Somewhat Political

 

NASA Launces Time Machine

The James Webb Space Telescope, also commonly called Webb, is the most significant advancement in human endeavor toward unraveling the mystery of the cosmos. This infrared observatory started in space with the support of NASA, ESA, and CSA; it can give a new perception of the evolution of the cosmos in the tendency to provide a glimpse of the Big Bang and its effect.

Webb is more than just a telescope – it is humanity’s most potent eye in the sky – providing the ability to observe the universe billions of years back and, hopefully, unlock the key to the cosmos’ evolution and provide answers to some of the most fundamental questions asked by humanity.

A mirror like no other: how Webb’s unprecedented design changes our understanding of the cosmos
Webb’s instrument, called the Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI, is designed to collect energy even from behind dust clouds and reveal the objects behind them. It has a mirror that is almost three times the size of the first space telescope, the Hubble, and is made of 18 hexagonal segments, collecting much more light than the earlier telescope, hence capturing the faint lights from the young universe.               READ MORE...

GEORGE THOROGOOD "Bad To The Bone"

Lest We Forget

 

Honoring the Dead

 

Anselm Kiefer - Artist

Anselm Kiefer is a German sculptor and painter, who creates monumental works using unusual materials, such as ash, shellac, lead, straw, and glitter. These pieces often allude to collective memory and controversial facts from our history, such as the Nazi rule, literary works, mythology, as well as historical figures the artist admires. In his work, Kiefer aims at confronting his culture’s dark past.
Anselm Kiefer, The boundless tangle of nature, with a real axe … from’s series Der Gordische Knoten, 2019. Courtesy White Cube

Our Past

 

Promises

 

Flush Regularly

 

Whites

 

Crazy Ideas

 

United we Stand - Divided we Fall

 

Patrick Henry used the phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, in which he denounced The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Clasping his hands and swaying unsteadily, Henry declaimed, "Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.

This was spoken 225 years ago and is still a popular phase especially in times where we find ourselves now.  It is popular because it applies to ALL ASPECTS of life.

For FIVE GENERATIONS, Americans have known and/or believed that Americans are only STRONG when we are united.

I believe that division started in the USA in the 1960s when we had racial unrest and Vietnam war protests.  While these unrests and protests pertained to the younger generation, they still created a crack in the moral crust of society that has gradually opened wider over the years.

We are divided on several fronts:

• Racial
• Gender
• Political
• Financial
• Religious
• Educationally
• Geographically
• Governmentally
• Work Positions
• Health & Fitness

Right now the top divisions are:

• Political/governmental
• Racial
• Financial

We have two Presidential candidates:  Donald Trump and Kamala Harris who preached unity, but whose underlying programs firmly address DIVISION, like:

• Open borders
• No Compromising
• Illegal Immigration
• Socialism/Communism
• Taxes/Duties/Tariffs
• Military
• Censoring the opposition

One of President Biden's Secretaries recently informed FOX News that she DID NOT BELIEVE anything that came out of Donald Trump's mouth.

That kind of attitude, especially from a leadership position, does not sow the seeds of UNITY...  in fact, it promotes DIVISION pure and simple.

Our leaders have to find a way to outgrow that type of mentality or else we will never UNITE AGAIN.

Somewhat Political

 

Your Brain's Memory Resets

A new study from Cornell University reveals that sleep not only consolidates memories but also resets the brain’s memory storage mechanism. This process, governed by specific regions in the hippocampus, allows neurons to prepare for new learning without being overwhelmed. This insight opens potential pathways for enhancing memory and treating neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and PTSD.

While everyone knows that a good night’s sleep restores energy, a new Cornell University study finds it resets another vital function: memory.

Learning or experiencing new things activates neurons in the hippocampus, a region of the brain vital for memory. Later, while we sleep, those same neurons repeat the same pattern of activity, which is how the brain consolidates those memories that are then stored in a large area called the cortex. But how is it that we can keep learning new things for a lifetime without using up all of our neurons?
Mechanisms of Memory Resetting

A new study published in the journal Science, finds at certain times during deep sleep, certain parts of the hippocampus go silent, allowing those neurons to reset.

“This mechanism could allow the brain to reuse the same resources, the same neurons, for new learning the next day,” said Azahara Oliva, assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior and the paper’s corresponding author.         READ MORE...

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Live Aid

In The NEWS

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorses Donald Trump for president.

The 70-year-old independent presidential candidate suspended his campaign Friday. Kennedy announced his support for the Republican presidential nominee in a speech in Arizona and said he would remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states. Kennedy had recently been polling in the single digits, with the latest figure hovering around 5%. See national polls here.



Federal Reserve chair signals "time has come" for rate cuts.

Fed chair Jerome Powell, in remarks Friday, said the central bank doesn't seek further cooling in labor market conditions, but stopped short of saying how large of an interest rate cut to expect next month. The Fed targets a 2% annual inflation rate; its preferred inflation measure—the personal consumption expenditures price index—showed inflation fell to a 2.5% annual rate in June. The Fed meets Sept. 17-18. Watch an overview of inflation here.



NASA update expected today on stuck Boeing Starliner astronauts.

NASA officials will announce their decision over the fate of two astronauts aboard the troubled Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which initially took off on an eight-day mission June 5. The agency will determine whether Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can safely return to Earth on Starliner or if they will need to wait until February for a SpaceX Dragon ride home. Watch the announcement here (1 pm ET).



Canadian rail workers to strike Monday following stoppage.

Members of the union representing the Canadian National Railway—one of Canada's two major railroad operators (the second is Canadian Pacific Kansas City)—are poised to strike next week. The announcement follows the lockout of over 9,000 rail workers from Canada's two major railroads amid failed contract negotiations with the Teamsters union. See our previous write-up here.



DOJ sues software company in rental price hike scheme.

The Justice Department and eight states filed an antitrust lawsuit against property management software company RealPage Inc., alleging it enabled landlords to collude and artificially inflate rental prices. The DOJ claims RealPage violated laws by using algorithmic pricing software that relied on private information shared by landlords to generate pricing suggestions for rental apartments.



Divers find final missing body from sunken superyacht.

The body of 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, daughter of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, was recovered Friday. She was the last of six people who died after the 184-foot luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily Monday following severe weather conditions. Another 15 people on the yacht had been rescued that day, including Lynch's wife. Italian authorities are investigating whether possible crimes have been committed, including manslaughter and negligence.

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Evolution and Humanoid AI Robots

EVOLUTION - is the process by which the genetic material of a population changes over time, resulting in new traits, altered genes, and sometimes new species. It's a fundamental part of modern biological theory and is based on the idea that all species are related and change gradually over time.

Evolution occurs when there are changes in the proportions of genes in a population, or in the genetic material itself. This genetic material, DNA, is inherited from parents and contains chemical codes that produce proteins. The information in DNA can change through mutation, or the way genes are expressed can change. These changes can affect an organism's physical characteristics, or phenotype.

Evolution is a response to organisms adapting to their changing environments. For example, genetic studies indicate that humans are still evolving, even though we face fewer hazards today than in the past.

SELF ORGANIZATION - is the process by which individuals organize their communal behavior to create global order by interactions amongst themselves rather than through external intervention or instruction. As a highly complex and dynamic system involving many different elements interacting with each other, the nervous system displays many features of self-organization. This chapter discusses three forms of neural self-organization namely self-organization in development, self-organization as a complement to experiential changes, and self-organization as a complement to damage. 

Self-organization in development is concerned the development of the nervous system. Since a key challenge in our understanding of the nervous system is to comprehend how such a highly structured yet complex system can emerge from a single fertilized egg. Self-organization as a complement to experiential changes refers to later stages in development, when self-organization plays a role along with other mechanisms such as those involving external signals arising from the sensory environment.

SELF SIMILARITY - is a property of many natural objects that makes them appear to have repeating patterns, curves, branching patterns, or substructures that are similar to the whole object. These objects are sometimes called fractal-like and are often super self-similar, meaning they are the most common type of self-similarity in nature.

Here are some examples of self-similarity in nature:
Trees
The branches of trees can exhibit natural disorder that may seem chaotic, but it's actually more organized than it appears.
Pine cones
The scales of pine cones spiral in a way that reflects the seeds they protect. This fractal design is caused by accelerated growth.
Coastlines
The coastline of Britain is an example of a shape that is self-similar, even when zoomed in by a thousand times.

Other examples of self-similarity in nature include: clouds, waves, ferns, cauliflowers, and flowers.

Now...

While this may be a lot to take in all at one time, Evolution, Self-Organization, and Self-Similarity are exactly the THREE VARIABLES that when given to humanoid AI robots in the form of algorithms allow them to TEACH THEMSELVES and transform into machines that can function like humans.

From the simple comes the complex...

Simple algorithms tell the robot to repeat the task over and over again, trashing the bad examples while keeping the good, to create an evolved robot over time.

When scientists program a robot with a brain and the simple task of learning to walk.  Within twenty evolutions, the robot without any further human interaction or programming taught itself to walk.

The robot uses the basic concepts of NATURE to evolve...

For a NOVICE like me, I find this fascinating.

 

Somewhat Political

 

Life on Earth from one Ancestor

Scientists have rewritten the history of life on Earth with a new estimate for the age of LUCA, or the Last Universal Common Ancestor, who is generally acknowledged as the common ancestor of all living things, thanks to a ground-breaking study.

The study, which was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, indicates that LUCA lived approximately 4.2 billion years ago, which is significantly closer to Earth's origin than previously thought.

LUCA, a common ancestor to all organisms and not the first life form, has been a controversial topic among scientists for centuries. Life fossil evidence goes back as far as 3.4 billion years, yet this study proposes that LUCA might be close to being the same age as the Earth. The genetic code and DNA replication, which are two of the vital biological processes, might have developed almost immediately after the planet was formed.       READ MORE...

The Kinks "Lola."