Changing Heart

 

A New Way to Clean up Air Pollution

Carbon capture — commonly thought of as the use of technology to remove carbon dioxide from the air — is a hotly debated topic.

Though the U.S. Department of Energy committed $131 million to various carbon capture projects, opponents claim that focus on carbon capture distracts from other, more effective strategies for combating our warming planet.

Now, an MIT research team may have found a way to make everybody happy: by removing carbon dioxide from the world’s oceans.

In a paper published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, six MIT engineers have detailed a comprehensive plan for cleansing seawater of carbon dioxide.

The process utilizes two asymmetrical electrochemical cells consisting of silver and bismuth electrodes. The first cell releases protons into the water that converts to carbon dioxide that is then collected by a vacuum. The second cell then returns the seawater to a more basic state before releasing it back into the ocean, free from carbon dioxide.  READ MORE...

Jimi Hendrix

 

First Nitrogen Execution

 

Molecules of Life on Primordial Earth

How did life start? It’s a question that has intrigued humans ever since we became conscious of ourselves and our place in the world. Now, researchers from Newcastle University in the UK may have an answer. By investigating the conditions that may have allowed living systems to emerge from inert geological materials 3.5 billion years ago, the team were able to produce organic molecules that may have been the stuff of life.

When they mixed hydrogen, bicarbonate, and iron-rich magnetite under conditions similar to those of mild hydrothermal vents, the researchers were able to create a spectrum of molecules, including fatty acids that were up to 18 carbon atoms in length.

This result potentially reveals how key molecules that underpin life can be made from inorganic chemicals. This has big implications for our understanding of how life may have formed on the Earth billions of years ago. In particular, this study offers a plausible genesis for organic molecules that form cell membranes that were possibly selectively chosen by early biochemical processes on the ancient Earth.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Living in the USA

 Citizens of the United States of America (not Central America or South America) think they are living in the greatest country in the world...

And for that most part that is TRUE.

Why?

Because:

1. We have the Bill of Rights
2. The greatest military in the world
3. Equality under the law
4. Huge amounts of natural resources
5. Best quality of life in the world
6. We have the best healthcare in the world
7. Employment opportunities
8. Educational opportunities
9. A Democratic Republic form of government
10. An economy based upon capitalism

The rest of the world may have some of these points as well but not all of them...  and, because they don't have all of them, they are jealous.  However, this jealousy does not lie in the hearts of the leaders, but in the minds of their citizens who see what people in the WEST have.

If you live under a communist government or in a country that is ruled by a dictator, YOUR FREEDOMS are for all intents and purposes non-existent.  

• You cannot speak out against the government
• You cannot move about the country freely
• You do not really vote for your leaders
• You cannot always work where you want to
• You are forced to spend time in the military
• You do not have access to healthcare
• You cannot own your own home

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF EVERY CITIZEN IN THE USA LOST ALL THEIR FREEDOMS?

History Exam for Over 50 ONLY

Everyone over 50 should have a pretty easy time at this exam. If you are under 50 you can claim a handicap.

This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life.


Get paper & pencil & number from 1 to 20.

Write the letter of each answer & score at the end.

Then before you pass this test on, put your score in the subject line. Send to friends so everyone can HAVE FUN!!!!Also send it back to me.



1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?
A. On the floor shift knob.
B. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch....
C. Next to the horn.

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it.. For what was it used?
A. Capture lightning bugs.
B. To sprinkle clothes before ironing.
C. Large salt shaker.

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
A. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk.
B. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled.
C... Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?
A.. Blackjack
B. Gin
C. Craps

5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing during WW II.
A. Suntan
B. Leg painting
C. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
A. Studebaker
B. Nash Metro
C. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
A . Strips of dried peanut butter.
B. Chocolate licorice bars.
C. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

8. How was Butch wax used?
A. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up.
B. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing..
C On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust.

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
A.With clamps, tightened by a skate key.
B. Woven straps that crossed the foot.
C. Long pieces of twine.

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
A. Consider all the facts.
B. Ask Mom.
C. Eeny-meeny-miney-MO.

11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940s and 1950s?
A. Smallpox
B. AIDS
C. Polio

12. 'I'll be down to get you in a________, Honey'
A. SUV
B. Taxi
C. Streetcar
13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pony?
A. Old Blue
B. Paint
C Macaroni
14. What was a Duck-an d-Cover Drill?
A. Part of the game of hide and seek.
B. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores.
C. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15 . What was the name of the Indian Princess in the Howdy Doody Show?
A. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
B. Princess Sacajawea
C Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
A. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high.
B. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window.
C. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure.

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
A. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum.
B. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items.
C. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos.

18. Praise the Lord , & pass the _________?
A. Meatballs
B. Dames
C. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song 'Cabdriver' a hit?
A.The Ink Spots
B.. The Supremes
C. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco ?
A. Tony Bennett
B. Xavier Cugat
C. George Gershwin
----------------------------- --------------------------

ANSWERS

1. (b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in Europe , took till the late '60's to catch on.

2. (b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing.. Who had a steam iron?

3 (c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top...

4 . (a) Blackjack Gum.

5.. (b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow pencil

6. (a) 1946 Studebaker.

7. (c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.

8. (a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.

9. (a) With clamps , tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your neck.
10. (c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

11. (c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease.

12. (b) Taxi , Better be ready by half-past eight!

13. (c) Macaroni ..

14. (c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15. (a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.

16... (a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.

17. (b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.

18. (c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.

19. (a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.

20. (a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.

SCORING

17- 20 correct : You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely someone who should share your wisdom!

12 -16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but you're getting there.

0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your experiences.

Send this to your ('old') friends with your score in the subject line

Future Technology

14 DEC 2023
Low-IQ technologies deliver more efficient power management


As demand for battery-powered applications continues to grow rapidly, low-IQ technologies can help extend battery life without compromising system performance

07 DEC 2023
The battery-management technology that will strengthen our grid


Semiconductor innovations in battery systems are leading to energy storage adoption

05 DEC 2023
Education investment creates STEM learning opportunities for local Utah students


Our company’s $9 million investment will help students in the Alpine School District become tomorrow’s innovators

17 NOV 2023
6 semiconductor technologies that help create safer, smarter vehicles


From bumper to bumper and roof to wheels, there is more innovative, efficient semiconductor technology in cars than ever before

16 NOV 2023
Q&A: How TI is creating a sustainable future


The leader of our Worldwide Environmental, Safety and Health team shares our company’s long history of environmental sustainability and how we’re reducing our environmental impact

08 NOV 2023
In the factory and beyond, how robots are enhancing our world


Once a vision of the future, robots are helping humans become more productive, efficient and safe in almost any setting.   READ MORE...

Happy Otters

 

Best of Friends Now

 

Precision High-Powered Microwave Weapons

Raytheon, an RTX business, has embarked upon an ambitious endeavor to enhance the defense mechanisms of the US military apparatus by initiating the development of sophisticated high-power microwave (HPM) antenna systems. 

This work is the latest manifestation of the Directed Energy Front-line Electromagnetic Neutralization and Defeat (DEFEND) program, which is primarily concentrated on the formulation and execution of advanced non-kinetic defense systems. 

Raytheon secured a contract amounting to $31.3 million from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division to begin conceptualizing, engineering, and rigorously testing a duo of prototype HPM systems. 

These prototypes are scheduled for delivery to the US Navy & US Air Force in the years 2024 and 2026, respectively. The primary objective underlying these systems is to harness directed energy to neutralize aerial threats, thereby endowing the United States defense arsenal with a significant technological supremacy.   TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Sleeping Dogs

 

DeSantis OUT - Haley IN

What does that mean?

I am not a political expert, but I would say that the main reason that a candidate drops out of a Presidential race is that their large donor REFUSE to support him anymore.

However, does that hurt or help Trump who is the GOP frontrunner?

• Well...  it is a two person race...
• And...  people have said they do not want another Trump/Biden rematch.
• Also...  Trump has legal issues that could get worse as time progresses towards the election.
• Still...  while Haley beats Biden in many poles, people remember the good times under Trump.

While Haley had a strong, globally respected position at the UN and she bring YOUNG BLOOD to the Presidency, she DOES NOT have the presidential experience that Trump has.

At some point in time, a young president will be elected but is NOW THAT TIME, given the issues that are facing the USA?

1. Inflation
2. Immigration
3. War on fossil fuels
4. Push towards green energy
5. A sluggish economy
6. Our weakened military
7. China growing in power
8. Wars around the world
9. Our growing national debt
10. Anti-Israel sentiment
11. Our failing education
12. Our loss of global respect

A WILD CARD in all of this is ABORTION and the fact that Republicans have not done a very good job at explaining the misconceptions that the Democrats have been promoting.

Will abortion keep the Dems in power regardless of which GOP candidate is running for office?

The Haley/Trump issue could be a mute point.

Octopus

 

Astronauts to Experience Time Dilation

When astronauts head to Mars, they will experience time dilation. That's to be expected. In fact, your feet and your head experience time dilation, with your head aging ever so slightly faster than your feet. But how much time dilation will they experience (relative to Earth observers)?

First off, let's check we're all on the same page. Time passes at different rates for different observers, depending on their relative speeds, and their proximity to (and strength of) nearby gravitational fields. Time dilation is the difference between time elapsed on two clocks due to these causes, as described by special relativity and general relativity.

Gravity curves spacetime. The result is that the stronger gravity is near you, and the closer you are to the mass creating it, the slower time moves (from the standpoint of an observer, or whoever has the second clock. From your perspective, time ran at the usual speed). This is how your foot is younger than your old (relatively speaking) haggard head.  READ MORE...

Fool to Cry

 

Sweet Little Sixteen

 

Humans VERSUS Artificial Intelligence

“What’s the core competence of human beings?” Fareed Zakaria’s brutally simple question to OpenAI boss Sam Altman boiled down an hour-long discussion over the future of technology to its essence: in a world racing to develop the first artificial general intelligence, what does humanity still excel at when a machine comes along that is effectively smarter in every way?

No one on the World Economic Forum’s panel, Altman included, had a convincing answer for the CNN journalist moderating the panel in Davos on Thursday.

“I admit it does feel different this time. General purpose cognition feels so close to what we all treasure about humanity that it does feel different,” conceded the CEO of the company behind ChatGPT, before venturing into a prediction.

“We [humans] will make decisions about what should happen in the world,” said Altman.  READ MORE...

The Electric Car Con Explained

By William Levin in The American Thinker

Is electricity a source of energy? Most people will answer yes, which is incorrect. Electricity carries energy but it is not itself a source of energy, which in the U.S. is supplied 60% by natural gas and coal, 18% nuclear and 22% renewables (hydro, solar and wind).

The related question is whether cars are a major consumer of energy and hence a significant contributor of Co2 emissions? Again, most people believe both statements are self-evidently true, hence the importance of moving to electric cars.

In fact, cars (light-duty transportation) account for less than 5% of global energy demand, with U.S. cars accounting for 19% of the global car fleet, declining to under 15% by 2050 as car demand grows faster outside the U.S.

Putting these facts together, and they are indisputable facts, provides a stunning insight.

The U.S. car fleet accounts for a mere 1.0% of global energy demand (5% x 19%), declining to 0.8% by 2050. So even if the U.S. shifts 100% to electric-powered cars, the maximum climate impact in 2050 is a meaningless 0.2% (22% x 0.8%) reduction in global Co2 emissions from the current electric grid, up to a maximum of 0.5% assuming solar, wind, and hydro can, implausibly, power 60% of electric demand.

In other words, there is no factual basis to claim that the government mandate to switch to electric cars will have any material impact on global CO2 emissions.

This is not a debatable point -- it is easily verified, it is correct under any view of climate science, and it remains true even if solar and wind magically grow sixfold over the next 25 years, which is highly unlikely given the need to build a new transmission network, estimated at more than 200,000 miles of wires crisscrossing the country, and devise totally unknown, unproven, and likely impossible to achieve large-scale, economic battery storage.

Nor does the picture change materially if the entire world goes 100% electric for cars. In that case global Co2 emissions fall a mere 3.5% in 2050 versus a baseline of 24% electric adoption by 2035.

Put simply, cars are not a meaningful source of global emissions and electric cars do not and cannot curtail the continued reliance on fossil fuels in electric generation. On top of this, counting all sources, the U.S. is responsible for only 14% of all global Co2 emissions, declining to 9% by 2050 due to rest of world economic growth.

But facts count for nothing in the Biden era. The EPA seeks to force conversion to electric cars through draconian limits on tailpipe emissions. American taxpayers foot the bill for billions in subsidies to electric cars. California leads the way in mandating conversion to electric cars. Perversely, the major auto companies have signed onto the electric agenda, the harbinger of future bailouts.

Perhaps most galling is the continuous misleading of the public.

By law every new car must affix a window sticker with the following statement: “Vehicle emissions are a significant cause of climate change and smog.“ Any private company marketing such demonstrably false claims would be subject to ruinous civil and criminal liability.

If going electric yields virtually no climate benefit, why bother buying a battery-powered car, with limited range, high purchase cost, and low resale value, the death knell to affordable leasing costs?

Consumers are smarter than the government in figuring out that battery-powered cars are a raw deal, resulting in widespread reports of missed sales forecasts, high unsold inventories, and cancellation of future projections by the major auto companies.

Here again the new car sticker hides economic reality by featuring in bold type a hypothetical five-year operating saving versus an average conventional car, based on the cost of gas and electricity.

By sticker math, savings rise as gasoline prices increase, hence the perverse and persistent administration incentive to force high gas costs on Americans, except in an election year. And the savings disappear as electric costs increase.

Already there is no operating benefit when charging stations routinely cost $.40/kwh-$.50/kwh, a fact conveniently not mentioned in the sticker calculation. Nor are consumers warned of the inevitable sharp increase in electric rates if the grid must absorb high-cost solar and wind, as in Germany where electric rates already are $.45/kwh, removing any incentive for electric cars. At current gas prices, a typical hybrid costs less to run on gas once electric prices exceed $.24/kwh.

Taking the broader view, fossils fuels currently account for 80% of global energy supply. Even if the world aggressively grows solar and wind, fossil fuels in 2050 continue to supply 68% of all energy.

The reason is quite straightforward. The major sources of energy, and hence global energy emissions, come from non-car sources that are extremely difficult or technologically infeasible to convert to renewables, namely industrial, commercial transportation (heavy-duty trucking, aviation, marine, and rail), and residential/commercial. The government focus on cars is political theater.

Nuclear energy can uniquely reduce emissions to zero in these sectors, but for reasons well-known, war has been successfully declared on nuclear energy in the U.S. and it is not growing globally at the exponential rates needed to solve global Co2 emissions permanently.

The continued dominance of fossil fuels explains what is otherwise inexplicable: Warren Buffet’s multi-billion-dollar investment in oil companies, especially Occidental Petroleum, and the recent surge in oil acquisitions, notably ExxonMobil paying $58 billion for Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron’s purchase of Hess Corp. for $60 billion.

Those with the greatest knowledge, betting real money, know oil and gas are here to stay. Without skillful, continuous oil and gas investment in the billions and trillions in the U.S. and the world, global oil and gas production by 2050 would drop more than 70% from current levels, yielding economic Armageddon.

The Biden Administration response is astonishing. As reported by the Department of Energy in September 2023, the National Security Council has issued an edict banning government employees from attending any international conference that promotes fossil fuel production, with limited exceptions.

Yet even at 68% market share for fossil fuels, global emissions will be cut significantly. By a factor of three, the most important lever of global greenhouse gas reduction is not growth in solar and renewables, but continuous private sector innovation in energy efficiency, reducing energy content per unit of output.

Missing in climate change discussions is its inhumane logic. Global emission increases through 2050 are due to population growth and rising economic activity in China, India, and the rest of the developing world (i.e., non-U.S. and Europe). GDP growth raises living standards. Falling GDP and population reduction outside the developed nations are the true, but strategically hidden, moral epicenter of the climate change agenda.

China, India, Asia, and Africa are not buying what world elites are selling as they self-righteously jet to exhilarating climate confabs. No one should. Demanding that 80% of the world, or some six billion humans, sacrifice their well-being, and their children, is an immorality never before articulated and rationalized.

The hard truth is that no set of actions can remotely meet the arbitrary IPCC requirement for a 70% reduction in global CO2 by 2050, certainly not the puny contribution from electrified cars and indeed nothing short of a horrific determination to strangle the world whole.

By all means purchase a battery-powered vehicle if it pleases you. But do not imagine for a moment that it saves money or is doing anything that matters for climate change.

We are ruled by liars, fools and demons, too often all three in one.