Revealed

 

In The NEWS

Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned yesterday, stepping down amid mounting claims of plagiarism and criticism over recent congressional testimony on campus antisemitism. It marks the shortest presidential tenure in the university's history.



Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’ political leader in the West Bank and a founder of its military wing, was killed in an explosion outside Beirut in Lebanon Tuesday alongside two senior commanders, an assassination reportedly carried out by Israel. The attack marks the first such killing of a Hamas leader outside the Palestinian territories since the start of the war.



Five crew members on a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft were killed after it collided with a passenger plane yesterday that was landing at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. All 379 passengers and crew onboard Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 from Shin Chitose Airport near Sapporo were evacuated safely before the plane was engulfed in flames; the other plane's pilot survived with injuries.


Women's World Cup star Jenni Hermoso testifies against former Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales at Rubiales' sexual assault trial (More)


ABC's "Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve" special haul's in 22.2 million viewers, a 35% increase over last year (More) | Universal tops Disney at 2023 global box office; first time since 2015 that Disney wasn't highest-earning studio (More)


Melissa Hoskins, two-time Australian Olympic track cyclist, dies at 32 after being hit by car; Hoskins' husband reportedly charged with driving car that killed her (More) | Ken Bowman, three-time NFL champion, dies at 81 (More)


Dutch firm ASML, the world's leading supplier of tools needed to make advanced computer chips, barred from exporting deep ultraviolet lithography machines to China (More) | How the tech industry relies on ASML (More)


Tomato plants produce a waxy substance known as suberin during times of drought, which lets them ration water intake, new study finds (More)


Libido in male mice linked to single brain circuit; researchers say the structure likely developed early in the evolution of mammals, findings may shed light on the development of human sexuality (More)


South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung stabbed in neck during public appearance in the city of Busan; motive of attacker not yet identified, Lee expected to survive attack (More)


Armed suspect enters, fires shots inside Colorado's Supreme Court; no injuries reported or motive revealed, suspect surrendered to police (More)


Tesla meets sales target, selling more than 1.8 million vehicles in 2023; figure for the Elon Musk-led company is up almost 40% from 2022 (More) | Fidelity marks down its shares of Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter), estimating the company's value has dropped by almost 72% since October 2022 (More)


Shipping giant Maersk halts cargo transit through the Red Sea until further notice due to attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels operating out of Yemen (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

AI Development Will Explode in 2024

Artificial intelligence made a big splash with consumers and regulators alike in 2023, with experts believing the continued development of the technology will reach even greater heights in 2024.

"I think that in 2024, AI will move a little closer to what is in the public imagination, but we remain years from AI being autonomous in the way people are imagining it," Christopher Alexander, chief analytics officer of Pioneer Development Group, told Fox News Digital.

Alexander's comments come after 2023 saw a noticeable leap in the development and availability of AI tools, with popular language learning model (LLM) platforms such as OpenAI's ChatGPT gaining huge popularity and energizing other tech giants to come along for the ride.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Northerners Migrating South

 It does not surprise me that there are a multitude of northerners from the east coast to the west coast that are moving to SOUTHERN STATES because of the mild winters or no winters at all.

As our population ages, cold weather negatively impacts the human body and the desire to be warm all year long increases.

Today, just over 34 percent of the US population is aged 50 and over, and their numbers are rising rapidly with the aging of the baby-boom generation.     SOURCE:  Joint Center for Housing Studies

The number of Americans age 60 and older increased by 34% from 55.7 million to 74.6 million. In 2019, 30 million women and 24.1 million men were age 65 and older. That's 125 women for every 100 men.     SOURCE:  Administration for Community Living

What does this mean?

• It means that northerners, who earn more money annually than southerners and whose homes are valued higher, are moving down south (with their money) and inflating housing values that will increase the cost of living.
• It also means that they are bringing their northern attitudes down south which are going to BUTT HEADS with southern attitudes.
• It means they are going to make traffic conditions worse and attempt to change southern values so that they mesh with their own.
• It means that the states they are leaving will LOSE TAX REVENUES.
• It means that visiting northern cities will cost more for southern families on vacation.

This migration from the North to the South is not something that can be stopped.  It is a natural evolution of age, and after living in the south all my life, I understand why wants to live down here.  It is a SIMPLE, NATURAL, way of life without the crime and violence of the big cities.  We are laid back and take life slowly.  We respect each other and receive respect in return.  We are old fashioned neighbors to those living around us.

In my opinion, it is the NORTHERNERS who will change their attitudes, not the southerners...  and, that transformation will be a wonder to see.

Skulls

The Dark Side of Biology

Life on the primordial Earth got started early. The oldest microfossils—found by a British team in Canada—may date back as far as 3.8 billion years and were probably living on the ocean floor at a volcanic vent. Other organics rained from the sky, brewed by lightning or solar radiation. © Michael Carroll

Gene Roddenberry populated his Star Trek universe with a wide variety of aliens. Budget constraints dictated that most were variations of humans, with skin tinted odd colors or antennae sticking out from their heads. Even the silicon-based Horta appeared to be a stagehand lurking under a decorated carpet. George Lucas treated us to a similar menagerie of off-world inhabitants in Star Wars, especially in his Mos Eisley Cantina. Aliens—and our concept of them—became more sophisticated as budgets soared and science grappled with the great question posed by Enrico Fermi: “Where is everybody?” Some were terrifying, like the creatures in the Alien movie series or H. G. Wells’s conspiring Martians in War of the Worlds. Perhaps our propensity for seeing extrasolar life as terrifying is our natural fear of the unknown. But others were far more benign and advanced, as witnessed by Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Steven Spielberg’s cuddly E.T., Edmund H. North’s guardians of the worlds in The Day the Earth Stood Still, or the time-jumping beings of Eric Heisserer’s Arrival. But at the heart of a good story is a good conflict, and aliens provide natural fodder for such a plot device.     READ MORE...

Team Joe

 

The Blues Brothers

 

In The NEWS

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the western coast of central Japan yesterday, collapsing dozens of buildings and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate from their homes. A major tsunami warning—the country's first since a devastating 2011 tsunami that killed 20,000 and triggered a nuclear disaster—was implemented but eventually lifted without incident. Roughly 80 aftershocks hit the country throughout the day.

The No. 1 Michigan Wolverines will face off against the No. 2 Washington Huskies in the college football national championship Monday (7:30 pm ET, ESPN), after each team won their respective semifinal games last night. It marks both teams' first appearance in the title game (and first playoff win) since the playoff format began in 2014.

Israel's Supreme Court struck down a key piece of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms yesterday, ruling 8-7 against an amendment that would have barred the court from overturning laws found to be "extremely unreasonable."


Cale Yarborough, legendary NASCAR driver, dies at 84 (More) | Ana Ofelia Murguía, Mexican actress known for voice acting role in "Coco," dies at 90 (More)


Early version of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse enters public domain, making the "Steamboat Willie" character available for public use (More) | See previous write-up (More)



Taylor Swift passes Elvis Presley for most weeks spent atop the Billboard 200 album chart by a solo artist, as Swift's "1989 (Taylor's Version)" stays at No. 1 (More)



Sony, Canon, and Nikon to develop digital signatures for photographs, distinguishing shots from AI-generated images (More)



NASA's Juno spacecraft returns images from Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanic object in the solar system, after a flyby brings it within 930 miles of the surface (More)



Study of the Mongolian Arc—a 250-mile-long, 1,200-year-old extension of the Great Wall of China—suggests it was not used as a defensive barrier, may have provided control points for migration (More)



Markets close down Friday (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq -0.6%), but set to begin 2024 trading today near record highs (More) | "Magnificent Seven"—Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla—made up two-thirds of the S&P 500's gains in 2023 (More)



Chinese automaker BYD reports selling more than 526,000 fully electric vehicles in the fourth quarter, potentially overtaking Tesla as world's top EV seller; Tesla to report sales figures today (More)



Global minimum tax rolled out in certain jurisdictions, including the UK, European Union, and Japan; corporations making more than roughly $828M will see at least a 15% tax on profits, the US and China have not yet agreed to the deal (More)



Russia launches 90 drone strikes across Ukraine, the largest drone attack since the start of the war; follows Ukrainian shelling near the Russian town of Belgorod, which killed at least 21 people (More) | See an overview of the Iran-made Shahed drones (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Electric Aviation Technology

Normally, electric aviation is the last thing we consider when talking about military aircraft. Militaries around the world use a LOT of fossil fuels, and this is particularly bad for aviation. 

The power density just isn’t there for most types of planes to be able to effectively use battery power, and the higher performance planes militaries often need are even less favorable to that. 

Things like fighter jets use tens of thousands of gallons of fuel, just to carry a pilot and some bombs and missiles around.  READ MORE...

Lady Liberty

 

ENDGAME of Democrats

 

HERE ARE THE POLICIES OF THE DEMOCRATS

1. Stop Donald Trump
2. Increase Illegal Immigration
3. Increase in Government Spending
4. Increase the National Debt
5. Increase IRS Taxes
6. Increase Illegal Drugs
7. Increase Crime and Violence
8. Put just as many whites in prison as there are blacks
9. Brainwash our children with CRT, BLM, WOKE
10. End reliance on fossil fuels
11. Not see China as main threat to USA
12. Silence the conservative voice
13. Reduce funding to the military
14. Reduce funding to law enforcement

WHY DO THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO DO THIS???

Every time I think about this, I realize that there has to be more than just the obvious.

• Our way of life is being destroyed
• Our quality of life is being destroyed
• Our middle class is being destroyed
• Our economy is being destroyed
• Will all these immigrants vote Democratic
• Will all these immigrants contribute to the USA

They want to create a DEMOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP where the conservative voice has no impact at all and is no longer in consideration.  They want to create a culture where WHITES are the enemy and we have to make sure we take care of the oppressed Blacks at the expense of the whites.  They no longer want the USA to be the leader of the world, instead they want to turn that role over to China and their middle east followers.  The want to end Christianity and replace it with ISLAM as the world's new religion.

WHO IS BEHIND THIS?

All the billionaires...

They are not satisfied with controlling the USA, they want to control the world through CHINA and its communist party.

With our freedom of speech, democracies by definition and difficult to control when there are two opposing voices.

Hands

 

Production of GR-1 Humanoid Robot

Fourier Intelligence has been manufacturing exoskeletons and rehabilitation devices since 2017. The Singapore-based company launched its first generation of humanoid robots this year, designated the GR-1.

The humanoid platform includes 40 degrees of freedom distributed throughout its body, which measures 1.65 m (5 ft., 5 in.) in height and weighs 55 kg (121.2 lb.). The joint module that is fitted at the hip of the robot is capable of producing a peak torque of 300 Nm, which allows it to walk at a speed of 5 kph (3.1 mph) and carry goods that weigh 50 kg (110.2 lb.).

Making the leap from exoskeleton development to humanoid design is a logical progression, as the humanoid platform shares many of the mechanical and electrical design elements that Fourier developed for its core product line. Actuation is a core competency of the company, and by designing and building actuators, it claimed that it can optimize the cost/performance of the system.  READ MORE...

Houthis

 

Parachute Jump

 

Quantum Shadows: Images Hidden in Noise

A groundbreaking phase imaging method, resistant to phase noise and effective in dim light, has been developed by international researchers. This technique, detailed in Science Advances, enhances imaging capabilities in fields ranging from medical research to art preservation. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com



Innovative quantum-inspired imaging technique excels in low-light conditions, offering new prospects in medical imaging and art conservation.

Researchers at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Physics with colleagues from Stanford University and Oklahoma State University have introduced a quantum-inspired phase imaging method based on light intensity correlation measurements that is robust to phase noise. The new imaging method can operate even with extremely dim illumination and can prove useful in emerging applications such as in infrared and X-ray interferometric imaging and quantum and matter-wave interferometry.

Revolutionizing Imaging Techniques
No matter if you take photos of a cat with your smartphone or image cell cultures with an advanced microscope, you do this by measuring the intensity (brightness) of light pixel by pixel. Light is characterized, not only by its intensity but also by its phase. Interestingly, transparent objects can become visible if you’re able to measure the phase delay of light that they introduce.   READ MORE...

Mechanical

 

A New Year - 2024

 A new year has begun, and we are the better for it.

Why?

Because we are a year older for the most part and with age comes wisdom.

2023 -  was for the most part a disaster depending upon your perspective.   For some it was the greatest year ever but for others that was not true.

Last year for me and my wife, although I cannot really speak for her, was no different than 2022 or 2021 or 2020 or any of the years previously past going back to 2015 when we both retired.

Yes, prices were somewhat higher but that increase cost did not change our lifestyle, which is the same thing that will happen to us in 2024.

The only concern that I really have going into 2024 will be getting involved in another war.  That involvement must include military weapons as well as personnel.

We have wars in:  Ukraine, Israel, and potentially Taiwan in the south China sea.  BUT...  we are also be baited into a war with Iran and North Korea because those countries refuse to listen to the warnings from our government.

War will not affect me since I am too old to be boots on the ground, but numerous Americans will before they have had a chance to live their lives and those of us left behind will not really care that they died for us.

In some cases, war is good because it helps strengthen our economy and the same could hold true in 2024.

Regardless of the negative possibilities of 2024, I believe this year will basically be no different than the year before for many of us.

The main issue here is that we are still alive to experience 2024 in its entirety.