Sunday, August 28
Tracing Earth's Path Through the Galaxy
"To see a world in a grain of sand," the opening sentence of the poem by William Blake, is an oft-used phrase that also captures some of what geologists do.
We observe the composition of mineral grains, smaller than the width of a human hair. Then, we extrapolate the chemical processes they suggest to ponder the construction of our planet itself.
Now, we've taken that minute attention to new heights, connecting tiny grains to Earth's place in the galactic environment.
Looking out to the universe
At an even larger scale, astrophysicists seek to understand the universe and our place in it. They use laws of physics to develop models that describe the orbits of astronomical objects.
Although we may think of the planet's surface as something shaped by processes entirely within Earth itself, our planet has undoubtedly felt the effects of its cosmic environment. This includes periodic changes in Earth's orbit, variations in the sun's output, gamma ray bursts, and of course meteorite impacts.
Just looking at the Moon and its pockmarked surface should remind us of that, given Earth is more than 80 times more massive than its gray satellite. In fact, recent work has pointed to the importance of meteorite impacts in the production of continental crust on Earth, helping to form buoyant "seeds" that floated on the outermost layer of our planet in its youth.
We and our international team of colleagues have now identified a rhythm in the production of this early continental crust, and the tempo points to a truly grand driving mechanism. This work has just been published in the journal Geology. READ MORE...
A Common Infection May Cause Cancer
A new study suggests that Clostridioides difficile is responsible for certain colorectal cancers.
According to data gathered by scientists at the Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the bacterial species Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, which is well known for causing serious diarrheal infections, may also cause colorectal cancer.
The research, which was recently published in the journal Cancer Discovery, may reveal another problematic role for this microbe, which causes over 500,000 infections annually in the United States, many of which are very challenging to treat.
“The uptick of individuals under age 50 being diagnosed with colorectal cancer in recent years has been shocking.
We found that this bacterium appears to be a very unexpected contributor to colon malignancy, the process by which normal cells become cancer,” says Cynthia Sears, M.D., Bloomberg~Kimmel Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Researchers in the Sears Lab reported several years ago that more than half of colorectal cancer patients had bacterial biofilms — dense colonies of bacteria on the colon surface — while only 10% to 15% of healthy people without tumors had biofilms.
Researchers in the Sears Lab reported several years ago that more than half of colorectal cancer patients had bacterial biofilms — dense colonies of bacteria on the colon surface — while only 10% to 15% of healthy people without tumors had biofilms.
However, one sample stood out to the researchers when they infected mice with biofilm samples originating from specific colorectal cancer patients because it significantly raised colorectal tumors in the mice. This slurry caused tumors in 85% of the mice, while in most controls, tumor development is less than 5%. READ MORE...
Medival Graves Found in Germany
Early medieval weapons and jewelry found in southwestern Germany near the Danube River.
(Image credit: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the RPS / Yvonne Mühlei)
Archaeological treasures, including Stone Age pottery and medieval graves with swords and jewelry, have revealed a long history of human habitation near the Danube River in Germany.
At the site, in the Geisingen-Gutmadingen district of Tuttlingen, in southwestern Germany, archaeologists discovered one grave from the Neolithic, or Stone Age, that dates to the third millennium B.C. and contains distinctive pottery from the Corded Ware culture. They also found 140 early medieval graves, dating to between A.D. 500 and 600, that contain goods including swords, lances, shields, bone combs, drinking glasses and earrings.
"Our Gutmadingen district is probably much older than we previously assumed," Mayor Martin Numberger said in a statement. The district had previously been dated to 1273 based on the first written records of settlement there.
The finds were made by a team from archaeology firm ArchaeoTask GmbH in an area near the Danube river where a rainwater retention pond is planned. The Stone Age grave points to the presence of a The Corded Ware people, who are now known mostly for their pottery decorated by geometric lines formed by pressing cord into clay and leaving the impressions to dry. These people were probably pastoralists who kept animals such as cows and sheep, and some also practiced early farming of crops such as barley. Graves from this period are rare in southwestern Germany, according to local officials.
The early medieval graves date to the century after the end of the Western Roman Empire, which fell in 476 A.D. when the German warlord Odoacer deposed the Roman emperor Romulus Augustus. This period is part of what is known as the Migration Period, or the Völkerwanderung, when various tribes in Europe moved around, often conquering one another and pushing each other into new territories. Historians consider this period the transition between antiquity and the early Middle Ages. READ MORE...
Saturday, August 27
What If?
If what you believed to be true, turned out not to be true, when would you want to know?
This should be a wake-up call if you don’t already know this.
A recent poll was conducted by a national polling outfit. Names don't matter. They are all the same. This one was "YouGov.” Results to these questions asked of average people on the street.
What percentage of the country is black? Answers 41% . . . Actual 12%. If you watch commercials, you will think it is 90%.
What percentage of marriages are mixed race? Answer 50% . . . Actual 8.4%. If you watch commercials, you will think it is 90%.
What percentage is "Latino?” Answers 39% . . . Actual numbers 19%.
How many families make more than $500,000 a year? Answers 26% . . . Actual figure 1%. We think a quarter of the country is rich.
What percent of Americans are vegetarians? Response? 30%… Actual 5%.
What percent of Americans live in NY City? Answers? 30% . . . Actual 3%.
What percentage of Americans are 'transgender? 22% . . . Actual number 0.5 % (People believe this BS!).
What percentage of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than straight or heterosexual? Result? 30% . . . Actual 7.1%
So why do people have such inaccurate thoughts on these counts? THE MEDIA! The media run race, gender, and wealth stories constantly. Result? You are being brainwashed by the national left with the media. Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels would be proud if he had half the success.
Disney just went full-on "gender" They will no longer welcome guests with the traditional "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls" Why? Because 1% of the population dictates to the other 99% (that would be the vast majority) and corporate America falls for it.
Regardless of what you think. Less than 20% of Americans use "Twitter" yet Twitter controls 80% of public opinion, why? The media.
Next time you are thinking Americans have changed and not in a good way, remember, it's fake. It's all a lie . . . Most people think just like you do but the media has brainwashed Americans with constant broadcasting of “LIES.”
Life is Just a Dream
I saw a man the other day and he was lying on the side of the road dying... he wanted to know if I had faith and would I be willing to trade place with him... I thought about his proposal for a while but by the time I was ready to give an answer, he was dead. I walked home and thought about what had happened and why i had waited so long to give an answer... and, then i realized that I had doubted my own faith and in so doing I allowed another man to die instead of myself...
A few minutes later, I woke up and remembered the dream and my hesitation and knew that my hesitation was intentional because I did not want to sacrifice my life for a stranger... the more I thought about it, the more I realized I would not want to sacrifice my life for someone I knew either... although, I am sure there might be a situation where I would change my mind.
My dream taught me two lessons:
1. Dreams are not real
2. Dreams are not precusors for reality
We may have families... brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, neices, and nephews, and parents but we are not them and they are not us, we are uniquely individual and different. And, to think we need to emulate others is a crazy waste of time as we will never be like them otherwise we would have already been like them and there would have been no need to think about a change.
We don't choose our lives... our lives choose us... we become that which we are supposed to have become whether we like it or not, and no matter how many choices we make. We are what we always were intended to be and we got that way by living minute to minute so the speak and simply letting it unfold around us.
Time leaves us aging, growing old gradually although the older we get the faster time moves by us and the closer we get to the person we were intended to be.
Sadly, we never take the time to think about this... we just live life and try to enjoy it and forget the times when we were sad and lonely. Oddly enough, we can be around people and still feel lonely and why we never realize this is beyond me.
A Fishbowl of Ignorance
What kind of a person are you?
What are your thoughts... fears... concerns?
What do you like/dislike?
Are you creative?
Are you imaginative?
What foods do you like?
What do you do on vacation?
Do you like animals?
Are you obsessed with sports?
Many of us spend our entire lives just living our lives without ever thinking about what kind of a person we are... mainly because nobody gives a shit... but, that does not mean that we should not think about it. Our spouses sometimes want to know what kind of a person we are before they agree to marry us, but once the deed it done, they don't give a shit either... they just live with us hoping we will show them a good time and help out with the finances.
We seem to be living life in a fish bowl of ignorance... a fish bowl because most of us really do care about what others think of us and ignorance because we don't want to look out around us and see what is going on... many of us don't even know who our current President is and what he is doing or if he is doing what we want him to do... who really cares about anything outside of what we are currently doing?
I have neighbors on all sides of me and hardly ever see them and really cannot remember their names if they even shared them with me. How many of you are in the same situation?
What we do
- You go to work and go home.
- You watch TV, listen to the radio or read a book.
- You go to bed and begin again the next day.
- On the weekends you might work in the yard.
- You might go to the store.
- You might go to church.
- You might go play golf or go fishing or shopping.
- You may drive your kids around to their activities.
- You may go out to dinner or visit with friends.
- You talk about what you do and the weather
- You don't talk about culture or global issues or work
- You drink alcohol, play pool or cards
The sad thing about all of this is that you let others do your thinking and consequently follow their advice - so in reality they are telling you what to do... you are hollow inside and just do what you need to do to survive and get along... never wanting to rock the boat or try to inact change.
You are a perfect citizen for the WEALTHY TO CONTROL...
Monks Riddled with Worms
A STUDY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE HAS FOUND THAT MONKS WITHIN THE CAMBRIDGE AREA WERE ‘RIDDLED WITH WORMS’ DURING THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD.
The population of medieval Cambridge consisted of residents of monasteries, friaries and nunneries of various major Christian orders, along with merchants, traders, craftsmen, labourers, farmers, and staff and students at the early university.
The study published in the International Journal of Paleopathology revealed that the monks were twice as likely as ordinary townspeople to have high levels of intestinal worms. This is despite most Augustinian monasteries having far better sanitary conditions, latrine blocks and handwashing facilities, compared to the dwellings or ordinary working people.
A possible explanation for the parasitic infection may be down to monks using their own faeces, fertilisers containing human fertiliser, or pig excrement for manuring their crops in the friary gardens.
Cambridge archaeologists investigated samples of soil taken from around the pelvises of adult remains from the former cemetery of All Saints by the Castle parish church, as well as from the grounds where the city’s Augustinian Friary once stood.
Most of the parish church burials date from the 12-14th century, and those interred within were primarily of a lower socio-economic status, mainly agricultural workers.
The Augustinian friary in Cambridge was an international study house, known as a studium generale, where clergy from across Britain and Europe would come to read manuscripts. It was founded in the 1280s and lasted until 1538 before suffering the fate of most English monasteries: closed or destroyed as part of Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Church. READ MORE...
Olive Oil: Spanish versus Italian
Options are abundant for olive oil, and the olive oil section at the grocery store can pose a challenge. How do you efficiently and confidently choose the best-tasting or best-value bottle?
For starters, like wine or any food for that matter, it's difficult to say what will taste best since taste is so specific to the individual, says How Stuff Works. It's a good idea to experiment with what tastes good to you within your price range.
That said, several guidelines and tips ensure you get high-quality olive oil. Many may want to use the olive oil's country of origin — like Spain or Italy — as the prime determining factor.
That said, several guidelines and tips ensure you get high-quality olive oil. Many may want to use the olive oil's country of origin — like Spain or Italy — as the prime determining factor.
While each region and variety does affect the taste, first, it's best to know how and where to look for the best olive oil on the shelf. Then, you can consider the olive oil's region.
Premium extra virgin olive oil is superior and best used fresh as a topping, drizzle, or condiment. Extra virgin olive oil is next in line for high quality, per How Stuff Works. This is because extra virgin olive oil is the least processed and is chemical and additive-free, says Bon Appétit.
Premium extra virgin olive oil is superior and best used fresh as a topping, drizzle, or condiment. Extra virgin olive oil is next in line for high quality, per How Stuff Works. This is because extra virgin olive oil is the least processed and is chemical and additive-free, says Bon Appétit.
Next, pick a dark-colored bottle. Olive oil spoils quickly, and clear bottles speed up the process. If you're wanting to avoid pesticides, anything certified organic is the way to go. READ MORE...
Draining Brain Capacity
Digital technology is integrated into our lives—arguably, to a fault. On one hand, our ability to connect to others and access information at any given moment offers new opportunities for our work life, relationships, health, and more.
On the other hand, the long-term effects of being constantly "dialed in" to infinite information and technology haven't been revealed yet. Dealing with constant stimuli has ushered in an unprecedented attention crisis that can also affect our jobs, relationships, and health in a negative way.
In fact, evidence suggests that simply having your smartphone near you can cause "brain drain," drastically affecting your ability to concentrate on whatever task you're trying to accomplish.
Why our brains have limited cognitive resources.
Our brain is only able to retain a certain amount of information at any particular moment—this is called our "cognitive capacity." Different cognitive tasks require different amounts of our brain's cognitive capacity. READ MORE...
Friday, August 26
Are You Of Age To Think For Yourself?
- Afghanistan Debacle
- Rise of Inflation
- Higher gasoline prices
- Higher food prices
- Increase in Crime and Violence
- Increase in drugs
- Increase in illegal immigration
- Way too much government spending
- Loss of respect among world leaders
- Sluggish economy/maybe recession
- Increase in Racism
- A divided country's hatred intensifies
- Continued attacks on Trump
Where are we heading?
Can we really defend ourselves against China?
Will China's economy surpass our economy?
Why are we going green when other major countries are not following out lead?
What will happen to Hunter Biden?
What will happen to Hillary Clinton?
Will the GOP take over Congress after the midterms?
Will robots with artificial intelligence take over our jobs?
Do we really need to go to college?
Are we dumbing down education?
For those of you who want SOCIALISM, let me suggest that you take a looksee at those countries who are socialistic and see what kind of quality of life they offer their citizens and then look at their militaries and see if those militaries would be strong enough to stop an invasion that would take their lifestyles away... Socialism GIVES it does not PROTECT...
Stop listening to other people, like me, and do your own research and make up your own minds... if you are not that smart to learn for yourself and make your own decisions then you need a socialist government to take care of you... but I doubt you are that ignorant... maybe lazy but not stupid.
Medical Update
When my cancer treatment began 14 years ago, I had also experienced a heart attack and instead of a triple bypass that was recommended, I had 5 stents inserted in 3 heart operations. A recent surgery indicated that my stents were still in pristine condition and my heart arteries remained clear of plaque.
About 4/5 months, I was having back problems that resulted in an MRI that result in back surgery 10 weeks ago to fuse 5 lumbar disks. My recovery is incredibly slow and I am currently undergoing bursitis therapy on my left hip that resulted from my surgery... I do not see my orthopedic surgeon until week 14.
Yesterday, I met with my Oncologist to hear the results of my CT scan before my monthly treatment, and the scan showed an increase in my abdomen area - all else was contained. My oncologist thought that this was just a result of me stopping my daily pills for 3 weeks because of the surgery and he ordered another CT scan in 6 weeks to see if this was remedied. If not, he was considering increasing my daily pill dosage.
The pills that he is referring to is IMBRUVICA and I take 2-140 mg pills each... he can increase to 480 but no higher. This pills over the long haul destroy the iron in my hemaglobin... some what of a CATCH 22 situation for those of you who know about catch 22. An increase in pill dosage would also increase fatigue which I need to recover from my back surgery by walking.
In October, I will be 75 and some people think that I have lived long enough... maybe so... but I think I will live another 20 years... my mother lived to age 95 and I would like to live longer...
I eat healthy
I keep my mind active
I am exercising regularly
I sleep the required time
I have low stress and anxiety
I have a positive outlook
I live with 3 cats
I am married
I have friends
My financial income will always be sufficient
I have faith in a creator even though I am not that religious
I have no debt
What else do I need?
Student Loan Forgiveness
If I had it to do all over again, I would not go to college... although, in the state of TN, the lottery pays the student's tuition for the first two years. Still, I am not sure if I would have gone to college.
Maybe a trade school or a technical school. Computer programmers get paid a lot of money these days as do those who design video games.
I am not sure if I would have been a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter, or an HVAC tech as there is a lot of physical labor required in those professions. Maybe a contractor or a builder.
Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with managing a restaurant or a hotel/motel or a resort.
What I really like more than anything else was teaching... and, one had to have a college education to teach... but my second most enjoyable position was managing a project. You do not need a college education to do this... you just need to work at a company where there are projects going on and after 2500 hours or 63 weeks, you can take your PMP Certification Exam which is just as valuable as a Masters Degree.
College is not for everyone. The key to college is not the grades but the retention of knowledge and if you did not retain the knowledge, then your degree won't mean shit because your employer will simply FIRE YOU.
Achieving Results is what keeps you employed...
Being a team player keeps you employed...
Not rocking the boat keeps you employed...
Generating revenue keeps you employed...
A COLLEGE EDUCATION DOES NOT ALWAYS KEEP YOU EMPLOYED...
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