Mortgage Market Resets

U.S. mortgage rates are tumbling even after the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points last week.

In fact, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has dipped below 5% for the first time since early April, a new report shows.

This is still significantly higher than last year — and the combination of high prices and interest rates is “driving a reset in fundamentals,” says George Ratiu, senior economist with Realtor.com.

“With borrowing costs setting an affordability ceiling for many buyers, home sales are dropping,” says Ratiu.

“In addition, as many homeowners rushed into summer ready to list their property and capture the equity brought about by record-high prices, inventory has improved. This brought a welcome sign in this year’s real estate markets — price cuts.”  READ MORE...

B17 in Flight

 

Millionaires and Billionaires and the Rest of Us

 

One of my faults my family says is that I am too critical of things and people...

Well, that is probably true...  but there are certain things that one must be critical about and for me that is TAXES...

So, here's the question:

SHOUlD THE WEALTHY BE TAXED MORE AND EXPECTED TO PAY FOR SOCIAL PROGRAMS THAT WILL CAUSE US TO DO EVEN LESS WORK?

In other words, if I were a millionaire or a billionaire, I would be expected to pay millions of dollars that I created myself to pay for:

• higher unemployment benefits
• higher social security benefits
• higher medicare benefits
• housing and food for the poor
• free college education
• a guaranteed minimum income

Why should I be forced to pay more taxes simply because I am wealthy?

And, if I am going to be forced to pay more taxes to pay for this shit, then guess what...  I'm hiding my income in the Grand Caymans where it cannot be taxed.

Then, who is going to pay for these programs?

NOT ME!!!

If this little scenario sounds somewhat silly...  it is about to happen...  and I would be willing to bet you that 90% of all millionaires and billionaires have already hidden their money so that it cannot be taxed.

If we cannot get the money from taxes, then our only other choices are:

• borrow the money
• print more money

Both of these choices ain't too smart because some future generations will have to pay if we borrow...  and, printing will simply devalue our dollar, and cause inflation...

But...  hey...  what the hell do I know?

Conspiracy

Why would the Democratic Party and Mainstream Media be pushing a climate agenda, going GREEN to combat climate change...  when wealthy Americans who support the GREEN MOVEMENT have refused to give up their private jets?

And, when there are only a few countries that are going GREEN?

In order for GOING GREEN to work, the entire world MUST GO GREEN...  countries NOT GOING GREEN:

• Russia
• China
• India
• North Korea
• Indonesia
• Africa
• Central America
• South America

The other interesting aspect of GOING GREEN is that commercial aircraft will not be involved in this process...  and, commercial aircraft fly all over the world to EVERY DAMN COUNTRY...

Looks like those of us who are GOING GREEN are spitting in the wind, and wasting time and resources...

Line Dancing

 

Extinct Pathogens Destroyed Civilizations

Thousands of years ago, across the Eastern Mediterranean, multiple Bronze Age civilizations took a distinct turn for the worse at around the same time.

The Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Akkadian Empire both collapsed, and there was a widespread societal crisis across the Ancient Near East and the Aegean, manifesting as declining populations, destruction, reduced trade, and significant cultural changes.

As usual, fingers have been pointed at climate change and shifting allegiances. But scientists have just found a new culprit in some old bones.

In remains excavated from an ancient burial site on Crete, in a cave called Hagios Charalambos, a team led by archaeogeneticist Gunnar Neumann of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany found genetic evidence of bacteria responsible for two of history's most significant diseases – typhoid fever and plague.

Therefore, the researchers said, widespread illnesses caused by these pathogens cannot be discounted as a contributing factor in the societal changes so widespread around 2200 to 2000 BCE.

"The occurrence of these two virulent pathogens at the end of the Early Minoan period in Crete," they wrote in their paper, "emphasizes the necessity to re-introduce infectious diseases as an additional factor possibly contributing to the transformation of early complex societies in the Aegean and beyond."  READ MORE...

Classic Car

 

Giant Squid Hunt For Prey

First-of-Its-Kind Video Shows How Giant Squid Hunt Their Prey Deep in The Ocean...

In the permanent twilight of the mesopelagic, a silent predator hunts.

The enigmatic giant squid is rarely observed in its natural habitat. In the first videos of their kind, unveiled in 2021, marine scientists caught its hunting behavior in the wild – revealing for the first time how these monsters of the deep stalk and attack their prey.

Although the crushing pressures and darkness of the oceanic depths are hostile to us air-breathing humans, we've slowly but surely been learning more about them, thanks to the wonders of robotic technology. Most of our underwater vehicles, however, are best suited to studying slow or immobile organisms.

For giant squid, the bright lights mounted on underwater vehicles can be uncomfortable for their sensitive, low-light eyes, which can grow to the size of dinner plates; the sound and vibration can also scare off more mobile animals. And, of course, bringing giant squid to the surface won't record their behavior in their natural environment.

That's why a team of researchers led by Nathan Robinson of the Oceanographic Foundation in Spain devised a different solution: a passive deep-sea platform, equipped with a camera. Because giant squid eyes are optimized to see shorter-wavelength blue light, they used longer-wavelength red lighting that won't annoy them, in order to see the animals on video.  READ MORE...

Sea Creature

 

Ancient Panda in Europe

An illustration of Agriarctos nikolovi, an ancient relative of the modern panda. (Velizar Simeonovski/Chicago)

Six million years ago, a relative of today’s giant panda roamed ancient forests — but in Bulgaria, not China, scientists say.


Researchers used a set of fossilized teeth discovered in the 1970s to uncover a new species of panda. The teeth were first discovered by paleontologist Ivan Nikolov, and the species bears his name — Agriarctos nikolovi.


The find is described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.


The teeth are shiny and black because they fossilized in coal deposits in Bulgaria. Researchers believe they date from the Messinian age — 7.2 million to 5.3 million years ago — and that the animal lived in humid forests and swamps. It was probably comparable in size to modern pandas, which can weigh up to 250 pounds.

The fossilized teeth are less robust than those of modern-day pandas, which chomp on woody bamboo, and researchers think the ancient bears relied on softer plants instead.  READ MORE...

Parachute Fails

 

Learning Never Stops

 

I attended college from 1966 until 1968 and then again from 1972 to 1974 and then again from 1980 to 1981...

From 1969 to 1971, I was employed by the US Navy because I did not think college was that important...

And, I still have those doubts about attending college and you will have a productive life and earn more money are simply NOT ALWAYS TRUE...

BUT WHAT IS TRUE...  is the fact that one never stops learning or one should never stop learning.   I say it this way because many people after leaving whatever school they attended do not want to learn anymore...

About college these days and I have been a college instructor full time for 3 years and part-time for over 12 years...   is that today's student does not want to retain the knowledge...  while most of the knowledge that high schools and colleges teach is pointless, the student should still practice RETENTION.

My transcripts (and GRADES) were never used to hire me during the 45 years that I worked even those colleges and universities that hired me to teach.

Learning on the other hand is an on-going lifelong process that should never stop.  At 74 years old, I still want to learn...  forget the fact that it is exercise for my brain...  but, I really enjoy learning...  and I am learning shit that I will never use or never get quizzed about.

Right now, I am learning about:

• Theoretical Physics
• String Theory
• Cosmology
• Astrology
• History
• Archaeology
• Comparative Religions
• The Vikings
• Polical Science
• Cooking

Can you imagine that if you spent your entire life learning one item a day, let's say how smart you would be if you were to die at age 80?  You would know 22,995 pieces of information and 26,645 if you lived 10 years more to the age of 90.

What would it mean to know that much knowledge?

Probably not a damn thing...  except for personal satisfaction.

 

Path Less Taken

 Sometimes...  walking through a wooded area on a seldom used path can be invigorating as it reduces one's stress comuning with nature...  but, then there are the spiders...  the ticks...  the bees...  and the snakes that one may have to contend with...  and, the experience becomes not enjoyable at all...

THIS IS THE ROAD LESS TAKEN...

When I left high school, one of the lessons that he shared with me (and there were many) revolved around learning from those who came before you...  and, while that does make a lot of sense, it negates a lot of valuable experience on which you might miss out.

And, while I did learn a lot of valuable experience, my decision put me a good 10 years behind my peers who decided that they would get very little from those experiences...  looking back...  perhaps they were right...  but, I am still glad that I did what I did.

I don't know if you have heard this lesson or not but it's kinda like the turtle and the rabbit.  

Most days when I am in the car and going through a city, whether urban or rural, there is always a driver who has to take off fast from the red light...  so, he can get green on the next one and maybe green on the next one, but on the third one he catches the red.  

Interestingly, I am right there with him...  maybe a few cars behind...  but, I did not jump off the red light quickly, nor did I exceed the speed limit...  yet, I always catch up with them...  when going through a city.

It is humorous to watch these drivers because they never see me and know that I am right behind them and THEY HAVE GAINED NOTHING...

The same issue is present between me and my peers because even though I am 10 years behind them, I always catch up with them, and oftentimes surpass them...  sometime around half way through their careers.

It's true that I worked a little harder because I was behind, but that working harder is normal work for me...  at least during my career...  I am not that same kind of person now that I am retired.

My retirement is a little better or maybe the same as my peers because during the last 15 years of my career, I started planning for my retirement.  I planned for my retirement because that was one of the lessons that I learned when I took THE PATH LESS TAKEN.

What makes the photo at the beginning of this article a good one is not so much the subject matter but the use of light and dark to create contrast and depth of field...  this is what I learned from the path less taken.

Tug-of-War

 

Unleashing Nuclear Fusion

LASERS ARE useful for a lot of things. They made CDs work (when they were still a thing). They also provide hours of entertainment for cats (and their humans). 

But they can also create magnetic conditions similar to the surface of the Sun in a lab, according to new research by scientists at Osaka University. And that might help a wide range of other scientific disciplines, ranging from solar astronomy to fusion.

The experiment used a high-power laser, known as Gekko XII, at the Institute of Laser Engineering at Osaka University. Originally designed for fusion experiments, this laser is powerful enough to vaporize a piece of plastic if it is focused on it. 

Or, more accurately, it is powerful enough to turn it into plasma.

That is just what the researchers did. They zapped a small piece of plastic with Gekko XII that sat on top of a magnet emitting a weak magnetic field. 

The laser blast, which only lasted for about 500 picoseconds, created a high-energy plasma that distorts an already weak magnetic field over the sample. 

That combination of a weak magnetic field and plasma created a situation known as a “pure electron outflow.”  READ MORE...

Watercolors

 

More From the Webb Telescope

We previewed our uncrewed Artemis I mission to the Moon during a pair of briefings. On August 3, agency officials at our NASA Headquarters and at other NASA centers provided a “big picture overview” of the mission.

“Artemis I shows that we can do big things. Things that unite people, things that benefit humanity. Things like Apollo that inspire the world.” — Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator

That was followed two days later with a deeper dive into the mission’s timeline and operations from our Johnson Space Center. 

The agency is currently targeting no earlier than Monday, August 29, for the launch of the Space Launch System rocket to send the Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back to Earth. 

Artemis I will take place over the course of about six weeks to check out systems before astronauts fly aboard the spacecraft on Artemis II.

This image of the Cartwheel and its companion galaxies is a composite from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which reveals details that are difficult to see in the individual images alone.

This galaxy formed as the result of a high-speed collision that occurred about 400 million years ago. The Cartwheel is composed of two rings, a bright inner ring, and a colorful outer ring. 

Both rings expand outward from the center of the collision like shockwaves. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team.  READ MORE...

Waves at Sunrise

 

Common Viruses and Alzheimer's

Varicella zoster virus (VZV), which commonly causes chickenpox and shingles, activates herpes simplex virus (HSV) from dormancy in neural tissue grown in vitro, which then leads to an increase in plaque deposits and decrease in neural signaling — hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: Tufts University

Shingles infection may awaken dormant neurological herpes viruses, causing inflammation and accumulation of Alzheimer’s associated proteins in the brain.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in older adults and the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, according to the National Institute on Aging. 

It is a debilitating progressive illness that slowly destroys cognitive function and memory.

It can begin almost imperceptibly, often masquerading in the early months or years as forgetfulness that is very common in older age. What causes Alzheimer’s disease remains largely a mystery.

But researchers using a three-dimensional human tissue culture model mimicking the brain, have shown that varicella zoster virus (VZV), which commonly causes chickenpox and shingles, may activate herpes simplex (HSV), another common virus, to set in motion the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. 

The study was conducted by scientists at Tufts University and the University of Oxford.  READ MORE...

Catch & Release