundance of life as if the universe was some well-stocked fishing pond.

Sunday Cartoons

 

free form

 

Living in America

Most Americans DO NOT budget...   Why?

But, in the final analysis, does it really matter why...  the main issue is that they don't.  Maybe they do not know how?  And, that would be a valid reason...  Maybe they have tried and does not feel that it works?  Another valid reason but not sufficient enough to STOP.

Let's look at a simple budget...

$3,300 -  Spouse #1 Monthly Income (After taxes)      
$1,850 -  Spouse #2 Monthly Income (After taxes)
$5,150 -  total income

Monthy Expenses

$1,000 -  Rent/Mortgage
$100 -  Utilities
$100 -  WIFI
$150 -  Online Streaming
$200 - Cell phone
$200 - Car Insurance
$100 - Car Maintenance
$500 -  Car gasoline
$860 -  Food
$500 - Medical Premiums

$200 - Dental

$200 - Eye care

$200 - Clothes
$200 - Life Insurance

$400 -  Vacations (2)

$100 -  Birthdays & Holidays

$4810 - sub-total expenses

NOTE:  after looking at our list and comparing it with our income, we decide to add two more categories:

$200 -  Miscellaneous

$140 - Savings/Investments

$5150 -  total expenses

NOTE:  our total income equals our total expenses which means

 that we are making exactly what we need to make in order to pay our bills and not just survive but still have vacations, holidays, and birthdays like we used to have...

Our miscellaneous category does not just cover any unexplained expenses but gives us a BUFFER $2,400 annually to deal with increasing expenses before they become critical.

We also have another $1680 to add to the paragraph above but my caution would be to never stop a program to save unless you want to increase it...

In other words, I would cut back on clothes, vacations, holidays, and maybe food before I would reduce my savings budget.

This budget is based upon one spouse earning $50,000 annually and the other spouse earning $30,000 annually and a minimum amount of taxes has been calculated which may or may not reflect reality.

I have also looked at expenses that don't occur each month like dental and eye care, and calculated a monthly impact to make sure they were included.

My family unit has no debt which would also influence this budget...  and yes, not only do you calculate a budget but you collect data each month to see how you compare with your budget...  by doing this you can easily make month-to-month corrections to ensure that you stay within your budget...

This type of activity is especially important in today's climate of inflation...  it is easy to get caught off guard if you are not prepared to do your due dilligence.

RULE OF LAW - Part I

More than 200 years ago, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published a series of essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution now known as Federalist Papers. In explaining the need for an independent judiciary, Alexander Hamilton noted in The Federalist # 78 that the federal courts "were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and their legislature" in order to ensure that the people's representatives acted only within the authority given to Congress under the Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution is the nation's fundamental law. It codifies the core values of the people. Courts have the responsibility to interpret the Constitution's meaning, as well as the meaning of any laws passed by Congress. The Federalist # 78 states further that, if any law passed by Congress conflicts with the Constitution, "the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents."

"Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposed that the power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are not fundamental."

The American democratic system is not always based upon simple majority rule. There are certain principles that are so important to the nation that the majority has agreed not to interfere in these areas. For instance, the Bill of Rights was passed because concepts such as freedom of religion, speech, equal treatment, and due process of law were deemed so important that, barring a Constitutional Amendment, not even a majority should be allowed to change them.

Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are:

• Publicly promulgated
• Equally enforced
• Independently adjudicated
• And consistent with international human rights principles.

The courts play an integral role in maintaining the rule of law, particularly when they hear the grievances voiced by minority groups or by those who may hold minority opinions. Equality before the law is such an essential part of the American system of government that, when a majority, whether acting intentionally or unintentionally, infringes upon the rights of a minority, the Court may see fit to hear both sides of the controversy in court.

SOURCE:  USCOURTS.gov/educational resources/rule of law