The Wealth of the ONE PERCENT (1%)

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. 


The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, as an end-of-year stock rally lifted their portfolios, according to new data from the Federal Reserve.


The total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion in the fourth quarter. All of the gains came from their stock holdings. The value of corporate equities and mutual fund shares held by the top 1% surged to $19.7 trillion from $17.65 trillion the previous quarter.

While their real estate values went up slightly, the value of their privately held businesses declined, essentially canceling out all other gains outside of stocks.

The quarterly gain marked the latest addition to an unprecedented wealth boom that began in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic market surge. Since 2020, the wealth of the top 1% has increased by nearly $15 trillion, or 49%. Middle-class Americans have also seen a rising wealth tide, with the middle 50% to 90% of Americans seeing their wealth increase 50%.  READ MORE...

A-10 Warthog

 

Free

 

Russia's Nuclear Influence Expands

Russia is continuing to build its nuclear arsenal as a deterrence method against potential adversaries, according to U.S. intelligence.

In its annual threat assessment released to the public on Monday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) stated that Moscow still holds "the largest and most diverse nuclear weapons stockpile" and that Russia views its atomic weapons as "necessary for maintaining deterrence and achieving its goals in a potential conflict against the United States and NATO."


The report comes as tensions between the West and Russia continue to rise amid the war in Ukraine, and as concerns swirl over Moscow's potential to use nuclear weapons against Kyiv or its neighboring NATO member states. Russia President Vladimir Putin has warned that Ukraine's allies risk starting a nuclear conflict if they expand their involvement in the Russian-Ukraine war.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The News

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, and Nicki Minaj among group of 200 artists who penned an open letter to tech and digital music companies, expressing their concerns over the use of AI in music (More)

> Joe Flaherty, prolific actor and comedian, dies at age 82 (More) | Larry Lucchino, former president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, dies at age 78 (More)

> Chicago Symphony Orchestra taps Klaus Mäkelä, 28, as its next music director; will be youngest in the orchestra's 133-year history (More) | SiriusXM to launch Taylor Swift channel April 7 ahead of the release of her new album (More)


Science & Technology
> Amazon to phase out its "Just Walk Out" technology at Amazon Fresh stores; approach, which scanned and billed customers via cameras and sensors, to be replaced with carts that let users scan items while they shop (More)

> Left-handedness linked to specific genetic variation that controls the production of tiny structures known as microtubules; feature was found at almost three times the rate in lefties, who make up about 10% of the population (More)

> Prototype smart contacts for health monitoring and drug delivery demonstrated; devices are powered by light and electrolytes contained in tears (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.7%, Dow -1.0%, Nasdaq -1.0%) as US 10-year Treasury yield rises to highest level since November (More) | US crude oil prices surpass $85 per barrel, highest since October (More)

> Tesla shares close down 5% after Q1 electric vehicle deliveries drop 8.5% year-over-year, the first quarterly decline since 2020 (More) | General Electric completes split into three public companies as aerospace and energy businesses begin trading on New York Stock Exchange; healthcare business split off in January 2023 (More)

> Bernard Arnault and his family ($233B), Elon Musk ($195B), and Jeff Bezos ($194B) top Forbes annual list of the world's billionaires, which features 2,781 people, up from last year; Taylor Swift and Earvin “Magic” Johnson among first-timers on list (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Understanding our Universe

How large is our universe?

Earth lives in the MILKY WAY GALAXY...

The Milky Way is about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km (about 100,000 light years) across. One light year is 10064 earth years.

So, can you imagine how long it would take to cross our galaxy?  100X10,064=1,006,400 YEARS...  That's a frigging long time.

Now get this, the size of our universe is billions or billions of billions of Milky Way Galaxies across.  AND...  according to the Hubble Telescope, it is still expanding.

According to our religious friends, earth is the only planet in the Universe to having humans living on it which really speaks to the power of God....  In this vast universe of ours, God only created ONE EARTH.

In and of itself, that thinking is extremely foolish and highlights the believer of being intellectually uninformed.

Even if we had enemies on the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy, it would take them 100,000 light years to get here or 10,064 earth years.  That is over 100 centuries.

How advanced do you think we would be in 100 centuries?

For many of us, understanding the size of our universe is difficult, especially when considering that it is still expanding.  AND...  since it is expanding, it must be expanding into SOMETHING...  right?

So, what do you think it is expanding into?

 

Horses

 

Understanding Humanoid Robots

Robots made their stage debut the day after New Year’s 1921. More than half-a-century before the world caught its first glimpse of George Lucas’ droids, a small army of silvery humanoids took to the stages of the First Czechoslovak Republic. They were, for all intents and purposes, humanoids: two arms, two legs, a head — the whole shebang.

Karel Čapek’s play, R.U.R (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti), was a hit. It was translated into dozens of languages and played across Europe and North America. The work’s lasting legacy, however, was its introduction of the word “robot.” The meaning of the term has evolved a good bit in the intervening century, as Čapek’s robots were more organic than machine.

Decades of science fiction have, however, ensured that the public image of robots hasn’t strayed too far from its origins. For many, the humanoid form is still the platonic robot ideal — it’s just that the state of technology hasn’t caught up to that vision. Earlier this week, Nvidia held its own on-stage robot parade at its GTC developer conference, as CEO Jensen Huang was flanked by images of a half-dozen humanoids.  READ MORE...

Before the Big Bang

 

The Next Global Superpower

 

Humans Thrived - Neanderthals Perished

Why did humans take over the world while our closest relatives, the Neanderthals, became extinct? It's possible we were just smarter, but there's surprisingly little evidence that's true.

Neanderthals had big brains, language and sophisticated tools. They made art and jewellery. They were smart, suggesting a curious possibility. Maybe the crucial differences weren't at the individual level, but in our societies.


Two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, Europe and western Asia were Neanderthal lands. Homo sapiens inhabited southern Africa. Estimates vary but perhaps 100,000 years ago, modern humans migrated out of Africa.


Forty thousand years ago Neanderthals disappeared from Asia and Europe, replaced by humans. Their slow, inevitable replacement suggests humans had some advantage, but not what it was.     READ MORE...

Elephant

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Caitlin Clark leads No. 1 seed Iowa to Elite Eight victory over No. 3 seed LSU; No. 3 seed Connecticut tops No. 1 seed USC to join No. 3 seed NC State and No. 1 seed South Carolina in the Final Four (More) | See Final Four bracket and schedule (More)

> Formula 1 owner Liberty Media purchases MotoGP's parent company Dorna in deal valuing the motorbike series at $4.5B (More)

> Vontae Davis, two-time NFL Pro Bowl cornerback, found dead at his Florida home at age 35 (More) | Barbara Rush, Golden Globe-winning actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years, dies at age 97 (More)



Science & Technology
> Health officials confirm human case of avian influenza A—or H5N1, also known as the bird flu—after coming in contact with infected cattle; case is the second in the US, risk to public remains low (More) | More than 82 million poultry have been infected since 2022; see stats here (More)

> Archaeologists uncover what is believed to be a 130,000-year-old stingray sculpture; artifact would be the oldest known example of humans sculpting depictions of other animals (More)

> Physical activity lengthens the time of non-REM sleep phases at night, increasing the overall quality of rest; study adds quantitative support to anecdotal link between exercise and sleep (More)



Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq -0.1%) as investors consider last week's inflation data (More) | Gold prices retreat from record high (More)

> Trump Media and Technology Group shares close down 22% after the Truth Social owner reports $58M net loss and $4M revenue in 2023 (More) | Sam Altman removed from ownership structure of OpenAI Startup Fund, the ChatGPT maker's venture capital arm (More)

> Microsoft to unbundle Teams and Office worldwide following scrutiny from European regulators and rival Slack over antitrust concerns (More) | Google to destroy browsing data of 136 million users to settle class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of secretly tracking users of Chrome's private mode (More)

Politics & World Affairs
In partnership with Tangle

> Florida's Supreme Court upholds 2022 15-week abortion ban, allowing a separate 2023 six-week ban to take effect in 30 days; court also allows proposed amendment codifying the right to an abortion in the state constitution to appear on November ballot (More) | Former President Donald Trump posts $175M bond in New York civil fraud case, avoiding asset seizure during appeals process (More)

> Severe thunderstorms sweep across central and eastern US, bringing floods, hail, and tornadoes through today (More) | Section of California's Highway 1 near Big Sur remains closed after weekend storm causes part of roadway to crumble (More)

> Germany legalizes possession of small amounts of cannabis for recreational use, effective yesterday; Germany becomes third European Union member to legalize recreational use of cannabis after Malta and Luxembourg (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

The Physics Around us

Everything on earth is composed of molecules.  A molecule is composed of one or more atoms.  Atoms are composed of protons, electrons, and neutrons.  

Protons and Neutrons are composed of quarks that can be further identified as up or down.  An electron does not break down into anything and is referred to as a type of Lepton.  There are six types of quarks that vary in size and are considered the smallest unit of matter.

It is widely believed that electrons and quarks are actually vibrating filaments of energy and their movements cannot be predicted unless they are being observed, then they move along a path, but that path is also unpredictable.

Somehow, gravity holds all of this together along with the other forces of Physics.

As different atoms combine, different types of molecules are formed which gives rise to the various types of matter than we see around us., like a tree, a bird, a human, or a rock.

What is interesting about atoms is that they are always composed of a nucleus that contains protons and neutrons, with an electron flying around it as if in orbit all of its own.

We can break atoms apart or we can fuse atoms together, using what is called the weak/strong nuclear force, to create different type of matter.  But no one really knows from where all these subatomic particles originated.  Although and again, it is widely believed that the creation of the universe caused them to appear.

Now, the obvious question is, did these subatomic particles just start randomly connecting with each other?  If so, then their random combinations are rather remarkable to say the least.  The odds are against them randomly forming and yet that is exactly what they did.  

Physics is not based on the appearances of random events and random combinations of subatomic particles...  and yet, there is no other explanation, except speculation and conjecture.

Somewhat Political

 

Microplastics in Ancient Remains

Microplastics have been found in historic soil samples for the first time, according to a new study, potentially upending the way archaeological remains are preserved.

Researchers found microplastics in soil deposits more than seven meters (23 feet) underground, which were deposited in the first or second century CE and excavated in the 1980s, a team led by researchers from the University of York in the United Kingdom said in a statement published Friday.


In total, the study identified 16 different microplastic polymer types in contemporary and archived soil samples, the statement adds.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that are no larger than five millimeters (0.2 inches)—about the size of a single sesame seed—and form when larger plastics break down, either by chemically degrading or physically wearing down into smaller pieces.      READ MORE...

General Relativity

 

I'm Your Captain

 

Italian Town Cannot Find Home Buyers

A national law has created a huge hurdle for offloading some historic, and very cheap, houses.

In central Italy’s medieval town of Patrica, a strategy to breathe new life into empty properties has hit a possibly insurmountable snafu.

Patrica recently adopted a plan that has seen success in other depopulated Italian areas: Selling off its deserted abodes for a single euro each — about $1.08 in today’s American currency — to those interested for a fixer-upper opportunity.

It may seem unique and unusual, but these opportunities have popped up in other parts of Italy in the past several years, all in an effort to repopulate the regions where these residences stand.     READ MORE...