Changes on the Production Line with Humanoid Robots

From steam engines to conveyor-belt assembly lines and robots on the factory floor, the manufacturing industry has long been a pioneer of new technologies. Artificial intelligence now looks set to become the next and, perhaps, biggest leap forward. 

But what will it mean for jobs over the next decade? Use cases: controlling plants, recommending equipment fixes, designing products, assembling parts Manufacturing is already highly automated, with sensors, software and computer networks monitoring the output, data, pressure and temperature of factory machines and industrial processes. Such connectivity has become essential on sites that are sometimes square miles wide.  READ MORE...

Female Underwear

 

Layla

 

Tesla Magnet Lowers Nuclear Fusion Costs

A new 20 Tesla Superconducting magnet reduces the cost per watt of a fusion reactor by a factor of almost 40. MIT worked with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup with over $2 billion in funding. The funders of CFS include Temasek Holdings (Singpore), the U.S. Department of Energy, Tiger Global Management, Bill Gates, Google and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Commercial nuclear fusion now has a chance of being economical.

In the last few years, a newer material nicknamed REBCO, for rare-earth barium copper oxide, was added to fusion magnets, and allows them to operate at 20 kelvins, a temperature that despite being only 16 kelvins warmer, brings significant advantages in terms of material properties and practical engineering.   READ MORE...

When We Had COMMON SENSE

. . . . . . .JUST SING IT!

In The NEWS

EPA sets new emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks, buses, and vans.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued new emissions standards that limit the amount of pollution allowed from large vehicles across a manufacturer's product line, with the limit decreasing over time. The rules apply to vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032 and are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US by 1 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.



Louis Gossett Jr., first Black man to win Oscar for best supporting actor, dies.
Gossett's cause of death was not announced; he was 87. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1983 for playing Sergeant Emil Foley in the romantic drama "An Officer and a Gentleman." He made history as the second Black actor to win an Oscar after Sidney Poitier, who won best actor in 1963. Gossett also won an Emmy in 1977 for his role in the TV miniseries "Roots." See his life in pictures here.



OpenAI unveils technology that recreates human voices.
The ChatGPT creator previewed its latest tool called Voice Engine, which can clone a person's voice in several languages based on a 15-second recording. A small group of businesses are testing the new tool while OpenAI tries to understand its potential dangers before publicly releasing it. The preview of Voice Engine comes a month after OpenAI previewed its new Sora text-to-video generator. Listen to samples here.



At least 44 people killed in airstrikes targeting Aleppo, Syria.
A human rights group said 36 Syrian troops and seven members of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group were among those killed. The Syrian army accused Israel of the attack; Israeli officials did not comment on the airstrikes.



Forty-five people killed after bus crashes in South Africa.
The bus was traveling from Botswana to an Easter weekend church gathering in South Africa when it veered off a bridge and fell about 165 feet into a ravine, bursting into flames. An 8-year-old child, who was the only survivor, sustained injuries but is now in stable condition.



Key US inflation measure rises in February in line with expectations.
The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures costs consumers pay across a wide swath of items, excluding food and energy, rose 2.8% year-over-year and 0.3% month-over-month in February, as expected. The index is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.

SOURCE: 1440 News

American Mentality

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, like to be told what to do by the Federal Government.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican DO NOT like to pay HIGH TAXES.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, will get a second opinion when diagnosed with a serious illness.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, want the best education possible for their children.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, realize that they will NEVER be wealthy.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, do not want to live in an area where there is a lot of violence.

Most Americans, whether Democratic or Republican, rely on social media to communication with family and friends and receive news.

Most Americans, whether Democratic or Republican, want to OWN a home and participate in the American Dream.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republicans, believe that the Federal Government will protect them against all enemies.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, have no idea what it is like to live in a foreign country and experience what they have to experience on a daily basis.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, DO NOT BELIEVE that politicians do what is right for the public - just what's right for re-election.

Most Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, have the slightest clue as to what is involved in pushing a BILL through Congress.

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT AMERICA IS SO DIVIDED SINCE THEY HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON...

Somewhat Political

 

Mind Bending Theories of Reality

ARE there vastly many near-duplicates of you reading vastly many near-duplicates of this article in vastly many parallel universes? Is consciousness a fundamental property of all matter? Could reality be a computer simulation? Reader, I can hear your groans from here in California.

We are inclined to reject ideas like these on the grounds that they sound preposterous. And yet some of the world’s leading scientists and philosophers advocate for them. Why? And how should you, assuming you aren’t an expert, react to these sorts of hypotheses?

When we confront fundamental questions about the nature of reality, things quickly get weird. As a philosopher specializing in metaphysics, I submit that weirdness is inevitable, and that something radically bizarre will turn out to be true.     READ MORE...

My Sweet Lord

 

In The NEWS

EPA sets new emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks, buses, and vans.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued new emissions standards that limit the amount of pollution allowed from large vehicles across a manufacturer's product line, with the limit decreasing over time. The rules apply to vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032 and are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US by 1 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.



Louis Gossett Jr., first Black man to win Oscar for best supporting actor, dies.
Gossett's cause of death was not announced; he was 87. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1983 for playing Sergeant Emil Foley in the romantic drama "An Officer and a Gentleman." He made history as the second Black actor to win an Oscar after Sidney Poitier, who won best actor in 1963. Gossett also won an Emmy in 1977 for his role in the TV miniseries "Roots." See his life in pictures here.



OpenAI unveils technology that recreates human voices.
The ChatGPT creator previewed its latest tool called Voice Engine, which can clone a person's voice in several languages based on a 15-second recording. A small group of businesses are testing the new tool while OpenAI tries to understand its potential dangers before publicly releasing it. The preview of Voice Engine comes a month after OpenAI previewed its new Sora text-to-video generator. Listen to samples here.



At least 44 people killed in airstrikes targeting Aleppo, Syria.
A human rights group said 36 Syrian troops and seven members of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group were among those killed. The Syrian army accused Israel of the attack; Israeli officials did not comment on the airstrikes.



Forty-five people killed after bus crashes in South Africa.
The bus was traveling from Botswana to an Easter weekend church gathering in South Africa when it veered off a bridge and fell about 165 feet into a ravine, bursting into flames. An 8-year-old child, who was the only survivor, sustained injuries but is now in stable condition.



Key US inflation measure rises in February in line with expectations.
The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures costs consumers pay across a wide swath of items, excluding food and energy, rose 2.8% year-over-year and 0.3% month-over-month in February, as expected. The index is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.

SOURCE:  1440 News

End of March

This is the last day of the month and for all intents and purposes, winter is over, and spring is here, even though spring actually started a few days ago.

I have already mowed the yard twice and will soon need to weed around the house. driveway, and street.

But the end of March is not just about mowing and trimming the yard but about warmer weather.  It is about not having to drive in the snow behind assholes who think they know what they are doing.  It is about spending more time outside which is heathy for one's body and it is about movement.

For many families, it is about summer vacation with the children.  Our children are grown and our vacations are scheduled before and after the summer vacation begins.

We go to Florida for a week in April/May and then to Myrtle Beach, SC in September/October.  In both situations, it is still warm and oftentimes hot during those two times and very few families.  It is also less expensive going on the off season as well.

We are too old to get into the water and that especially bothers me because I like to body surf.  Instead, we walk along the beach and sit under an umbrella.  My wife reads and I listen to a novel from audible.

While there is not as many people on the beach during the day, in the evenings there are still waiting lines at most of the good restaurants; although, with prices the way they are, we usually eat at those type of restaurants twice and eat somewhere else that is less expensive, like a Subway, Pizza, or maybe some kind of rice dish at a Shopping Mall Food Court.

Of course, as the months progress, we will soon experience high humidity days and on those days, I will pretty much stay inside.

Personally, I prefer warm over cold.

Tired Cat

 

Happiest Country in the World

For the last six years, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world. I’ve lived here most of my life, and as a psychologist and happiness researcher, I’m often asked: what exactly makes people in Finland so satisfied with their lives?


You may be surprised to learn that Finnish people are often the first to question this characterization. Our national self-image is that we’re quiet, introverted and somewhat melancholy types. This doesn’t exactly align with being the happiest people on earth.


However, research has shown that those most desperately seeking happiness tend to be less happy. So if true happiness is best achieved indirectly, without paying too much attention to it, that is something Finnish people excel at.     READ MORE...

Senator Kennedy Explodes

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Life magazine to be relaunched in print and digital by model Karlie Kloss and her husband, investor Josh Kushner; comes more than two decades after the original print edition was shuttered by Time Inc. (More)

> Dine-in movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse, with 40 national locations, explores sale to several Hollywood studios after having filed for bankruptcy in 2021 (More)

> NCAA women's basketball Sweet 16 tips off today; see schedule and predictions for every matchup (More) | ... and men's Sweet 16 continues; see latest bracket (More)



Science & Technology
In partnership with IntelGenx

> Amazon launches AI-powered app to image and store the vein structure in a user's hand, allowing signup for its palm recognition service directly from a smartphone (More)

> Final Delta IV Heavy launch scheduled for this afternoon (1:30 pm ET) from Cape Canaveral, Florida; model, debuted in 2004, is the world's largest rocket fueled entirely by liquid hydrogen (More)

> Engineers demonstrate new device to efficiently turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, the precursor for useful chemical products; material uses a catalyst attached to DNA strands like molecular tetherballs (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq -0.1%); S&P 500 up 10.2% over the first quarter of 2024, marking best first quarter since 2019 (More)

> Home Depot purchases materials provider SRS Distribution in deal valued at $18.3B, largest purchase in Home Depot's history (More)

> Wealth of top 1% in the US, defined as those owning over $11M, reaches record $44.6T; gains driven by year-end stock gains (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> South Carolina congressional map to remain as drawn for 2024 election; lower court ruled it unconstitutional due to racial gerrymandering, reversed decision after monthslong delay by Supreme Court (More) | House Oversight Committee invites President Joe Biden to testify in impeachment inquiry April 16 (More)

> International Court of Justice orders Israel to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza to address worsening famine; reiterates call for Hamas to release Israeli hostages (More) | Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announces new cabinet (More) | See updates on the war (More)

> Suspected shooter charged in the killing of New York police officer Jonathan Diller at a traffic stop (More) | Suspect charged in Illinois stabbing rampage (More) | New York City to test gun detection technology in subways (More)

SOURCE:1440 News

Watching Movies

When I watch a movie, it is not just to be entertained or to have something to do, I want the time spent watching the movie to be worth it.  I am not a critic, nor do I pretend to be a critic, but I do know that I like and want the movie watching to be satisfying and rewarding.

What I look for (not necessarily in order of priority)

• good to excellent special effects
• good to excellent use of camera, lights, shadow
• a believable plot with twists
• believable suspense and drama
• excellent dialogue with tension but not too much
• excellent acting that is believable
• authenticity

What really ruins a movie experience for me is piss poor acting or actors that think they are acting and piss poor dialogue that revolves around cliches.

Most of the FREE MOVIES on HULU, Prime, and Netflix fall into the categories of movies I would have never paid to watch.  Most of the time, but not always, these actors and actresses are unknown which explains why the movie is not enjoyable but there are some well-known actors and actresses that acted like they did not give a shit when filming.

My wife tells me to lighten up and just watch the movie as entertainment and/or as something to do...  and while there is logic to that, I cannot enjoy any movies when those items expressed above are present.

My first thought is that NO WONDER THIS MOVIE IS FREE...

Somewhat Political

 

North Korea Tests New Hypersonic Missile

North Korea successfully tested technology used in its new hypersonic missile on Tuesday, according to its government-run media.

On Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided his military on a ground jet test of the multi-stage solid-fuel engine for its new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile at the North’s rocket launch facility, the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The more powerful, agile missile is designed to strike faraway U.S. targets in the region, specifically the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, home to U.S. military bases.   READ MORE...

The Charlie Daniels Band