Saturday, December 30
Facts About the USA
More people live in New York City than in 40 of the 50 states.
The word “Pennsylvania” is misspelled on the Liberty Bell.
There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North and South America
in one foot of liquid.
There's a town in Washington with treetop bridges made specifically to help
squirrels cross the street .
In 1872, Russia sold Alaska to the Unites States for about 2 cents per acre.
It would take you more than 400 years to spend a night in all of Las Vegas's hotel rooms.
Western Michigan is home to a giant lavender labyrinth so big you can see it on
Google Earth.
There’s an island full of wild monkeys off the coast of South Carolina called
Morgan Island, and it's not open to humans.
There's enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to build a two-lane highway from
San Francisco to New York City.
Arizona and Hawaii are now the only states that don't observe daylight savings time.
Boston has the worst drivers out of the nation's 200 largest cities. Kansas City has the best drivers.
Kansas produces enough wheat each year to feed everyone in the world for about two weeks.
Oregon's Crater Lake is deep enough to cover six Statues of Liberty stacked on top of each other
The Empire State building has its own zip code.
The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office has its own quirky gift shop called Skeletons in the Closet.
The Library of Congress contains approximately 838 miles of bookshelves—long enough to stretch from Houston to Chicago.
Massachusetts’s Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchahas the longest place name in the US. (even though it's based on a joke).
In 1922, a man built a house and all his furniture entirely out of 100,000 newspapers.
The structure still stands today in Rockport, Massachusetts.
The entire Denver International Airport is twice the size of Manhattan.
In 1893, an amendment was proposed to rename the country to the "United States of Earth."
A highway in Lancaster, California plays the “William Tell Overture” as you drive over it, thanks to some well-placed grooves in the road .
The total length of Idaho's rivers could stretch across the United States about 40 times.
The town of Centralia, Pennsylvania has been on fire for 55 years.
The one-woman town of Monowi, Nebraska is the only officially incorporated municipality with a population of 1. The sole, 83-year-old resident is the city's mayor, librarian, and bartender.
The number of bourbon barrels in Kentucky outnumbers the state’s population
by more than two million.
New Year's Resolution(s)
- continue eating healthy
- continue writing
- continue to manage stress
- continue not to worry
- continue to take things one day at a time
- continue to think before I speak
- continue to be kind to animals
- continue to be friendly to next door neighbors
- continue to not be so critical of everything
- continue to be proactive and positive
- continue to be more helpful around the house
- continue to learn something new each day
The Challenge of Fast Charging Stations
Sometime in 2024, maybe as early as February, half a dozen electric vehicle charging companies will face a reckoning.
For years, they had little competition except for each other, which is to say, not much. Soon, though, they’ll have to contend with Tesla’s much-lauded Supercharger network.
The EV world, from a charging perspective, was previously split in two. There was Tesla and then there was everyone else. Tesla owners enjoyed widespread, speedy and reliable charging. Everyone else made do by cobbling together accounts from a number of different companies, none of which could boast reliability ratings anywhere near that of Tesla’s.
Then, in May, the wall fell. Ford signed an agreement with Tesla to give its EVs access to 12,000 Superchargers, a subset of the network. Starting in 2024, existing owners will be able to charge at those stalls by using an adapter, and in 2025, Ford said its future EVs will swap the Combined Charging System (CCS) plug for Tesla’s plug, also known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). READ MORE...
Friday, December 29
That Which is Important to Me
One's first thought might be HEALTH but without financial security, my health would be more or less irrelevant.
So, the first important issue for me is the peace of mind that comes from having financial security...
However, now that I've used peace of mind, it is necessary to understand that financial security is intertwined with peace of mind.
One cannot happen without the other.
My second area of importance is MY HEALTH... and while that may not seem logical, given all the health issues I have, one must understand that I am still above ground because of my health and my body's ability to fight off what's attacking me.
My third area of importance is having and being dedicated to the hobby of writing. Without that hobby, being retired would be incredibly BORING. Bored retirees do not live very long.
My fourth area of importance is having the partner that I have and while we do not always get along and have said things to each other, we regretted saying later, we have remained together for over30 years - a second marriage for both of us. We have the reassurance that we can count on each other as we grow older.
It is that emotional security that helps us both with the knowledge that we have that kind of security as we grow older and realize we cannot take care of ourselves without the help of someone else.
We have different interests and don't rely on each other for our happiness while at the same time, we know that the other person will always be there.
My fifth and final area of importance is friendship. After 76 years of life, I only have ONE TRUE FRIEND,,, We have known each other since high school and have remained friends even though we went off in different directions.
I had a second true friend that I had known since 3rd grade, but he died of colon cancer about 10 years ago.
There are a couple of people living nearby in the same community that will do things for me as I will do things for them, but I would not really consider them to be TRUE FRIENDS. I would say they are being neighborly.
It is interesting, I think, that I have not included FAITH in my list. I believe in a CREATOR, but I am not a fan/follower of institutionalized religion, nor do I really believe what is in the BIBLE because there are so many inconsistencies.
So, some aspects of religion are there but are not an important part of my life. Yes, it is possible that my life is being directed, regardless of the decisions or choices that I make. If that is the case, I have no explanation as to why that is happening. Is that religion? or faith? I don't know.
If I am being kept alive because there is something that I have to do or accomplish, I have no idea what they is, at least at this point in time. It may be revealed to me later and my list will change.
In The NEWS
Former President Donald Trump will not appear on the Republican ballot in Maine's presidential primary after Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) ruled his role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, made him ineligible under a clause in the 14th Amendment. The decision follows a ruling with similar effect by Colorado's Supreme Court, and a decision by Michigan's Supreme Court leaving him eligible for the primary race.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow fired after pornographic videos of Gow and his wife are uncovered (More)
College Football Playoff kicks off Monday with No. 1 Michigan taking on No. 4 Alabama (4 pm ET, ESPN) and No. 2 Washington against No. 3 Texas (8 pm ET, ESPN) (More) | See full college football bowl schedule (More)
Mbongeni Ngema, iconic South African playwright and six-time Tony and Grammy Award nominee, dies in a car crash at 68 (More)
US military's X-37B space plane begins seventh mission; vehicle was launched via a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, allowing it to reach as high as 22,000 miles above Earth (More)
Scientists discover source of mysterious type of immune system cells known as stem-like central memory T cells, which play a key role in remembering previously encountered pathogens (More)
Study suggests ultra-dense neutron stars contain quarks—fundamental particles that make up protons and neutrons, which help make up atoms—at their core (More)
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi unveils first electric vehicle in bid to compete with Tesla, Porsche (More)
An estimated 150,000 people forced to flee central Gaza as Israeli troops expand operations against Hamas to refugee camps (More) | See updates on war here (More)
Iran Increases Its Nuclear Program
VIENNA (AP) — Iran has increased the rate at which it is producing near weapons grade uranium in recent weeks, reversing a previous slowdown that started in the middle of this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report to member states.
Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in the report that Iran “in recent weeks had increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023,” according to an IAEA spokesperson Sunday.
Iran had previously slowed down the rate at which it was enriching uranium to 60% purity. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. READ MORE...
In The Year 2023
What did the year 2023 provide us with?
- Higher food and gasoline prices
- War on Fossil Fuels
- Our National Debt is increasing
- Our Global respect is declining
- Government mandate of EVs
- Increased Illegal Immigration
- Increased in Illegal Drugs
- War in Ukraine
- War in Israel/Gaza strip
- Iran's proxies attacking USA
- Double Standards of US Justice
- Global Anti-Israel Sentiments
- A weakened US military
- China threatening global dominance
- Higher taxes
- Decay of US Democracy
- An Ineffective Congress/President
- Destruction of American Dream
- I own my home
- I am debt free
- I have saved money for retirement
- I live in East Tennessee
- I'm not bothered by crime
- I'm not bothered by illegal immigrants
- I'm not bothered by illegal drugs
- I purchase only what I need
- cigarettes were $0.20 a pack ($0.25 in a machine)
- gasoline was $0.18 cents a gallon
- a six pack of beer was $1.25
- Hamburgers were $0.15
- French fries were $0.10
- Movie tickets were $0.25
- I purchased a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda convertible with a 383 and 4 on the floor for $2,500.
- I remember all the beer I drank in that car and all the women that went to the drive in movies with me in that car.
- I remember racing that car on the city streets of Alexandria, turning down side roads to escape the police.
Sterile Neutrinos Unlocking Secrets
The neutrino is perhaps the most fascinating inhabitant of the subatomic world. Nearly massless, this fundamental particle experiences only the weak nuclear force and the much fainter force of gravity. With no more than these feeble connections to other forms of matter, a neutrino can pass through the entire Earth with just a tiny chance of hitting an atom. Ghosts, who are said to be able to pass through walls, have nothing on neutrinos.
The neutrinos’ phantom properties are not the only thing that sets them apart from other fundamental particles. They are unique in that they don’t have a fixed identity. The three known forms of neutrinos are able to transform into one another through a cyclical process called neutrino oscillation. In addition to being subatomic specters, they are also quantum chameleons. READ MORE...
Thursday, December 28
In The NEWS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to Mexico City yesterday, meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador over a record number of migrants flowing through Mexico toward the US border.
The New York Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI yesterday for mass copyright infringement, estimating damages to be worth billions of dollars. The Times, the first major media company to file a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, accuses them of using its articles to train artificial intelligence chatbots without permission.
South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was found dead Wednesday of an apparent suicide in central Seoul. His death came amid a national investigation into his alleged drug use, reports he denied and characterized as extortion. He was 48.
NBA approves majority stake sale of Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban to casino magnate Miriam Adelson for a reported $3.5B (More) | Detroit Pistons' losing streak reaches NBA single-season record 27 games (More)
US domestic box office hauls in $8.58B in 2023, the highest since the pandemic and a 15% jump from 2022; see year-end box office numbers for each studio (More)
Tom Smothers, comedian best known as half of the Smothers Brothers musical comedy duo, dies of cancer at 86 (More)
Apple Watch ban paused by US appeals court as regulators consider whether proposed software updates are sufficient to end ongoing patent dispute (More) | Series 9, Ultra 2 watches were banned for US sale Tuesday; see previous write-up (More)
Researchers demonstrate glucose-responsive insulin, capable of regulating blood sugar for up to a week; may eventually provide an alternative to daily injections for patients with Type 1 diabetes (More)
The Small Magellanic Cloud is likely made up of two separate dwarf galaxies, with one situated behind the other (More) | The galaxies are viewable from the Southern Hemisphere and played a role in the lore of ancient societies; see overview (More)
Pizza Hut franchises in California to lay off 1,200 in-house delivery drivers in February ahead of new state law boosting fast-food minimum wage to $20 an hour (More)
At least five people killed in Ukraine's southern city of Kherson after Russia fires nearly 50 drones, knocking out power for 70% of households (More) | The US to deliver $250M military aid package to Ukraine amid congressional stalemate over future assistance (More)
The Basics of Our Government
Our constitution gave us three branches of government: Judicial, legislative, and Administrative and provided laws to the States that were not exclusively reserved by the federal government.
States Rights versus Federal Rights has always been a bone of contention as evidenced by some states legalizing marijuana while the Federal government still sees it as being illegal.
Nowhere else will something like that (above) exist in the world today. That makes the USA incredibly unique while at the same time separates from the rest of the world, that is controlled by dictators, socialists, and communists. While the UK and the EU are forms of democracy as well, they still don't have all the freedoms that we have here in the USA.
Our two party system, Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservative) is what perpetuates our democracy by providing the people with TWO POINTS OF VIEW.
Liberal want:
- Large government
- High taxes
- Small military
- Social welfare programs
- Small government
- Low taxes
- Large military
- limited social welfare programs
- public education
- public parks/recreation
- social security
- unemployment insurance
- medicare/medicaid
- public transportation
- People who argue with a Communistic government go to jail
- People do not strike for higher wages in a communistic government
- People are not exposed to all the news or all the truth in a communistic government
- People do not protest in a communistic government
- There is no private ownership in a communistic government
- There is no freedom of speech or religion in a communistic government
- The government easily controls the people in a communistic government