Sunday, February 25

The Path

Staying Happy as You Age


Growing older… it’s something we all do. But who says it has to be full of frowns and worry?

Believe it or not, waving goodbye to certain habits can make our later years a whole lot happier.

So, settle into your favorite chair and let’s chat about 12 behaviors to ditch if you want to smile more as you age.

You may just find a new lease on life!

1) Hanging onto grudges
We’ve all been hurt or wronged at some point in our lives. But clinging to these past hurts? That’s a one-way ticket to Unhappyville.

Holding a grudge is like carrying around a backpack full of rocks – it’s heavy, it’s uncomfortable, and it makes the journey so much harder than it needs to be.

As we get older, it’s time to put that backpack down. Forgive those who’ve hurt us. Not for them, but for us. For our peace of mind and for our happiness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or saying what happened was okay. It simply means we’re choosing our happiness over our hurt.     READ MORE...

Paperback Writer

 

Saturday, February 24

In The NEWS

Nuclear Space Warning
The US has warned Russia not to deploy nuclear weapons in space, noting it would violate a 1967 treaty that bars weapons of mass destruction in space. It marks the first indication of the Biden administration’s approach to Rep. Mike Turner’s (R, OH-10) warning last week alluding to a “serious national security threat.”


Lunar Lander Success
The Odysseus spacecraft successfully reached the lunar surface yesterday, becoming the first-ever private-sector mission to land on the moon while remaining operational. Its arrival also represents the first US-built spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years, following the final Apollo mission in 1972.


Wendy Williams Diagnosis

Daytime talk show host Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, according to her representatives. Williams, 59, was diagnosed last year and currently resides in an undisclosed care facility.


Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
In partnership with NativePath
> Vice Media, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2023, announces it will stop publishing content on its news site Vice.com and plans to cut hundreds of jobs (More) | See our previous write-up (More)

> Yale becomes second Ivy League university to reverse pandemic-era test-optional policy, will require submission of standardized test scores for admission (More) | See our previous write-up (More)

> Tiger Woods' son Charlie, 15, falls short in pre-qualifying event for next week's Cognizant Classic, failing in bid to qualify for his first PGA Tour event (More)


SOURCE:  1440 News

TRUST

Truth is defined as firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.


It is not a good idea to use the word you are trying to define as part of the definition but that is what I found online.


So, what we have is a belief in the reliability, the ability, and the strength of someone or something.  What is interesting to me is that HONESTY is not mentioned in the definition.


Therefore, TRUTH is not based upon being honest but in one's belief of that which is being presented.  That is why, our history books are written by those who won the wars not the ones who lost.


Truth is WINNER's TRUTH.

Truth is only that which can be proven in a court of law and has nothing to do with right/wrong or good/bad or the reality of events.


It is for this reason, that I have NO TRUST IN TRUTH...


Right now, truth is based upon what the Democrats believe or do not believe.

A few months ago, they were not acknowledging a crisis with illegal immigration, now they are saying there is a problem, but it is because of the former President Trump.

SO, WHAT IS THE TRUTH HERE?


A few months ago, the Democrats said the economy was healthy and growing faster than the economy under the former President Trump.  Now, they are saying there may be a problem with inflation.

SO, WHAT IS THE TRUTH HERE?


Mainstream Media:  CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and PBR all support the Democrats and are broadcasting most of what the White House tells them to broadcast.

SO, WHAT'S THE TRUTH HERE?

DO YOU HAVE TRUST IN THE TRUTH?

Somewhat Political

 







A Preordained Universe Implied by Quantum Theory


Was there ever any choice in the Universe being as it is? Albert Einstein could have been wondering about this when he remarked to mathematician Ernst Strauss: “What I’m really interested in is whether God could have made the world in a different way; that is, whether the necessity of logical simplicity leaves any freedom at all.”

US physicist James Hartle, who died earlier this year aged 83, made seminal contributions to this continuing debate. Early in the twentieth century, the advent of quantum theory seemed to have blown out of the water ideas from classical physics that the evolution of the Universe is ‘deterministic’.

Hartle contributed to a remarkable proposal that, if correct, completely reverses a conventional story about determinism’s rise with classical physics, and its subsequent fall with quantum theory. A quantum Universe might, in fact, be more deterministic than a classical one — and for all its apparent uncertainties, quantum theory might better explain why the Universe is the one it is, and not some other version.     READ MORE...

Mainstream Media

 

Friday, February 23

Trucker Boycott

 

Offensive Cyber Attacks Via Generative AI


Microsoft said Wednesday it had detected and disrupted instances of U.S. adversaries — chiefly Iran and North Korea and to a lesser extent Russia and China — using or attempting to exploit generative artificial intelligence developed by the company and its business partner to mount or research offensive cyber operations.


The techniques Microsoft observed, in collaboration with its partner OpenAI, represent an emerging threat and were neither “particularly novel or unique,” the Redmond, Washington, company said in a blog postREAD MORE...

Somewhat Political

 



Retirement Life

The retirement age to draw Social Security is 67 years old right now and there are indications that the age will increase, and the amount paid out will decrease to about 75/80% of what it is presently.  That means is someone gets $2,000 each month, that will be reduced to $1,600 each month.


In some cases, a person can also retire (but not draw SS) at 55 years of age if they have worked a one company for 20-25 years.


So, what is retirement life like, when one retires at 67 like I did?

Retirement varies upon these factors:

  • geographical location
  • physical health
  • amount of savings
  • current amount of debt
There are other factors but those are the main ones.

East TN is one of the cheapest places in the US to live but, if you are in poor health, have minimal savings, and still have debt to pay off, your retirement is not going to be very enjoyable.

The best I can offer is my own situation.
  • My wife and I are debt free
  • My wife and I have minor to serious health issues
  • My wife and I live in East TN
  • My wife and I have savings to last for twenty-five years (when we both will be 95 years old)

With this said, we go out to eat once a week, have two - seven day vacations (April/Sept), have two reliable vehicles, own our own home, and have absolutely not debt that we don't pay off at the end of the month.

I am 76 and she is 71 and we have been retired since 2015.

We both have hobbies that keep us busy all day long so that we are never bored.  We both sleep until 8/9:00am each day unless our cats decide to wake us earlier.  We each have several doctor appointments each month and neither of us have any need to spend money on any additional clothes.

Our neighbors are all very friendly and supportive and have offered to help out anytime we are in need of anything.  Right now, one of our neighbors is in Florida for the winter and we are taking care of their Koi pond.

As far as our retirement goes, we have everything we need and lack for nothing.  However, we do not have a grand lifestyle but a simple one.  The past 8 years have been very relaxing and enjoyable with absolutely no stress at all in our lives.  We are not in the best of health, but our health is better than most people our age.

In 5 years, when I turn 80 years of age, I doubt that we will be taking any vacations unless we fly somewhere and use taxis for transportation.

Road Crossing


 

Minds Blown by Quantum Physics


The quantum world defies common sense at every turn. Shaped across hundreds of thousands of years by biological evolution, our modern human brain struggles to comprehend things outside our familiar naturalistic context.

Understanding a predator chasing prey across a grassy plain is easy; understanding most anything occurring at subatomic scales may require years of intense scholarship and oodles of gnarly math.

It’s no surprise, then, that every year physicists deliver mind-boggling new ideas and discoveries harvested from reality’s deep underpinnings, well beyond the frontiers of our perception. Here, Scientific American highlights some of our favorites from 2022.  READ MORE...

Gender Ideology

 

Thursday, February 22

Donald Trump

 

Ethiopia First to Ban Internal Combustion Engines

Ethiopia has decided that only electric cars may be imported into the country. The move is a major step towards sustainable mobility and is ahead of the European Union's plans to ban internal combustion engines from 2035.  
Nicole Dominikowski (translated by Nicole Dominikowski), Published 02/11/2024 Business E-Mobility


While in the past less affluent countries have been the dumping ground for second-hand cars from other nations, Ethiopia is now the first country in the world to ban the import of all cars that are not electrically powered. In contrast to the European Union, which has a ban on the sale of cars with internal combustion engines from 2035, Ethiopia is about ten years ahead of schedule:


A decision has been made that automobiles cannot enter Ethiopia unless they are electric ones.    - Minister Alemu Sime        READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 





Family Controversy

There has always been the feeling that family was the most important unit around and that it should be preserved at all costs.

While that might have been the case in the 1800s and 1900s, I is clearly not the case today.

In fact, family is not even close to being the strong unit that it once was, especially since there are so many single parent households out there.

Those family units that have managed to stay together, that is to say, not get divorced, no longer have the closeness they once had due to people's ability to move around so freely.

My family for instance, started in North Carolina and has ended up in New York, Tennessee, Michigan, South Carolina, Kentucky, as well as North Carolina.

Birthdays are not the same, Thanksgivings are not the same, and Christmas is not the same as not everyone can get together each year.

While the divorce rate has maintained a 50% level for over 10 years, those families that do not get divorced, fall apart once the parents die.  It was the parents that kept the family together and the children have no desire to maintain a strong family unit.

Wealth is another issue that separates the children of these families because if one sibling becomes wealthy, there is a good possibility that his or her wealth will not be shared with the other siblings, increasing the animosity.

However, in those families where the parents did a better job of bringing the siblings together, there is no problems with sharing the money.

WE ARE EXPERIENCING THE DEATH OF THE FAMILY UNIT 
 

Those Wonderful Church Bulletins


The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water. ' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'

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Ladies don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

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Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

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Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

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For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

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Next Thursday there will be try-outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.

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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

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Pot-luck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

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The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

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The Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

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The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.