Looking Back Wisdom

 

I am 76 years old and had a working career that lasted 45 years.  None of the places where I worked had a retirement program.  Consequently, my retirement is based upon SOCIAL SECURITY and the amount of money that my wife and I managed to save before retiring.

My wife and I spend about $4-$5,000 each month and the money coming in each month is about the same amount of money - however, half of that money is withdrawn from our savings each month.

We are living about the same as when we were both working -  and if you would like to look at it another way, we are at about 90% of the way we used to live - maybe a little bit higher or lower.

Others that we know our age because of one thing or another (usually it is still paying off debt) is not living as well as we are <OR> they are having to still work either parttime or full time.

One of the issues that has bothered me ever since I turn 50 years of age is that nothing was taught to me while in high school or college as to how to prepare for my retirement.  Not only was nothing ever taught to me but there was no focus or emphasis on RETIREMENT PLANNING.

If I had been taught something in high school, I would have had 50 years to save for retirement.

Later in life, right around the age of 50, I discovered that if I had saved $2.50/day for 40 years and invested that money each month in a Mutual Fund, I would have $500,000.

TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS is not much money at all and could have easily been increased to FIVE DOLLARS.

I also learned about the age of fifty the importance of being DEBT FREE.  Most of what I had acquired over the years, I really did not NEED - they were items I WANTED.  Once you realize that you should buy only what you need, your expectations of life change.

Somewhat Political

 

Quantum Mechanics in Ultra Cold

There's a hot new BEC in town that has nothing to do with bacon, egg, and cheese. You won't find it at your local bodega, but in the coldest place in New York: the lab of Columbia physicist Sebastian Will, whose experimental group specializes in pushing atoms and molecules to temperatures just fractions of a degree above absolute zero.


Writing in Nature, the Will lab, supported by theoretical collaborator Tijs Karman at Radboud University in the Netherlands, has successfully created a unique quantum state of matter called a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) out of molecules.

Their BEC, cooled to just five nanoKelvin, or about -459.66°F, and stable for a strikingly long two seconds, is made from sodium-cesium molecules. Like water molecules, these molecules are polar, meaning they carry both a positive and a negative charge. 

The imbalanced distribution of electric charge facilitates the long-range interactions that make for the most interesting physics, noted Will.     READ MORE...

Morgan Freeman

 

The New America

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Florida Panthers top Edmonton Oilers 4-1 in Game Two of the NHL Stanley Cup Final to take 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series (More) | Three soccer fans sentenced to prison in Spain for hurling racial insults at Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior (More)

> Rev. James Lawson, American civil rights leader instrumental in Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, dies at 95 (More)

> UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley turns down six-year, $70M deal to coach Los Angeles Lakers (More) | NCAA men's College World Series eight-team field set; see bracket (More)


Science & Technology
In partnership with EnergyX

> Engineers develop biodegradable 3D-printer floor panels strong enough to replace steel in some construction applications; composite is made from wood flour and corn residue (More)

> Researchers detect frost on the peaks of Mars' tallest volcanoes, challenging current understanding of the planet's climate dynamics; thin layer is estimated to constitute about 150,000 tons of water (More)

> Scientists discover how zebrafish reverse scar tissue that forms on the heart muscles following heart attacks; may lead to treatments to undo permanent heart damage in humans (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.4%) with S&P 500, Nasdaq notching fresh records; investors look to this week's consumer price index report and the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting (More)

> Nvidia shares begin trading around $120 after chipmaker executes planned 10-for-1 stock split; Nvidia shares traded near $1,200 before the split (More) | What is a stock split? (More)

> OpenAI hires former Nextdoor CEO as its first chief financial officer, appoints a chief product officer (More) | Activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management amasses $1.9B stake in Southwest Airlines; firm also seeks to replace Southwest's CEO and chairman (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Delaware jury resumes deliberations today in Hunter Biden's federal trial over criminal gun violations; if found guilty, he would be the first son of a sitting president convicted in federal court (More)

> UN Security Council adopts US-led resolution calling on Hamas to accept a cease-fire and hostage-release plan offered by Israel; resolution on ending Israel-Hamas war is first to be endorsed by the Security Council (More) | See plan details (More)

> Fatal tornado outbreaks across southern and central US last month caused $4.7B in damages, federal government estimates; over 165 tornadoes were recorded from May 6-9 (More) | View chart of billion-dollar weather disasters in the US (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

AGING

 

I recall watching numerous commercials primarily designed for women on what you can do to slow down the aging process of the skin, so that you will never look your age.

I am amazed by how many women have spent money on products like that to remove wrinkles or tone up their skin...  and personally I am glad that it may have worked for them.

HOWEVER...

looking good on the outside is not going to change all the organs on the inside of your body that are aging.  While some of these organs can be replaced if they go bad, bear in mind that replacement can only take place if they go bad.

Women may have younger looking skin and thicker hair, but NOTHING can stop the body from experiencing a sensation of IMBALANCE that causes you to fall.

• NOTHING can keep your bones from breaking once you are older and have a fall.
• NOTHING can reduce the healing time once you are older.
• NOTHING can stop you from getting sick as you grow older due to a reduced immune system.

I understand the vanity of getting old because males change as well.  Many males lose their hair as they grow older, lose their 20/20 vision, and lose their perfect hearing.  Cosmetics will not stop that and having a full head of transplanted hair is not going to stop males from contracting cancer for instance.

Marrying younger people is not going to help either, depending upon the difference in age.  Five years difference is not too noticeable but TWENTY years is...  

When your partner is 70, you will be 50, and 60 when they are 80.  

What do you think an 80-year-old and 60-year-old can do together that is going to make the 80-year-old feel younger? 

I suppose they can:

• go out to dinner
• watch a movie
• go shopping
• sit together in an airplane
• go out drinking/dancing
• be seen together
• gamble together in Vegas

Aging, perhaps contracting a serious illness, experiencing limited mobility, experiencing failing body parts, and eventual death is something we all have to go through.  Some of us will experience more than others.

Here is another example.  I am currently 76.

When I was younger, I:

• lifted weights
• spent hours body surfing
• ran 5 miles a day
• played football, baseball, basketball, track
• could drive all night to a destination
• move the contents of a house
• had no arthritis
• could lift more than my weight
• did not have lower back problems
• was never considered obese

These are just some of the things that I can no longer do.

In the next couple of years, I will be told not to drive a car...

I know that will happen and I am not sure how I will feel...

Those of us who are old were once young and could do all the things that you do and more.  The next time you look at an older person with contempt or disdain because they are not moving fast enough...

REMEMBER,

that is going to be you one day, and some young punk will be making comments about you.

Somewhat Political

 

1300-Year-Old Viking Boat

In Norse tradition, ship burials were used to honor the dead and give them a permanent resting place underwater. A discovery on the Norwegian island of Leka suggests that these rituals date back farther than previously thought.

Archaeologists working for the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage found possible ship fragments while investigating the area around the Herlaugshaugen burial mound, named for the ninth-century Viking king Herlaug who, according to legend, had himself and 11 of his companions buried alive rather than be killed by an opposing leader. 

They dug trenches at the site and dug up wood fragments and iron planking rivets that were believed to once have been part of a ship and eventually part of a ship burial. 

Using radiocarbon dating of the wood, they determined that the burial took place around 700 C.E., making it the earliest known example of a ship burial in Scandinavia.       READ MORE...

Nuclear War

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Dick Van Dyke becomes oldest Daytime Emmy Award winner ever at 98 for role in "Days of Our Lives" (More) | See complete list of 51st Daytime Emmy winners (More)

> Chet Walker, Basketball Hall of Famer and seven-time NBA All-Star, dies at 84 (More) | Team USA women's basketball roster for 2024 Olympics announced; Caitlin Clark among notable players left off 12-player team (More)

> Poland's Iga Świątek wins third women's French Open title in a row (More) | Spain's Carlos Alcaraz wins men's French Open title, his third Grand Slam victory (More) | Dornoch wins 156th Belmont Stakes, the final leg of horse racing's Triple Crown (More)

Science & Technology
> Geologists map complex structures making up the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a megathrust fault off the Pacific Northwest coast (More) | Region believed to generate large-scale earthquakes every 500 years on average, with last being in 1700 (More, w/video)

> The New York Times confirms internal data breach; more than 270GB of source code, an estimated 3.6 million documents, posted to internet message board (More)

> Brain anatomy in baby baboons predicts which hand the animals will use to communicate when grown; brain region associated with language is larger in the left hemisphere for 70% of newborns (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower Friday (S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.2%) on reduced expectations for lower interest rates following Friday jobs report (More) | See previous write-up (More)

> Norwegian wealth fund Government Pension Fund Global—owning a 0.98% stake in Tesla—says it will vote against a $56B pay package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk this week (More)

> Berkshire Hathaway purchases over 2.5 million shares of Occidental Petroleum, adding to its existing 28% stake in the company (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> India swears in Prime Minister Narendra Modi for historic third term, the country's second leader to reach the milestone following India's founding Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (More)

> Iran's Guardian Council approves six candidates to run in June 28 presidential elections, including hardliner parliamentary speaker; most prominent candidate is former Tehran mayor known for crackdowns on university students (More)

> South Korea announces it will restart loudspeaker broadcasts of anti-North Korea messages over the border following North Korea's delivery of an additional 330 trash- and sewage-filled balloons into South Korea (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Higher Power

 

We have spent most of our lives believing in GOD...  and that it was GOD that created the universe...  and that it was GOD who created earth, mankind, all the animals and put them together to procreate and build a civilization...  and that it was GOD that inspired mankind to write the Bible to record what HE had done in the hopes that a religion would be started in HIS NAME.

However, we also learned that there were ELEVEN other religions all of which also believed in a creation story from which mankind originated.  Each of these religions basically started in different parts of the world except for Christianity, Jewish, and Islamic beliefs - they were all in and about the same location geographically.

Those of us who are somewhat education and there are some that are not educated at all, believe that GOD does not exist, nor does anyone believe that multiple gods exist as was the case thousands of years ago.

We also know that the Bible is flawed in many ways because it does not take into consideration time dilation nor that the universe is still expanding.  Some of us find it odd that after our so-called BIG BANG took place millions of years ago that our universe could still possibly be expanding.

As strange as it sounds, it is true.

But one thing is certain and based upon what we currently know, it seems relatively IMPOSSIBLE for our universe to have been created out of NOTHING.  It takes something to make something.  You cannot take nothing and make something.

SO...

where does that leave us?

It leaves us with the notion that our universe had to have come from somewhere or something.

Some scientists believe in spontaneous creation but that does not make sense either, because you have to have something in order for the spontaneous to happen... like spontaneous combustion.

You can believe in a GOD if you want.

You can believe in a CREATOR if you want.

Neither of those beliefs can be proven or disproven.

However, we do have a universe...  that is factual.

Our universe is expanding...  that is factual.

Our universe is curved - proven by gravity.

So, could the end of time curve back into the beginning of time?

And, at that point of connection, could there have been an advanced human who was responsible for connecting it all?

Somewhat Pooitical

 

Railguns

Despite efforts from countries like China, Japan, and the U.S., challenges like the immense energy required and the wear on conductive rails have hindered progress.  The U.S. Navy invested heavily in electromagnetic railguns, but the technology remains mostly in the research stage.  Future success hinges on overcoming power and durability issues, making practical deployment still a distant goal.

Why Railgun Development Faces Immense Hurdles
Among the earliest efforts occurred during the First World War, when French designer Andre Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee proposed an electric cannon could fire a projectile further than the explosive ordnance of the era. 

His concept caught the attention of the French military, which was seeking a weapon that could rival such long-range cannons as Germany's so-called "Paris Gun." Under the direction of the Director of Inventions at the French Ministry of Armaments in 1918, Fauchon-Villeplee was charged with developing a thirty to fifty millimeter electricannon based on his simple design.

The First World War ended before Fauchon-Villeplee's design could be perfected – and more than a century later, the development of the weapons has continued with only limited success.     READ MORE...

Life Inside Cruise Ship

 

LOLA

 

Tomb of China's First Emperor

Archaeologists have raised a royal tomb at the Terracotta Warrior mausoleum complex of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Qin Shi Huang’s reign brought about the unification of China and an end to the Warring States period in 221 BC.

He constructed a series of walls to connect fortifications along the empire’s northern frontier (the precursor to the Great Wall of China) and abolished the feudal system of loose alliances and federations.


Qin Shi Huang was buried in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, a large complex located in present-day Lintong District in the city of Xi’an.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

American Values

 
AMERICA'S CORE VALUES

1. personal achievement
2. individualism
3. work
4. morality
5. humanitarianism 
6. efficiency
7. practicality 
8. progress 
9. material comfort
10. equality
11. democracy 
12. freedom

Personally, I would say that the bottom four are actually the top four and should be in this order:

• democracy
• freedom
• equality
• material comfort

Our constitution says that our basic rights are:

• life
• liberty
• pursuit of happiness

Everybody throughout the world, when they are born are given life.  But is everyone in the world entitled the liberty (freedom) and the pursuit of happiness?

Freedom and the pursuit of happiness is a byproduct of the type of government under which you live.

The USA is not just unique because of our government, constitution, and bill of rights, it is unique because of the values that made this country strong and united.

The USA may still be strong, but it is not UNITED.

For example,

it is misleading to say everyone is created equal because that is simply not true.

It is nice to think that we are all equal, but that sentiment is laced with faulty logic.

Human beings are different in so many ways even though the basic concept of male and female remains the same.

• Our intelligence
• Our beauty
• Our physical abilities
• Our height and weight
• Our personalities

And the list goes on and on as you well know.  To try and make us equal is a fool's errand.

However, freedom is a concept that is equally distributed, yet our freedom is not the same under the law or under our legal system.  There are slightly different laws for the wealthy and for the poor.  There are slightly different laws for the liberals and the conservatives.  There are slightly different laws for the blacks and the whites.

If we have these differences, then we do not all enjoy this concept of freedom.

When one thinks about it from this standpoint, American Values are not as important as we thought they were, because of our application of freedom in this country.

It would be nice to think that all AMERICANS share the same basic values...  that is no longer true and has not been true for a long time...

I would suspect this change began to take place about 40 years ago, although no one seemed to have noticed.

TIPS for Staying HEALTHY

A healthy lifestyle can help you thrive throughout your life. Making healthy choices isn't always easy, however. It can be hard to find the time and energy to exercise regularly or prepare healthy meals. However, your efforts will pay off in many ways, and for the rest of your life.

Steps you can take:

1. Be physically active for 30 minutes most days of the week. Break this up into three 10-minute sessions when pressed for time. Healthy movement may include walking, sports, dancing, yoga, running or other activities you enjoy.
2. Eat a well-balanced, low-fat diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Choose a diet that's low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and moderate in sugar, salt and total fat.
3. Avoid injury by wearing seatbelts and bike helmets, using smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the home, and using street smarts when walking alone. If you own a gun, recognize the dangers of having a gun in your home. Use safety precautions at all times.
4. Don't smoke, or quit if you do. Ask your health care provider for help. UCSF's Tobacco Education Center offers smoking cessation and relapse prevention classes as well as doctor consultations for smokers trying to quit.
5. Drink in moderation if you drink alcohol. Never drink before or while driving, or when pregnant.
6. Ask someone you trust for help if you think you might be addicted to drugs or alcohol.
7. Help prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS by using condoms every time you have sexual contact. Condoms aren't 100 percent foolproof, so discuss STI screening with your provider. Birth control methods other than condoms, such as pills and implants, won't protect you from STIs or HIV.
8. Brush your teeth after meals with a soft or medium bristled toothbrush. Also brush after drinking and before going to bed. Use dental floss daily.
9. Stay out of the sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun's harmful rays are strongest. You are not protected if it is cloudy or if you are in the water — harmful rays pass through both. Use a broad spectrum sunscreen that guards against both UVA and UVB rays, with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher. Select sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of the sun's rays.

Maintaining a Healthy Outlook
Women today have busy, demanding lives. You may feel pulled in different directions and experience stress from dealing with work, family and other matters, leaving little time for yourself. Learning to balance your life with some time for yourself will pay off with big benefits — a healthy outlook and better health.

Steps you can take:

1. Stay in touch with family and friends.
2. Be involved in your community.
3. Maintain a positive attitude and do things that make you happy.
4. Keep your curiosity alive. Lifelong learning is beneficial to your health.
5. Healthy intimacy takes all forms but is always free of coercion.
6. Learn to recognize and manage stress in your life. Signs of stress include trouble sleeping, frequent headaches and stomach problems; being angry a lot; and turning to food, drugs and alcohol to relieve stress.
7. Good ways to deal with stress include regular exercise, healthy eating habits and relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing or meditation. Talking to trusted family members and friends can help a lot. Some women find that interacting with their faith community is helpful in times of stress.
8. Get enough sleep and rest. Adults need around eight hours of sleep a night.
9. Talk to your health care provider if you feel depressed for more than a few days; depression is a treatable illness. Signs of depression include feeling empty and sad, crying a lot, loss of interest in life, and thoughts of death or suicide. If you or someone you know has thoughts of suicide, get help right away. Call 911, a local crisis center or (800) SUICIDE.

SOURCE:

UCSF Health medical specialists have reviewed this information. It is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or other health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any questions or concerns you may have with your provider.