Movies

 

Taxes

 

Thirsty Bird

 

Bent Tree

 

Three Owls

 

Playing With Words

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took to Twitter on Tuesday to blast "MAGA Republicans" for the recent summer heat wave hitting communities nationwide.

Clinton's social media post came in response to a tweet from left-wing think tank Center for American Progress which stated "MAGA Republicans are pouring fuel on the climate crisis fire." The post included an image of recent media stories highlighting the recent spate of high temperatures in the U.S. and noted Republicans voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats' $739 billion climate package — which President Biden signed into law in 2022. SOURCE: FOX News

Who is she kidding?

And, the really sad thing about this is that there will be thousands of Americans who believe she is telling the truth...

First of all, any climate change programs put into place would take YEARS before the climate is influenced or changed.

It is not an OVERNIGHT event!!!

And yet, this is exactly what Hillary Clinton wants you to believe...  she is counting on illiteracy in America to rally around her.

For this reason and this reason alone, is why I WILL NEVER TRUST DEMOCRATS...  They play with the words of truth to create the reality in which they believe...

They really don't care about the climate.  I doubt any multimillionaire cares about the climate...  Their money will protect them no matter what happens.  What they care about is POWER and the ability to CONTROL PEOPLE'S ACTIONS...

East Tennessee Bluegrass

A Guide to the East Tennessee Bluegrass Association
By Evie Andrus 


While it is true one can find bluegrass most anywhere these days, it takes on a new meaning here in Knoxville. Many of the legends call this region home and the culture is steeped in Appalachia. From porches to barn dances, bluegrass was the music folks gathered around. One only has to look around see the influence these mountains have on bluegrass music.



The East Tennessee Bluegrass Association (ETNBA) strives to promote and advance traditional bluegrass music through education, outreach and community for all generations. Formed back in 2018 after a lunch meeting between founding members Evie Andrus and Jodi Harbin, the association quickly gathered musicians from around the region who shared their passion. 

With a mission statement that focuses on building community, preserving traditional bluegrass, and furthering the education of pickers (aka musicians) ETNBA has become a staple in the bluegrass scene of the Knoxville region.



One of the biggest ways we achieve our mission is by hosting jams around town. Be it out at Ijams Nature Center in SoKno, up at Sleepy-Eyed John’s in Clinton or downtown at Visit Knoxville you are able to find music being made almost every weekend of the month. We at ETNBA strive to maintain a traditional jam at all times, which means we welcome the standard bluegrass instrumentation (fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, bass, dobro) and ask that people refrain from amplification. 

We pass song choice around in a circle and everyone gets the chance to choose a song to play with the group, which keeps in the tradition of a bluegrass jam. One does not need to be a member of ETNBA to join in any of our jams, just ready to make some music and have some fun.    READ MORE...

The Pink Panther

 

$5 Billion EV Factory in Georgia

Rivian, the American EV manufacturer, just secured a significant victory in the Peach State. Following a contentious legal tussle, the Georgia Supreme Court chose not to entertain an appeal challenging the legitimacy of Rivian's anticipated property tax relief for its proposed $5 billion EV facility.

 This turn of events propels Rivian ahead in its quest to establish one of the most extensive EV plants in the region.

Back in December 2021, Rivian unfurled its ambitious plan to construct a colossal 2,000-acre EV factory in Georgia. With a staggering production capacity of up to 400,000 EVs annually, the facility significantly outpaces Rivian's existing Illinois plant, which maxes out at 150,000 units annually. 

But, as the saying goes, every rose has its thorns. The path to getting this behemoth off the ground has been riddled with roadblocks.

In fact, the legal road to Rivian's Georgia facility resembled more of a bumper car ride. Initially, Rivian's proposed project faced pushback from a group of residents who sued the Joint Development Authority (JDA) and the company in charge of initial site grading. 

Yet another group challenged the local property tax incentives slated for Rivian, which led to a judge shooting down approximately $700 million of the proposed tax benefits.

Despite these hurdles, Rivian's resilience never waned. The company stood its ground, holding firm to the commitment to its Georgia project. 

Rivian's determination paid off when the highest court in the state sided with the JDA and the State of Georgia on most issues about the company's incentive package.  READ MORE...

Flamingos

 

Living with Cats

 We have three neutered male cats that are about 13/14 years old.  Each cat has their own unique personality.  Two cats are yellow and the third is Siamese.  

The Siamese cat came to us when I was living in Kentucky and had not been socialized because when we got him back to my apartment, he tried to climb the walls then hid.  At night I could feel him walking on top of me.  We brought the yellow cat over to Kentucky and after a few weeks together, the Siamese began to become more friendly, but his is still very untrusting.  

Our third cat was also acquired in Kentucky and was a rescue cat who had been bottled fed and is very friendly towards humans...  almost too trusting.

We had sold our house and were downsizing to a smaller house and yard.  We felt that the movers would scare them and they would hide, making it very difficult to take them to the new house.  Consequently, we got them one by one and put them in a room together for about a day and a half, maybe two days.  This was the first time that they had been locked up in a room by us.  Before this happened, they were free to roam wherever they pleased.

They had access to the main level, the basement level and through a cat door had access to a porch and an outside fenced in area that was created just for them.

When we were finally ready to move them to the other house, we entered the room and all three of them were together in a corner of the room with wild looks in their eyes, not sure what was about to happen to them.  Instead of running away from us, they were easy to pick up and put in carriers.  That behavior amazed us both.

At the new house, we opened the containers and two quickly jumped out and started looking around.  The third cat remained in the carrier for another day before coming out.  Once he was out, he became more open than before the move.  He is now spending more time with us...  go figure?

All three cats have adjusted to the move and are showing no signs of any negative behavior.  The adjustment happened quicker than we had anticipated.  They do not seem to mind not having a basement to go to or a cat door to go through.

The Siamese is not as friendly towards me as he was before but he is more friendly towards my wife which he was not before.  I am sure the move has had something to do with that.

Running Dog

 

Exotic Pentaquark Particle Found

The LHCb collaboration has announced the discovery of a new pentaquark particle. The particle, named Pc(4312)+, decays to a proton and a J/ψ particle (composed of a charm quark and an anticharm quark). This latest observation has a statistical significance of 7.3 sigma, passing the threshold of 5 sigma traditionally required to claim a discovery of a new particle.

In the conventional quark model, composite particles can be either mesons formed of quark–antiquark pairs or baryons formed of three quarks. Particles not classified within this scheme are known as exotic hadrons. 

When Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig proposed the quark model in their 1964 papers, they mentioned the possibility of exotic hadrons such as pentaquarks, but it took 50 years to demonstrate their existence experimentally. In July 2015, the LHCb collaboration reported the Pc(4450)+ and Pc(4380)+ pentaquark structures. 

The new particle is a lighter companion to these pentaquark structures and its existence sheds new light into the nature of the entire family.

The analysis presented today at the Rencontres de Moriond quantum chromodynamics (QCD) conference used nine times more data from the Large Hadron Collider than the 2015 analysis. The data set was first analysed in the same way as before and the parameters of the previously reported Pc(4450)+ and Pc(4380)+ structures were consistent with the original results. 

As well as revealing the new Pc(4312)+ particle, the analysis also uncovered a more complex structure of Pc(4450)+ consisting of two narrow overlapping peaks, Pc(4440)+ and Pc(4457)+, with the two-peak structure having a statistical significance of 5.4 sigma. More experimental and theoretical study is still needed to fully understand the internal structure of the observed states.

Read more on the LHCb website.

Flight Attendant

 

The 9 Lakes of East Tennessee

The 9 Lakes region is made up of the 16 counties surrounding Knoxville, TN. It stretches from the Cumberland Mountains of Big South Fork National River and Recreation area to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

The region boast 4 National Parks, 2 National Scenic Byways, 2 National Foot Trails, 1 National Scenic River, 1 National Forest, and 9 TVA Lakes. In every corner of the region, you can find a beautiful place to rest, relax and explore while you’re visiting East Tennessee. 

Find your Tennesssee Vacation here.
Norris Lake

Cherokee Lake

Douglas Lake

Fort Loudon Lake

Calderwood & Chilhowee Lakes

Melton Hill Lake

Tellico Lake

Watts Bar Lake

Atomic Bomb

 

China Leads the World in EVs

SHANGHAI — When Shanghai held its international auto show this spring, the world’s biggest names were there: Toyota, Ford, BMW and more. But Chinese brands such as BYD and NIO stood out with electric vehicles that are cutting-edge — and affordable.

China’s electric vehicle companies have grown rapidly in recent years, becoming major competitors for U.S. automakers like Tesla.

William Li, the CEO of NIO, said competition in the EV industry is “much fiercer” in China, the world’s largest market for EVs and for automobiles overall.

Every company “must go all out,” he said in an interview at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Auto Show in April. “Otherwise, you may be ahead today, [but] you may not be ahead in a few months.”

The fierce competition has spurred rapid development of the industry. According to Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, about one-quarter of passenger cars sold in China last year were all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, compared with about 7% in the U.S.

“China is way ahead of the U.S. in terms of EV adoption,” said Soumen Mandal, a senior analyst for Counterpoint, based in Kolkata, India.  READ MORE...

Dogs and a Balloon

 

The Evidence is Mounting Up

Every morning when I watch FOX News, I hear reports that the evidence of President Biden being corrupt keeps coming in to the House.  They now have 2-3 whistleblowers who are supporting each other's statement that Joe Biden is corrupt and that his son Hunter is at the center of the corruption with the Ukraine.  

It is also obvious that President Biden lied when he said he did not discuss business dealings with his son.  Another piece of evidence an FBI form 1023 proves that the FBI knew about this and was slow walking it through the process at the DOJ.

So, here we have a corrupt President, a corrupt FBI, and a corrupt DOJ with a group of mainstream media networks helping to cover this up from the public.  It was covered up during the 2020 elections which is one of the reasons Biden won the election.

Public officials are not strangers to corruption.  In fact, ever since 1776, corruption has been inside our government consistently which is one of the reasons why we have been able to get so much accomplished.  While corruption has surrounded the WHITE HOUSE, it has never been inside the WHITE HOUSE until Joe Biden.

It is very difficult to have POWER and NOT BE CORRUPT...  

Sinking Car