The Attempt

 

Remember When?

 

She's Ashamed

 

Original Country

 

Two Peas in a POD

 

Robots and illegal immigrants

 

You have got to be living in a cave or dumber than a rock, if you do not realize the following two events are currently taking place right under our noses:

First - illegal immigrants are pouring into the USA at a rate never seen before and it is estimated 10-20 million of these illegal immigrants are already here.

Second - there is a HUGE PUSH to introduce and infuse AI humanoid robots into to workplace that will, by all estimates, replace 80% of all global jobs by 2030, or perhaps earlier since Elon Musk suggest this push will really start happening in 2025/2026.

THINK ABOUT THIS...

• It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out that if AI humanoid robots are going to replace jobs in th next two, maybe three to five years, then what the hell are all these illegal immigrants going to do for work???
• It is obvious that low paying wage jobs will be the first to go when AI humanoid robots start to enter the workforce.
• Illegal immigrants only have the skills to work in low wage jobs otherwise they would come in legally.

NOTE:

• Do you believe that the Democrats will close the border and STOP illegal immigrants from entering the USA???
• Do you believe that AI humanoid robots will not or never replace human workers in the marketplace???
• Do you believe that illegal immigrants will not take jobs away from American workers???

I am not a Democrat, Republican, or Independent...  I am an American Veteran who votes for the person/party that I feel will benefit the American People, not the party or themselves.

1. I want low taxes
2. I want my children to be protected and have the same future that I have/had
3. I want a strong military
4. I want a strong law enforcement
5. I want a strong growing economy
6. I don't want political censorship
7. I want a fair and honest media
8. I don't want wealth to influence politics
9. I want a balance budget
10. I want to reduce the national debt
11. I am against socialism and communism
12. I want only legal immigration
13. I want a strong educational system
14. I don't want the judicial system weaponized
15. I want EVERYONE to pay their fair share of taxes

Wages and Cost of Living

I grew up in the 1960s where we paid $0.18 for a gallon of gasoline, $0.15 for a hamburger, $1.25 for a six pack of beer, $0.25 for a pack of 20 cigarettes, and $0.25 for a movie ticket...

Obviously, have a century later (50-60 years), our cost of living is much, much higher and WAGES HAVE NOT grown at the same pace as the cost of goods and services has grown.

WHY?

Those who control the economy, business leaders, politicians, CEOs and the workers have not demanded wage/salary increases like they are demanding those increases now.

PROBLEM:

When wages grow, so too does benefits, and those increased expenses put the employer in a difficult situation...

• decrease profits
• raise prices
• layoff workers 

We have gotten ourselves (Americans that is to say) in a difficult situation where Americans are the highest paid workers in the entire world.

If we want LOW PRICES to keep our cost of living down, then we MUST NOT HIRE AMERICANS, we must ship business overseas and have the work done by workers who are not so expensive.

HOWEVER...

If we do that (to lower the cost of living), it hurts Americans because we are losing jobs.

SO...

What do you want?

Employed Americans and hirer cost of living

<OR>

Unemployed Americans and a lower cost of living???

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> US men's gymnastics team wins bronze in team all-around competition, their first medal in 16 years (More) | See recap of Day Three (More) | See latest medal standings (More)

> Martin Phillipps, lead singer of New Zealand rock band The Chills, dies at age 61 (More) | Sinéad O'Connor's 2023 death revealed to have been caused by pulmonary disease and asthma (More)

> Longtime BBC presenter Huw Edwards charged with three counts of "making indecent images of children" (More)

Science & Technology
> US health regulators approve blood test to diagnose colon cancer, the second-highest cause of cancer-related deaths in the US; test detects DNA released by tumors in the bloodstream (More)

> Apple to include features powered by its Apple Intelligence AI platform in upcoming iOS 18 update and future products; beta versions for developer testing released yesterday (More)

> Paleontologists discover new species of tyrannosaurus relative; 69-million-year-old fossil fills a gap in the evolutionary record as the creatures grew smaller and more bird-like (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (Dow -0.1%, S&P 500 +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.1%) as analysts await key Federal Reserve meeting this week (More)

> McDonald's reports first drop in global sales in 13 quarters, falling short of analysts' expectations of 0.5% growth (More)

> Oil futures fall 2% on signs Israel will try to avoid a broader conflict in the Middle East; signals come after Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah traded missile strikes over the weekend (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> US national debt tops $35T for first time; current spending projections have total debt passing $56T by 2034 (More)

> Former President Donald Trump to be interviewed as part of FBI probe into attempted assassination at Pennsylvania rally (More) | Law enforcement texts show shooter was spotted as a potentially suspicious person 90 minutes before attack (More)

> Officials in West Texas declare state of emergency after area experiences more than 100 earthquakes over the past week; cause of seismic activity is suspected to be from oil and gas extractions (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Last Day of JULY

 

WOW!!!

This is the last day of August 2024, and these months just seem to be flying by.

YES...

It is true that as one ages, time moves by at a quicker pace than it does when you are young or younger. 

I remember saying a while back that I never have a bad day because they no longer last very long.

With the passage of the month of July, several issues come to my mind.

• First, the summer is almost over
• Second, school will begin again next month
• Third, only a month or more to mow the yard
• Fourth, we will vote for President a little over two months
• Fifth, cold weather is just around the corner

During this month, we obviously spent more time outside than we did inside and as far as our family is concerned, we power washed the house and deck; once the deck dried, we stained it.

Many families decide to go on vacation during the month of July rather than the two months on either side of July for one reason or another.  We used to vacation in July as well but stopped because of the crowds and cost.  We discovered (and it makes sense) that vacations cost less if we went April/May or September/October.

We always spend the Fourth of July at home mainly because of the people and because the highways are more dangerous when there are so many other people driving.  The last thing we would want to do is fly somewhere during this holiday either.

The one downside of July is that in our neck of the woods, there are more mosquitos during this month than other months and these damn mosquitos seem to really like my lower legs.  This year, I have 6-8 bites of either leg.

For me, mosquito bites itch until they are scratched and bleed.  Once that happens there is no more itching...  however, once it bleeds, scabs form, and I end up with scars all over my ankles.

Somewhat Political

 

Dark Matter in the Ocean

Relicanthus sp. is a newfound species collected at 4,100 meters (13,450 feet) in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. It lives on sponge stalks attached to polymetallic nodules that are of interest to the mining industry. Courtesy Craig Smith and Diva Amon, ABYSSLINE Project





A mysterious phenomenon first observed in 2013 aboard a vessel in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean appeared so preposterous, it convinced ocean scientist Andrew Sweetman that his monitoring equipment was faulty.

Sensor readings seemed to show that oxygen was being made on the seabed 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) below the surface, where no light can penetrate. The same thing happened on three subsequent voyages to a region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.      READ MORE...

Three Dog Night

 

Wondering

 

These are Americans?

 

Not Welcome

 

Victims

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> "Deadpool & Wolverine" hauls in $205M in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, the eighth largest opening ever and a record for an R-rated film (More)

> Three members of the Grammy-nominated gospel group The Nelons are among seven killed in Wyoming plane crash (More) | Gail Lumet Buckley, author and daughter of Lena Horne, dies at 86 (More)

> About 28.6 million Americans tuned in to the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, a 60% jump from the 2021 games and the most since 2012 (More)


Science & Technology
> SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9 rocket two weeks after its first failed launch since 2016 (More) | The history of SpaceX in three minutes (More, w/video)

> Researchers demonstrate new nanometer-sized transistor—the basic component of nearly all electronics—capable of switching at least 100 billion times without any signs of degradation (More)

> Scientists pinpoint brain circuit responsible for the mother-infant bond in mouse study; results shed light on early postnatal development in newborn humans (More)


Business & Markets
> Markets surge Friday (Dow +1.6%, S&P 500 +1.1%, Nasdaq +1.0%) on positive inflation data, signs the Federal Reserve may begin cutting rates in near future (More) | Heard about the Fed, but don't know what it is? (More, w/video)

> US home insurers report more than $15B in underwriting losses in 2023, more than double the previous year and the worst since 2000; analysts point to population growth in areas prone to natural disasters (More)

> Apple strikes contract with union organizers at Maryland store, its first collective bargaining agreement with employees at a company retail outlet (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Israel reportedly strikes weapons depot in Lebanon in retaliation after Hezbollah rocket strike kills 12 at a soccer field in Golan Heights; Hezbollah denies involvement (More) | Israeli strike hits school in central Gaza; at least 30 people killed, according to Hamas officials (More) | See updates on war (More)

> Justice Department accuses TikTok of collecting user data on political issues, including abortion and gun control, storing the bulk information on servers in China (More)

> California's Park Fire destroys at least 130 buildings, has burned through 350,000 acres; blaze started after a suspect reportedly pushed a burning car into a gully last week (More) | See maps and status (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

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...