Monday, February 26
Sunday, February 25
In The News
> AT&T network experiences hours long outage across the US, cause remains unclear as of this writing; an estimated 70,000 people affected, less than 1% of the network's estimated 100 million people serviced (More)
> Researchers discover antibody capable of neutralizing venom from a wide variety of snake species across the globe; discovery may lead to universal antidote for snakebites (More)
> New advanced CRISPR tool edits strands of short-lived RNA instead of DNA, allowing gene editing without the risk of causing permanent errors in a cell's genetic code (More) | CRISPR 101 (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +2.1%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +3.0%), S&P 500 hits another high after Nvidia's blockbuster earnings report Wednesday; Nvidia rises 16% (More) | Japan's Nikkei stock index breaks 1989 record, closing at all-time high of over 39,000 (More) | Europe's benchmark Stoxx 600 index closes at all-time high (More)
> Reddit files to list initial public offering on New York Stock Exchange, invites power users to invest; company's market debut is expected in March and will mark the first major tech IPO of the year (More) | Reddit strikes $60M deal allowing Google to train AI models on the online discussion site (More)
> Vaccine-maker Moderna shares rise 15% after company reports better-than-expected quarterly profit despite decline in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Israel agrees to resend negotiators to participate in Qatar-mediated cease-fire talks to pause fighting in the Gaza Strip; meeting comes ahead of a multilateral weekend summit in Paris (More) | Gaza death toll nears 30,000 according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry; see updates on the war here (More)
> State appeals court rules New York law allowing green card-holding noncitizens to vote in local elections unconstitutional (More) | Texas judge finds Houston-area high school dress code, which resulted in a student's suspension over the length of his dreadlocks, did not violate state law; case gained national attention beginning in August (More)
> Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly releases address of local New York Times bureau, following report by the paper US officials had investigated his potential ties with drug cartels (More) | Read report (More)
SOURCE: 1440 News
Quest for Youth and Beauty
Advertisers take advantage, mainly of females but also males, convincing them both that they need to lose weight, whiten their teeth, dye their hair, eliminate wrinkles, and dress like they are YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL rather than admitting that age has gotten the best of them.
These males and females may have an outward appearance of being youthful and beautiful but inside their bodies are old, aging, and having problems.
Millions of dollars, perhaps billions of dollars are spent each year on these items to look young and beautiful when that money could be used for something more constructive and beneficial.
If you drink coffee all your life, your teeth are going to be stained and the images of white teeth these advertisers are using of young people and there are no guarantees that they ever drank coffee in the first place.
- Americans are being deceived because they want to be deceived.
- Americans drink alcohol because they want to drink alcohol.
- Americans use illegal drugs because they want to use illegal drugs.
- Americans are obese because they want to be obese...
What is the point of a white-haired female dying her hair so that she will look younger?
Is she that vain that she needs that kind of attention from other females and males?
Does she have a self-esteem problem?
- I will never dye my hair.
- I will never whiten my teeth.
- I will never pay for a diet to lose weight.
- I will never wear young looking clothes.
- I will never get a hair transplant.
- I will never try to eliminate my wrinkles.
My money will be spent on things I enjoy and want to do and if people think I look old and old fashioned... well, that is exactly who I am.
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...
Saturday, February 24
In The NEWS
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
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?
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...
Friday, February 23
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 post. READ MORE...
Retirement Life
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.
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...
Thursday, February 22
Ethiopia First to Ban Internal Combustion Engines
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...
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