Summer of 2024

 As I have mentioned before numerous times, my wife and I live in East Tennessee and have been living here for over thirty years.  

While this area may not be like Atlanta, GA; NYC, NY; Chicago, IL, or Dallas, TX, it does provide many amenities available to most lifestyles and most financial brackets.

There are million-dollar homes and $200,000 homes, there lakes and parks, shopping areas, entertainment, gambling casinos, NASCAR, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and plenty of land for homeowners to have vegetable gardens.

My wife and I have had a vegetable garden every summer that has in the past included:  corn, potatoes, lettuce, squash, zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, melons, and several kinds of tomatoes.

You can buy fresh vegetables at a grocery store or at a farmer's market, but you still have to pay for the veges and the cost is substantially less if you grow them yourselves including their original price, insecticides, and fertilizers.  

My wife makes up her own nontoxic insecticides and we purchase a box of miracle grow which lasts us all summer.

In addition to eating our own veges, we freeze what we cannot eat for consumption in the winter months.  So far, we have frozen enough squash and zucchini to have two meals a week for three months.

Because of the early high temps, our garden has not produced what it has produced in previous years.  When the temps dropped a few degrees, our plants started producing normally again.

Every summer is always different but as we grow older, we find that our bodies have become fonder of warm/hot weather to cold/freezing weather.

Somewhat Political

 

Changing the Future of Nuclear Power

In an exciting step toward a cleaner energy future, the world's first coal-to-nuclear power plant has broken ground in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

This innovative project, led by Bill Gates' company TerraPower, is set to be the most advanced nuclear facility on the planet, according to Electrek and a recent appearance by Gates on Face the Nation.


The Natrium demonstration plant will be a fully functioning commercial power plant, designed to be much safer and produce far less waste than conventional nuclear reactors.

What's more, it's being built on the site of a retiring coal plant, with plans to hire many of the skilled workers from the old facility.

This groundbreaking project has the potential to be a real win-win for the community and the environment. Not only will it provide 200-250 long-term jobs, but at the peak of construction, it will create 1,600 jobs, giving a major boost to the local economy.

Even better, the Natrium plant is designed to work seamlessly with renewable energy sources. It features a unique molten salt-based storage system that allows it to ramp up power output when needed, such as during peak demand times or when the sun isn't shining and wind isn't blowing.      READ MORE...

Magic Carpet Ride

 

Logic

 

End/Begin

 

Only in America

 

Batman

 

Not One

 

Who's the Toughest?

 

Lesser of the TWO EVILS

When Donald Trump was competing against Joe Biden for President, the lesser of the two evils favored Trump.  Now that Joe Biden has been replaced by Kamala Harris, the lesser of the two evils favors Harris.

There was an immediate and positive reaction when Biden dropped out of the race and Kamala Harris assumed his role, and this positiveness may propel her to victory in November...  UNLESS...

• The Democrats remember that Kamala Harris was the first Democratic candidate to drop out of the primary race.
• The Democrats realize that Kamala Harris not elected by them to be their Presidential candidate.

Of course, if they do realize this, their HATRED of TRUMP is so STRONG that those two points may not make any difference to them.

What I see, not being affiliated with either party, is that illegal immigration will continue, anti-police feelings will continue, anti-military feelings will continue, our national debt will continue to increase, and our premature push towards going green will continue...

All of this has a strong probability of slowing down economic growth.

What I also see, is that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea will escalate their attacks against the USA and it allies and that more wars are likely to pop up like China invading Taiwan.

HOWEVER...  if this is what a majority of AMERICANS want, then this is what AMERICA should receive.

Somewhat Political

 

Blonde Man Found in Ancient Cbinese Tomb

A tomb discovered in Taiyuan from the 8th century features murals in the “figures under the tree” style.  The multiple scenes depicted throughout the tomb show daily life during the Tang dynasty.  One image includes a man with blond hair and western dress, likely an influence from the Silk Road trading route.

A Tang dynasty tomb decorated with colorful murals is providing a new glimpse into daily life in China during the 8th century. Most interestingly, the murals show signs of Western influence, particularly the inclusion of a blond, bearded figure.

A 2018 reconstruction project of a hillside road in the capital of the Shanxi Province led to unearthing the tomb, but archaeologists hadn’t really reported on the discovery until now.     READ MORE...

Wooly Bully

 

100 Days Until the Election

 

I am sure that if you are a Democrat then you are head over heels in love with Kamala Harris as our next President and cannot wait for November to arrive...

I am also sure that if you are a Republican then you are head over heels in love with Donald Trump as our next President and cannot wait for November to arrive...

As an Independent, undecided, or someone who simply does not vote, then you are as exasperated as I am over all this BS media coverage regarding these two candidates.

• Democrats smear and put down Republicans.
• Republicans smear and put down Democrats.

This type of behavior happens every day and will continue and no doubt escalate as we get closer and closer to November.

Whether you want to admit it or not, the DOJ has had an unbelievable hardon for Donald Trump ever since he announced his candidacy in 2015, making up one story after another to try and get people to abandon him.

Very little, if anything, of what he has been charged with is a legitimate crime and if these charges were ever leveled against a Democrats the rest of the world would not hear the end of it.

DOUBLE STANDARDS UNDER THE LAW is going to undermine any political party because the people will eventually wake up and realize that this might happen to them one day.

If you really look at any of these candidates, Donald, Joe, or Kamala, or any of the others that ran and were not selected including the member of the Kennedy clan, there is NO ONE that I want to vote for to be PRESIDENT OF THE USA.  NO ONE!!!

That's sad when you think about it.

Our election is not just about the USA unfortunately, it is about the rest of the world as well and what they may or may not do based upon our election results.

While on the one hand, a majority of Americans might want higher taxes, more illegal immigrants, more crime and violence and more WOKENESS and CRT in our schools, I wonder if those same people want to get into an economic and military conflict (WAR) with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea and their allies VERSUS the USA and our allies...

If you do not think this is a real possibility, then you need a glass bellybutton to see out of.

China is preparing for war with Taiwan and ultimately war with the USA.  WEAK LEADERSHIP in the USA will move China closer to that goal.

AND...  if you don't think that the MIDDLE EAST and the leadership of IRAN does not HATE the USA, then you have not really been paying attention to the words of HAMAS when they YELL OUT...

DEATH TO AMERICA....

Although maybe you think all that yelling is just a bluff and they don't really mean it...  Maybe you think that the cutting off of American heads is just a deep fake.

There are only 100 days left until Americans vote for who they want to lead this country and if their decision end up being the wrong one, then whether they like it or not, they will be forced to live with the consequences of this election and the unintended consequences that will last long beyond the next four years.

In The NEWS

Arsonists attack France's train network ahead of Olympics.

A series of predawn fire attacks hit France's high-speed rail system Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The fires and subsequent delays in service impacted at least 800,000 passengers. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Separately, catch up on yesterday's opening ceremony here, and see photos from the event here.



Venezuelans vote tomorrow in presidential election.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro seeks his third six-year term amid the country's economic crisis, marred by hyperinflation and its struggling oil industry. Maduro has ruled since 2013 following the death of the country's former president Hugo Chávez. Maduro faces nine challengers; former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia is considered the main opposition candidate. Polls show González leading Maduro by double-digits.



California's largest fire of the year grows to 164,000 acres.

The northern California blaze, known as the Park Fire, has grown to a size larger than the city of Chicago (about 148,000 acres) due to warm, dry weather and high winds. Roughly 4,000 residents in the area have been forced to evacuate, while 130 structures have been destroyed, according to officials. A 42-year-old man was arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of starting the fire via a flaming car. The fire was 0% contained as of this writing. See photos here.



Prominent short-seller charged with fraud in $16M stock scheme.

The US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges Friday against Andrew Left, founder of Citron Research, with 17 counts of securities fraud and one count of making false statements. Left is accused of making sensational comments about publicly traded companies to manipulate the stock market. He was also accused of similar misconduct in Hong Kong in 2016.



Key inflation gauge rises 2.6% year-over-year in June.

The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures costs consumers pay across a wide swath of items, excluding food and energy, rose 2.6% year-over-year and 0.2% month-over-month. Both figures are in line with analyst estimates. The index is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure; the central bank targets 2% annual inflation.

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Passing it Forward

 

I get a phone call from my Urologist Nursing Line every month and the call does not just pertain to how I am doing with my prostate but how I am doing in general with everything going on in my life.  This includes arranging doctors' visits with other doctors, filling prescription refills, or arranging transportation to doctor appointments if and when I need that.

I am sure that this is part of my insurance policy, but it is a nice feature and greatly appreciated at least by me.

As a result of my phone call from this nursing line, it prompted me to reach out to my brother and sister just to see how they were doing.  It was a quick email, just asking them how they were doing.

My brother responded in an hour but I have yet to hear from my sister.  In my original email, I mention that I expected no reply, I was just reaching out to be nice.

Passing it forward I think is what it is called and when you do this, speaking for myself, it makes you feel really good, as if you have done something positive in your life rather than just thinking about you.

I also thought if I shared my actions in a posting, that it might prompt others to follow my lead.

Have a great day...

Somewhat Political

 

THIRTY-FOUR Million Year Old Snake Discovered

The fossilized skeleton of the newly discovered snake species Hibernophis breithaupti, which lived 38 million years ago in what is now western Wyoming, reveals insights into the evolution and social behavior of its modern descendants. Credit: Jasmine Croghan

Ancient snakes have been unearthed, shedding light on the continent’s slithering past.
A newly discovered fossil snake species in Wyoming is transforming our understanding of snake evolution. Unearthed from a burrow where four well-preserved specimens were found intertwined, this species, named Hibernophis breithaupti, lived in North America 34 million years ago. This discovery provides valuable insights into the origins and diversification of boas and pythons.


Hibernophis breithaupti has unique anatomical features, in part because the specimens are articulated—meaning they were found all in one piece with the bones still arranged in the proper order—which is unusual for fossil snakes. Researchers believe it may be an early member of Booidea, a group that includes modern boas and pythons. Modern boas are widespread in the Americas, but their early evolution is not well understood. These new and very complete fossils add important new information, in particular, on the evolution of small, burrowing boas known as rubber boas.           READ MORE...

The WHO