Monday, April 3
Presidential Election 2024
When I say turning point, here's what I mean:
- Will illegal immigration continue or end?
- Will inflation decrease or stay the same?
- Will fossil fuels die or flourish?
- Will EV productions slow down?
- Will the USA stand up to Putin?
- Will the USA stand up to China?
- Will the USA gain it's global respect back?
- Will the US economy grow?
- Will our military be updated?
- Will CRT continue to be a dividing factor?
IF you are a Democrat, you don't want any changes to that list above... but, if you are a Republican, you want all those items to change...
CONSEQUENTLY... if the Democrats win, we will have more of the same but if the Republicans win, then all of these will change...
THIS IS THE TURNING POINT and depending upon which way the American people vote will determine what kind of country the USA will become.
NOTE: one tiem that has not been discussed very much and that is China's push to change the international currency of trade from the US DOLLAR to the CHINESE YUAN... China is quietly negotiating with other countries one-on-one to engage in trading deals without using the US DOLLAR. If China is able to convince numerous countries to do this, then they will have the upper hand when they approach the International Monetary Fund that currently has the US DOLLAR as the international currency of trade.
Many experts believe this will never happen but if it ever does, it will hurt our partners more than it will hurt us... that hurt could alter relationships and alliances... in the long run, this could possibly hurt us and benefit countries like China.
Right now, the 2024 election will determine the following concerns:
- Building a strong economy while eliminating fossil fuels
- Maintain a strong military while cutting military budgets
- Forever censoring the conservative so that the political advantages always goes to the Liberals
- Destruction of the Middle Class
- Perpetuating Racism while Hispanic and Asian populations increase
- Watering down education so we no longer have an intellectual/competitive advantage
- Increase of crime and violence in our big cities
Quantum Memory Stores Information
Researchers at University of Oxford have recently created a quantum memory within a trapped-ion quantum network node. Their unique memory design, introduced in a paper in Physical Review Letters, has been found to be extremely robust, meaning that it could store information for long periods of time despite ongoing network activity.
"We are building a network of quantum computers, which use trapped ions to store and process quantum information," Peter Drmota, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org. "To connect quantum processing devices, we use single photons emitted from a single atomic ion and utilize quantum entanglement between this ion and the photons."
Trapped ions, charged atomic particles that are confined in space using electromagnetic fields, are a commonly used platform for realizing quantum computations. Photons (i.e., the particles of light), on the other hand, are generally used to transmit quantum information between distant nodes. Drmota and his colleagues have been exploring the possibility of combining trapped ions with photons, to create more powerful quantum technologies.
"Until now, we have implemented a reliable way of interfacing strontium ions and photons, and used this to generate high-quality remote entanglement between two distant network nodes," Drmota said. "On the other hand, high-fidelity quantum logic and long-lasting memories have been developed for calcium ions. In this experiment, we combine these capabilities for the first time, and show that it is possible to create high-quality entanglement between a strontium ion and a photon and thereafter store this entanglement in a nearby calcium ion."
Integrating a quantum memory into a network node is a challenging task, as the criteria that need to be fulfilled for such a system to work are higher than those required for the creation of a standalone quantum processor. Most notably, the developed memory would need to be robust against concurrent network activity. READ MORE...
Sunday, April 2
Not A Chef
In 2015 when my wife and I retired, she said that she did not want to cook anymore, except for maybe Thanksgiving and/or Christmas... and, I understood and supported her right to want to do that... so, I started cooking.
I am sure that watching those cooking shows, I learned some ideas but my cooking follows no recipes although I look over recipes to see what all is involved... I still use the portion sizes that makes sense to me... if it calls for a tablespoon, I might use 2-3 tablespoons... if it calls for 1/4, I will use a handful.
All of my cooking, I have eaten except for 2-3 things that I made that were not very good and rather than force myself to eat it, just decided to throw it out. About half of my cooking has been marginal when it comes to taste but about 1/4 has been delicious but duplicating the dish is problematic.
I have cooked homemade pizza, bread, baguettes, spaghetti, lasanga, caseroles, pies, cakes, omelettes, soups, fish, and lots of various rice/beans dishes.
What I use in my cooking are typically: onions, garlic, celery, bell peppers, mushrooms, green onions, leeks, all sorts of beans, basmati rice, salmon, cod, chicken, turkey, cheese, eggs, pastas, all sorts of vegatables including potatoes and sweet potatoes.
When I cook and package for later use, I always count my calories. If my cooking creates 5 meals than I freeze 2 and eat three. More than 3 days of something and I lose interest. My calorie range is 1,500 to 1,800 with the understanding that I do not want to exceed 2,000/day.
I avoid fried foods, sugars, and sweets although I have used a little honey, butter (1 tablespoon at a time), light brown sugar, and chocolate. I use an air fryer to substitute for frying... the only time I fry is when I want to cook a fried egg or maybe fry up come yellow squash, zucchini, and onions.
So, for the last 7 years, I have been cooking my own food and in so doing I have learned a lot of stuff concerning what works and what does not work... what I like to cook and what I don't like to cook... do I dice or make big cuts as one if fater and just as good.
I am not a chef and don't pretend to be a chef and don't want to invite anyone over to eat my cooking... It is just for me... sometimes, my wife will eat my eat my soups but doesn't like all the stuff I combine together... but, that is the heart and soul of my cooking, combining stuff that you don't think should be combined.
Bon Appetit...
Traveling at Light Speed
David Burns produced an engine concept that, he says, could theoretically accelerate to 99 percent
of the speed of light - all without using propellant. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)
When it comes to space, there's a problem with our human drive to go all the places and see all the things. A big problem. It's, well, space. It's way too big. Even travelling at the maximum speed the Universe allows, it would take us years to reach our nearest neighbouring star.
But another human drive is finding solutions to big problems. And that's what NASA engineer David Burns has been doing in his spare time. He's produced an engine concept that, he says, could theoretically accelerate to 99 percent of the speed of light - all without using propellant.
He's posted it to the NASA Technical Reports Server under the heading "Helical Engine", and, on paper, it works by exploiting the way mass can change at relativistic speeds - those close to the speed of light in a vacuum. It has not yet been reviewed by an expert.
Understandably this paper has caused buzz approaching levels seen in the early days of the EM Drive. And yes, even some headlines claiming the engine could 'violate the laws of physics'.
But while this concept is fascinating, it's definitely not going to break physics anytime soon. READ MORE...
But another human drive is finding solutions to big problems. And that's what NASA engineer David Burns has been doing in his spare time. He's produced an engine concept that, he says, could theoretically accelerate to 99 percent of the speed of light - all without using propellant.
He's posted it to the NASA Technical Reports Server under the heading "Helical Engine", and, on paper, it works by exploiting the way mass can change at relativistic speeds - those close to the speed of light in a vacuum. It has not yet been reviewed by an expert.
Understandably this paper has caused buzz approaching levels seen in the early days of the EM Drive. And yes, even some headlines claiming the engine could 'violate the laws of physics'.
But while this concept is fascinating, it's definitely not going to break physics anytime soon. READ MORE...
Five Level Lower Back Fusion - 9 Months Later
I also have difficulty putting on socks so all of my shoe wearing, including tennis shoes, is done without socks.
My sleeping positions on both sides or on my back. I don't remember sleeping on my stomach but I don't even try as that would bend my back the wrong way, I think.
I have a little trouble stepping over the sides of the hot tub but it has not detered me from soaking in the hot water or using the therapeutic jets.
Bending over is a little bit of a problem but bening my knees or holding onto something compensates so the stuggle is minimal.
All in all, my choices were do nothing 9 months ago which was not really an option, take shots that would temporarily mask the pain and help the movement, or fuse the disks via surgery. I saw no reason to postpone the inevitable.
Take ChatGPT to the Next Level
CHATGPT AND TOOLS like it have made AI available to the masses. We can now get all sorts of responses back on almost any topic imaginable. These bots can come up with sonnets, code, philosophy, and more.
However, while you can just type anything you like into ChatGPT and get it to understand you, there are ways of getting more interesting and useful results out of the bot. This “prompt engineering” is becoming a specialized skill of its own.
Sometimes all it takes is the addition of a few more words or an extra line of instruction and you can get ChatGPT responses that are a level above what everyone else is seeing—and we've included several examples below.
For the purposes of this guide, we tested these prompts with GPT-4: The latest version of ChatGPT at the time of writing, but only available to some users. However, they should work fine with older versions of ChatGPT too.
Get Your Answers in Tabular Form
ChatGPT can give you responses in the form of a table if you ask. This is particularly helpful for getting information or creative ideas. For example, you could tabulate meal ideas and ingredients, or game ideas and equipment, or the days of the week and how they're said in a few different languages.
Using follow-up prompts and natural language, you can have ChatGPT make changes to the tables its drawn and even produce them in a standard format that can be understood by another program (such as Microsoft Excel).
ChatGPT can give you responses in the form of a table if you ask. This is particularly helpful for getting information or creative ideas. For example, you could tabulate meal ideas and ingredients, or game ideas and equipment, or the days of the week and how they're said in a few different languages.
Using follow-up prompts and natural language, you can have ChatGPT make changes to the tables its drawn and even produce them in a standard format that can be understood by another program (such as Microsoft Excel).
Output Text in the Style of Your Favorite Author
With some careful prompting, you can get ChatGPT out of its rather dull, matter-of-fact, default tone and into something much more interesting—such as the style of your favorite author, perhaps.
You could go for the searing simplicity of an Ernest Hemingway or Raymond Carver story, for instance, or the lyrical rhythm of a Shakespearean play, or the density of a Dickens novel. The end results don't come close to the genius of the actual authors themselves, but it's another way of being more creative with the output you get. READ MORE...
Saturday, April 1
PENTAGON: Alien Mothership Could be Lurking
Department of Defense official floats the idea that an alien mothership is cruising our solar system.
(Image credit: Marc Ward/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images)
A draft paper by a Harvard scientist and the head of the Pentagon's UFO office has raised the idea an alien mothership could be in the solar system, sending out tiny probes dubbed "dandelion seeds" to explore the planets within.
Could an alien mothership be hovering around the solar system, sending out tiny probes to explore planets? According to a Harvard scientist and a Pentagon official, it's possible.
In a draft paper, the pair said it is feasible an extraterrestrial spaceship could be in our galactic neighborhood, exploring the region by the means of "dandelion seeds" — small spacecraft that can gather and send back information, similar to the way humans send out spacecraft to explore planets.
Avi Loeb(opens in new tab), an astronomer at Harvard University, and Sean M. Kirkpatrick, director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — established in July 2022 by the Department of Defense (DoD) to detect and study "objects of interest" — released the draft, Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena(opens in new tab), on March 7. It is not an official Pentagon document but was carried out in partnership with the DoD. It has not been peer-reviewed. READ MORE...
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