The Decline of the USA

 I was born in the United States of America in the state of North Carolina and will die with pride that I was a citizen of this once great country.

Despite many FLAWS like slavery, the USA is the greatest country in the world to live because of our US Constitution and our Bill of Rights that no other country in the world has.

In addition, the USA has the strongest economy, the strongest military, the best education, many freedoms, natural resources, and the best career opportunities than any other country in the world.

AT LEAST WE USED TO BE THAT WAY...  UNFORTUNATELY, WE ARE NO LONGER IN THAT POSITION...

Not only did COVID hurt our economy but a premature transition to green energy is causing it to grow at an unusually low rate, while other countries like China and India are rapidly growing their economies as well as their populations.

In addition to our lackluster economy, our educational system has been slowly declining over 3 decades and is no longer ranked as the number one education in the world.

Our military is in need of upgrading its airplanes, naval ships, and military weapons but the current administration has no desire to do that. Recruitment into the military has been gradually declining as well so our military is shrinking in numbers.

There is a huge wealth gap in the USA that is getting worse each year and if labor receives wage increases to try and compensate, it will only worsen inflation, forcing companies to manufacture overseas where there are lower wages.  This is the price we have to pay for having a great society.

Perhaps the greatest danger to our survival in the global marketplace is our national debt which seems to be steadily rising forcing us to pay more interest just to service the debt but not enough to reduce it.  That will one day soon bite us in the ass by kicking us off the top of the global economy.

NOW...  we have a new frontier that is about to raise it head in 2027 which is humanoid robots taking away most of our jobs.  Predictions say this will not happen until after 2035, but now they are saying it will start in 2027 or earlier.

The jobs that humanoid robots take will place a huge burden on this country to find replacement employment, especially now that 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the USA, primarily to find work that is not available in their countries.

The United States of America is like a iceberg in the global economy and when more and more people come to that iceberg to have a better life, the iceberg is not large enough to support the extra weight so it begins to sink.

OUR SUCCESS IS CAUSING OUR FAILURE AND DOWNFALL...  JUST LIKE ALL OTHER GREAT EMPIRES HAVE EVENTUALLY FALLEN OR COLLAPSED...

WILL THE REST OF THE WORLD COME TO OUR RESCUE JUST LIKE WE CAME TO THEIR RESCUE WHEN THEY ASKED US TO???

Snowfall

 

Bitcoin Surges to New Highs

New York CNN —Bitcoin surged to an all-time high Tuesday, shaking off a more-than-two-year rut that had put the future of the entire crypto ecosystem in question.

Bitcoin, the world’s oldest — and by far the largest — digital currency, traded above $69,000 Tuesday morning, topping the previous record of $68,789 reached on November 10, 2021, according to CoinMarketCap.

Over the past several months, bitcoin’s rally has been turbocharged by US regulators’ approval of exchange-traded funds pegged to the digital asset, which created an on-ramp for more traditional investors to incorporate bitcoin into their portfolios.

That approval took years of lobbying by crypto firms, and was granted only grudgingly by the Securities and Exchange Commission after a court ruled the regulator’s reasons for rejecting bitcoin ETF applications were “arbitrary and capricious.”  READ MORE...

Redbone

 

Waiting For a Friend

 

Earth's Largest Desert Sands

The age of one of Earth's largest and most complex types of sand dune has been calculated for the first time.

Star dunes - or pyramid dunes - are named after their distinctive shapes and reach hundreds of metres in height.

They are found in Africa, Asia and North America, as well as on Mars - but experts had never before been able to put a date on when they were formed.

Now scientists have discovered that a dune called Lala Lallia in Morocco formed 13,000 years ago.

Star dunes are created by opposing winds that change direction. Understanding their age helps scientists understand those winds and unpick the climate of that era, says Prof Geoff Duller at the University of Aberystwyth, who published the research with Prof Charles Bristow at Birkbeck University.   READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Males and Females

At 76 years of age, I am sure that many people younger than me would consider my thoughts OLD FASHIONED, even if I told you that I used to be a Hippie with hair below my shoulders and attended the music festival at Woodstock...

One of my strongest beliefs is that our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should not tell us what to do with our bodies, how we should think, or when we should act based upon our beliefs.  An example of this is that I believe a female has the right to have an abortion and if she does it is the business of no one else.

Consequently, I am not opposed to males wanting to be females nor am I opposed to females wanting to be males.

With that said, just because you make the transition from male to female does not make you a female and just because you make the transition from female to male does not make you a male.

THEREFORE...  and obviously this is my opinion, males who have become females should not be allowed to participate in female sports because their biological body is still a male and has a stronger muscle and bone structure than REAL females have.

A solution would be to a third category of competition in sports perhaps called TRANSGENDERED where those who have made the transformation would compete against only those who also had made the transformation.

Is this fair or equitable?

It seems like to me it is but I am only one person.

However, we all know that equity in athletics is damn near impossible to achieve since there will always be people like MICHAEL JORDAN who were born with special talents that very few, if any, will be able to match.

Whales

 

Rich Countries Use More Resources

The extraction of the Earth's natural resources tripled in the past five decades, related to the massive build-up of infrastructure in many parts of the world and the high levels of material consumption, especially in upper-middle and high-income countries.


Material extraction is expected to rise by 60% by 2060 and could derail efforts to achieve not only global climate, biodiversity, and pollution targets but also economic prosperity and human well-being, according to a report published today by the UN Environment Program (UNEP)-hosted International Resource Panel.

The 2024 Global Resource Outlook, developed by the International Resource Panel with authors from around the globe and launched during the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly, calls for sweeping policy changes to bring humanity to live within its means and reduce this projected growth in resource use by one third while growing the economy, improving well-being, and minimizing environmental impacts.     READ MORE...

Hotel California

 

Nowhere Man

 

Russia & China to put Nuclear Plant on Moon

MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - Russia and China are considering putting a nuclear power plant on the moon from 2033-35, Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday, something he said could one day allow lunar settlements to be built.

Borisov, a former deputy defence minister, said that Russia and China had been jointly working on a lunar programme and that Moscow was able to contribute with its expertise on "nuclear space energy".

"Today we are seriously considering a project - somewhere at the turn of 2033-2035 - to deliver and install a power unit on the lunar surface together with our Chinese colleagues," Borisov said.

Solar panels would not be able to provide enough electricity to power future lunar settlements, he said, while nuclear power could.

"This is a very serious challenge...it should be done in automatic mode, without the presence of humans," he said of the possible plan.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> The 96th Academy Awards pull in 19.5 million TV viewers, the most since 2020 and a 4% increase over last year (More)

> Sports blog Deadspin's entire editorial staff laid off after sale to European startup Lineup Publishing (More)

> QB Kirk Cousins signs four-year, $180M deal with the Atlanta Falcons after six years with the Minnesota Vikings (More) | Nine-time Pro Bowl QB Russell Wilson to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers (More)



Science & Technology
In partnership with Knightscope

> Elon Musk says his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, will make its chatbot Grok open-source beginning this week; move would make all or part of the source code available to the public (More)

> New drugs used for weight loss, including Ozempic and Wegovy, show success in treating side-effects of HIV drugs, including fatty liver buildup (More) | How semaglutides work (More, w/video)

> Unusual study reveals cicadas urinate in streams similar to; findings disprove prevailing theory on how sap-eating insects excrete, may inform design of fluid channels in robotics applications (More, w/video)



Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq -0.4%) ahead of today's inflation data (More) | Consumer price index report expected to show monthly gains of 0.4% in February and up 3.1% year-over-year (More)

> Bitcoin price passes $72K, breaking record (More) | UK regulators accept applications for crypto-backed exchange-traded notes for Q2 of 2024, following US launch in January of crypto-backed exchange-traded funds (More)

> Japan avoids technical recession as adjusted Q4 GDP data indicate 0.4% annualized growth (revised from -0.4%); announcement raises expectations Bank of Japan could normalize interest rates in next week's meeting (More)



Politics & World Affairs
> Special Counsel Robert Hur to testify before Congress today on investigation of President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents; comes after Hur declined to press charges last month, in part citing memory lapses by Biden during interviews (More) | Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge to resign (More)

> Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) pleads not guilty to new obstruction, bribery charges in superseding indictment (More) | Former President Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro ordered to report to Miami prison March 19 to serve four-month sentence on contempt charges (More)

> Settlement between state of Florida, plaintiffs clarifies students and teachers allowed to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, provided it is not part of formal instruction; 2022 state law limited such discussions in elementary schools (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Staying Healthy

 Aside from having any predispositions or poor health due to heredity, there are a few things one can do to stay healthy and still enjoy life...

Sounds like an oxymoron but it is not, I assure you.  However, staying healthy does involve a lifestyle change...

One of the first things that I would suggest that you do is QUIT SMOKING.  Most diseases later in life can be traced back to the damage done to our bodies by smoking.  Quitting this habit is not easy but is necessary to begin one's lifestyle change.

The next step that I would suggest is to minimize your consumption of alcohol.  There is nothing wrong with having 1-2 drinks after work, one is preferrable but consuming lots of alcohol on the weekends is not the best way to spend your time.  If you must drink alcohol to be sociable then nurse your drink and spend time listening to the conversation or contributing to it.

The next step is not easy for most of us and that is daily exercise...  The exercise does not have to be vigorous or robust but it does have to be consistent and last for 20 minutes.  What I like to do is walk around the block once a day, listening to iheart radio ear buds connected to my phone.  Once around the block for me in 9/10ths of a mile and takes me about 20 minutes of normal walking up and down the roads.

The other hurdle that you must overcome is twofold with the first part limiting the amount of what you eat at each meal and the second part being making sure that meal is healthy.

When I turned 40 years of age, I gave up eating red meat, fried foods, and sugars, concentrating instead of chicken, turkey, fish, vegetables, fruit, and beans.  I also eat rice and pasta but in reduced amounts.  I avoid bread, especially white bread, but allow myself to eat low fat pita bread,  I also include cheese and yogurt into my healthy eating.

However, in order to maintain the healthy diet, I allow myself to each a cheeseburger 3-4 times a year as well as a pizza.  I might eat a steak once a year but after eating vege burgers and vege hotdogs, eating the real thing does not always taste as good.

What I have found that works best for me is to eat 5 relatively small meals each day that collectively are less than 2,000 calories, trying to stay in the range of 1,600 to 1.800.

The final piece of healthy living is once again twofold with the first part being getting 8 hours of sleep each night and the second part being finding a way to reduce or manage my stress.  One of the ways that I manage my stress is when I have to be somewhere at a specific time and I know that it will take me 30 minutes to drive there, I leave the house 45 minutes before so I don't have to worry about driving fast.

Yoga and meditation are good ways to manage stress and can easily be done at work, if you are clever, and want to avoid peer ridicule. 

REMEMBER:  don't base your self-confidence on what other people think of you.

Waves Against Rocks

 

Alone in the Universe

Are we alone in the universe?

It's a question that's been posed again and again. Carl Sagan posed it in the 1970s as a NASA mission scientist as the agency prepared to send its twin Viking landers to Mars.

And nearly 50 years after the first of two landers touched down on Mars, we're no closer to an answer as to whether there's life — out there.

Scientists haven't stopped looking. In fact, they've expanded their gaze to places like Saturn's largest moon, Titan and Jupiter's moon Europa.

The search for life beyond planet earth continues to captivate. And NASA has upcoming missions to both moons. Could we be closer to answering that question Carl Sagan asked some 50 years ago?     READ MORE...

Centerfield

 

The SPEECH