Not In Your Atlas

Tracking Of An Eagle Over A 20 Year Period





The States shown in Blue above Have A Smaller Population Than Los Angeles County shown in red.


50 Percent Of Canadians Live South Of The Red Line


The Biggest Non-Government Employer in Each State





The Red and Orange Sections Have Equal Populations


All The Nations That Have To Be Combined To Be Equal To Brazil's Annual Homicides


These Two Areas of Africa Have Roughly Equal Populations


Light Pollution From Coast To Coast


Passenger Railway Network 2020


An Image Of GPS Tracking Of Multiple Wolves In Six Different Packs Around Voyageurs National Park Shows How Much The Wolf Packs Avoid Each Other's Range


How Much Snow Does It Usually Take To Cancel Schools?


You Can Fit the Entirety of Poland Into Texas And Still Be Able To Drive Around It


Out Of Service Railways



Every State Ranked by Healthiness


World's Smallest Country vs. Largest Building



List of Countries Mentioned Or Referred In The Bible


Most Common Country Of Birth For Foreign-born Residents In The US, Excluding Mexico


Japan, How Big It Is in Reality?

Waves

 

Strictly Political

 

House Republicans Will Be Investigating in 2023

 THE AMERICAN PUBLIC DOES NOT GIVE A RAT'S ASS ABOUT THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS INVESTIGATING DEMOCRATS...  especially Hunter Biden, the origins of COVID, Biden's failure to secure the border, and how social media influenced the 2020 election...

Why do I feel this way?

Because the American Public does not give a shit about any of that crap now...  so, why should they care about it tommorrow?

The only thing that the American Public cared about was SCREWING OVER TRUMP...  and, now that they have done this for 6 years, there is really very little else that they care about...  and, they certainly don't give a shit about anything that the republicans care about...  that's for damn sure.

UNFORTUNATELY...  what the general public does not understand or fully grasp is the fact that by screwing over Trump, they turned Trump into a martyr of sorts...

This is the IRONY of conservative Americans...  Most of our businesses whether they want to admit it or not, are conservative in nature, and make their decisions on their conservative values, even though they may be liberal in how they vote in elections.  This is just the nature of business.

Businesses cannot affort to be liberal minded in their business dealings...  this is the quickest way to failure and bankruptcy...  therefore, businesses WILL ALWAYS EMBRACE THE PRINCIPLES OF TRUMP ECONOMICALLY...

Businesses will always want to reduce costs

Businesses will always want lower salaries and wages

Businesses will always want to increase sales

Businesses will always want lower govt taxes

Businesses will always want fewer govt regulations

Businesses will always want tariffs on foreign imports to protect domestic production

Businesses will never want to be owned by the governmet

Businesses will always want operate in a capitalistic society

Businesses will always want to embrace healthy competition

This will always be the legacy of TRUMP...  he was the ultimate businessperson while he was not much of a politician, he knew how to play the business game...  this is what pissed off Washington politicians...

SO...  it matters not what the Republicans in the House want to investigate...  what matters is the business mentality that takes over after Trump...  and the ultimate understanding, that it is only CAPITALISM that can pay for SOCIALISM...

Apple & Telsa Suffer

Apple and Tesla stocks have tumbled over growing concerns about delays in their production lines in China.

Apple shares hit their lowest point since June 2021. Tesla's stock has dropped 73% from a record high in November 2021.

Companies have struggled to keep production going in China due to Covid restrictions and weeks of lockdowns.

Now they are facing a staffing crunch as China battles a Covid wave after lifting years of restrictions.

China announced that it will lift its strict quarantine rules for travellers on 8 January, a positive sign for many investors who are seeing an ease in supply chain movement in 2023.

But global investors are also being cautious ahead of additional interest rate hikes, a global economic slowdown and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Given the spike in Covid cases in key manufacturing hubs, analysts say production will take time to ramp up once again.

"Factories are going to experience labour shortages for at least 4-6 weeks as the wave passes through their production regions, and of course most migrant workers will go back to their home villages for the Lunar New Year at the end of January," says Simon Baptist, chief economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit.

"Production looks unlikely to be back to normal in China until late February."

Production delays hit Apple supplier Foxconn earlier this year following unrest at its Zhangzhou plant known as "iPhone City." The company said its revenue in November was down 11% compared with the same month in 2021.

This week, media reports said Tesla's Shanghai manufacturing plant had cut production as Covid infections rose in China. The company declined to comment.  READ MORE...

A Divided Congress, A Dem President and DOJ

 What is going to happen POLITICALLY in 2023???

Well...

we have a republican House

we have a democratic Senate

we have a democratic President

we have a democratic DOJ

However...

the DOJ like the FBI and CIA should not be biased politically...  unfortunately, that is not what is currently taking place in this country.

SO...

our republican house will pass a bill and it will automatically be rejected by the senate.  Or, the senate will pass a bill and it will be rejected by the house.

If the bill gets passed, our Democratic President will VETO the bill if it does not agree with his agenda.

Our Republican House has vowed to hold hearings and subpoena witnesses, but if the democratic DOJ does not want to support or enforce that subpoena, then the House will have no witnesses.

NOTHING WILL EVER GET ACCOMPLISHED in 2023 and quite possibly in 2024 until we have a new Presidential Election...

MORE OF THE SAME FOR TWO MORE YEARS...

Esports in 2023

Whether you know your "split-push" from your "powerspike" or not, it's difficult to miss the ever growing popularity and influence of esports.

With hundreds of millions playing and watching worldwide, brand partnerships with the likes of Gucci, BMW and Coca Cola, and a showcase at the Commonwealth Games - it seems that 2022 has been another successful year for competitive gaming.

So what do traditional sport's noisy younger siblings have planned to keep that upward trajectory going in 2023?

For those who are still a little unsure, esports refers to a range of different video games that are played competitively by professionals across the world. Often hosted in stadiums, events are televised and draw big audiences to watch. The esports market is estimated to grow to be worth $1.9bn (£1.4bn) by 2025.

Dominic Sacco, founder of Esports News UK, argues that before continued growth and bigger audiences, the industry first has to come to terms with some fundamental changes to how much of it will be organised in future.

"At the start of 2022 a group backed by the Saudi Arabian government bought two of the biggest esports tournament operators in the world, ESL and FaceIt," he explains. "I think we'll see more of this happening and it will be a big trend in 2023 and probably beyond".

That deal was worth $1.5bn (£1.2bn) and is only the beginning with the Saudi government-backed Savvy Gaming group saying that they want to invest $38bn (£31bn) to transform the country into a global esports hub by 2030. READ MORE...

Playing Basketball

 

Snoopy

 

What Will 2023 Look Like?

Of course, the starting point, the contemporary context, would be:

• the recent history of COVID lockdowns; 
• massive government spending and inflation and constrictive energy policies driving up energy and food prices, as well as most “downstream prices,” and wiping out retirement savings; 
• Fed strategies depressing the market; war in Ukraine threatening nuclear confrontation; China’s rising political aggression; 
• political corruption of government institutions and apparent government-led attacks on the First Amendment, at least according to the “Twitter Files”; rising urban crime; 
• a surge in illegal immigration bringing drugs, crime and a disrupted labor market; a growing culture war on women, fueled both by the Dobbs decision and the rising political activism of the trans community; 
• and chaos in the American educational system, leading to a sharp decline in student performance.

Few would call 2020, 2021 and 2022 “good years” for America. Some might call them disasters — and 2023 may well be worse.

To begin with, there is no sign that the forces fueling these problems will abate or be reversed. If anything, they may become more intense.

Rightly or wrongly, the White House and the Democrat-led Senate, as well as most progressive interest groups, read the midterm elections as support for current policy directions. The White House will not make any centrist tack and will continue full speed ahead on high-spending and fossil fuel-constraining policies. 

The suicidal support for the omnibus budget and spending bill by Republicans in the Senate handicaps the incoming Republican-led House from moving to get the budget, appropriations, and spending under control. 

It also assures another round of inflation, and insulates the Democrats from political attack since Senate Republicans went along with it and now partly own the coming inflation, rising interest rates, and economic contraction or recession predicted by many financial leaders and economists.  READ MORE...

MIA Veterans - KIA Veterans - Disabled Veterans

I am a Vietnam Era Veteran, and would not be a Veteran at all, if it were not for the US Military Draft that officially ended in 1973...

While I did not get harmed while I was in the military, many soldiers did get wounded, resulting in death, or becoming handicapped for the rest of their lives...  

I cannot imagine what life would be like as a disabled veteran...

Throughout this holiday period, there has been several organizations asking for money to that they can help disabled veterans, as well as first responders who have been injured or killed during domestic investigations of crimes, fires, or other natural disasters.

While that is a problem, these natural disasters, why is it the problem of Americans to take care of the families of these employees?  Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the employer?

Also, if our Presidents did not stick their noses into the wars taking place in other countries, then we would not have KIAs, MIAs, disabled vets from those wars either.  They say it is to protect the US from Communism, but those other countries need to learn to take care of themselves.

For example...

We are not sending the US military over to Ukraine to fight the Russians, but we are sending military equipment.  Therefore, there will be no disabled vets from that war at all...

This is the way it should have been for Vietnam, Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan and other wars that we have sent our soldiers into...   

Why do our leaders have the desire to send someone else into a war zone, rather than themselves?  Why are wealthy people given a waiver from military service?

It is easy for wealthy people to send other average Americans off to fight and die for them...  because we are fighting communism or protecting democracy and freedom...   and then not set aside the money to take care of the soldiers...  expecting the general public to make donations...

That attitude is dispicable...

Skeletons

 

Republican Elected Santos Lied

A Republican congressman-elect is under investigation in New York after he admitted he lied about his education and work experience.

The Republican district attorney for Nassau County said she will look into the "numerous fabrications and inconsistencies" on George Santos's CV.

Allegations about discrepancies in his backstory were first made in a New York Times report last week.

Mr Santos is scheduled to be sworn in on 3 January.

The newspaper published an investigation in this month alleging Mr Santos - who was elected to Congress in the November midterm elections - had made several lies on his resume.

Those included that he had graduated from Baruch College in New York and worked at high-profile Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Mr Santos admitted earlier this week he had never worked for either firm directly and had lied on his CV about graduating from college, saying he was "embarrassed" that he had not.

Regarding accusations he had misrepresented his Jewish ancestry, he told the New York Post in an interview published on Monday that he was Catholic and never claimed to be Jewish but when "I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was 'Jew-ish'".

Mr Santos said he was "not a criminal" and said that the scandal would not prevent him from serving his two-year term in the House of Representatives.

"My sins here are embellishing my resume," Mr Santos told the Post. "I'm sorry."  READ MORE...

Without Darkness There Can Be No Light

FOREVER...

since the universe was created...

there has been a struggle between good and evil...  even though in nature, there is no good or evil, just survival...

it is mankind that has interpreted survival as being a struggle between good and evil...

we portray this struggle from the stanpoint of colors or lack thereof...  moving from white to black...  

moving from dark to light...  as in the darkness of night to the lightness of day...

If you are a painter, you understand that without darkness you have no light....  

we visualize life around us in terms of the contrasts between light and dark...  understanding that light only shows up if and when it is surrounded or bordered by dark colors...

Without the concept of evil, there was no goodness...

Let me explain...

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, as the story goes, lived in a world of goodness.

Did they have a choice?

Yes...  they could choose good or they could choose good...

Were they really offered a choice?

No...

So, what happened?  Evil was introduced in the form of a serpent (referred to as the devil) and from that point on, Adam and Eve did have a choice...

They could choose good or they could choose evil or a combination of the two...

Adam and Eve would be considered the light...

The serpent would be considered the dark...

Without these two choices, life has no choices...  both must exist in our life...

Without the understanding of light and dark, we would just survive like the animals of nature...

But, that is not what our creator envisioned...  is it?

 

Niagra Falls

Chunks of ice and snow-capped rocks could be seen at the base of the Niagara Falls after a huge winter storm swept over the US and Canada.


Plunging temperatures over the Christmas period transformed the waterfalls into a wintry sight to behold.


The blizzard caused huge disruption across North America, and left 34 people dead in New York State.

Many of the deaths were in the city of Buffalo, just south of the falls.


The storm brought over 4ft (1.2m) of snow to the city, causing major traffic problems and leaving many households without power.


Slightly warmer weather is now on the way.


Cascades of water could still be seen thundering down the falls, situated on the US-Canada border, in spite of the frozen areas.


In 2015, a Canadian ice climber stunned visitors by scaling a frozen section of the gorge.

Peanuts

 

Thanks to Everyone

 

Careful

HOLIDAY - New Year's Day