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Hummingbirds

 

Sick of the ELECTION

Every two and four years, we have an election of our politicians.  Every four years, we have a presidential election and 2024 is the year for one of those - next month is the voting.

For the last several months, we have been forced to watch and listen, if we daily watch the NEWS, one side make negative comments about the other side...  and then have the counter argument from the other side. 

Then in the month of October, there is an escalation of those comments and both sides have become even more hateful towards their opponents.

Are we listening to the truth or are we listening to LIES...  my guess is the latter.

At this point in time, I don't give a damn who wins because I think our country is heading in the wrong direction and even if another direction was taken for four years, it will swing back to the wrong approach.

This is what Americans typically do, they elect Democrats for 4-8 years, then elect Republicans for 4-8 years.  Each time that happens, the USA moves in one direction then moves in another direction and NOTHING GETS ACCOMPLISHED.

I have NO FAITH IN POLITICIANS.

I have NO FAITH IN THE CHOICES AMERICANS MAKE.

This leaves me with making sure, I just always do what is BEST FOR MY WIFE AND ME.

I am sick of elections...

Somewhat Political

 

EVs and the US Power Grid

Over half of all new cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 are expected to be electric vehicles. That could put a major strain on our nation’s electric grid, an aging system built for a world that runs on fossil fuels.

Domestic electricity demand in 2022 is expected to increase up to 18% by 2030 and 38% by 2035, according to an analysis by the Rapid Energy Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit, or REPEAT, an energy policy project out of Princeton University. That’s a big change over the roughly 5% increase we saw in the past decade.

“So we’ve got a lot of power demand coming to this country when we really didn’t have any for the last, like, 25 years,” said Rob Gramlich, founder and president of Grid Strategies, a transmission policy group.

While many parts of the economy are moving away from fossil fuels toward electrification — think household appliances such as stoves, and space heating for homes and offices — the transportation sector is driving the increase. Light-duty vehicles, a segment that excludes large trucks and aviation, are projected to use up to 3,360% more electricity by 2035 than they do today, according to Princeton’s data.     READ MORE...

The Doors - The End (Toronto, 1967)

2024 Election

 

Several months ago, when I was talking to my wife about the 2024 Presidential Campaign, sharing how dirty the Democrats had been towards Donald Trump since he began President in 2016, she said the following:

ONE DAY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL REALIZE HOW FAR THE LIBERALS HAVE GONE AND TURN ON THEM...

I remember looking over at her, not really sure or confident about what she had said, thinking her ideas were PIE IN THE SKY and that none of that would happen because the Democrats had the mainstream media, woke companies, tech companies, Hollywood celebrities, the DOJ, and the FBI supporting them.

NOW...

with only a few days left until the election, it is becoming amazingly clear that my wife MIGHT HAVE BEEN RIGHT and that the climate in this country is finally changing.

Instead of promoting her record while in office for over three and a half years, Kamala Harris and her proxies are doing nothing but saying HOW HORRIBLE TRUMP IS...  along with the people that are supporting him.

• Joe Biden says he is a loser
• Michele Obama says he is in mental decline
• Kamala Harris says he is Hitler like
• Hillary Clinton says he will destroy democracy

Donald Trump has a proven track record as President from 2017-2020, where he built up a strong economy, had full employment, maintained global peace, had no inflation, had minimal illegal immigration, and provided great opportunities for all Americans.

Kamala Harris as VP has ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING...

AND...

in 2019 when she was running in the primary to the Democratic candidate for President, she was the FIRST ONE TO DROP OUT because her party DID NOT WANT HER...

Without being nominated, the Democratic Party FORCED Biden to drop out, and they pushed Harris into the race to replace him...

WHY DOES THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WANT HER AS PRESIDENT NOW???

On Being Born Again

 

I have lived for more than 10 years in Virginia (specifically 8 miles south of Washington, DC), North Carolina (specifically the piedmont), and Tennessee (specifically East TN)...  

While I am sure that NC and TN are considered to be in the BIBLE BELT, I am not that sure about Virginia.

It was not until I moved to East TN, I came into contact with the term BORN-AGAIN.   It was odd at first as people around me began asking me if I had been born again.  At first, I just shook my head no, then I started mentioning that my parents had me baptized at a very early age in the Methodist Church.

It appeared quite clear to me that Baptists, especially Southern Baptists, did not think much of other religions, especially Methodists since they said Methodists were religiously and spiritually liberal in their think and behaving.

I found it best to ignore those comments.

Later on, in my tenure with the great state of TN, I discovered that many adults who had become BORN-AGAIN, returned to the way they were before they were BORN-AGAIN, which including consuming alcohol like it was rainwater, and fornicating with married women as if they only had 72 hours to live.

In 1990, I moved from NC to TN and in 2010, my research led me to discover that the divorce rate in the USA was 50% and the divorce rate in the BIBLE BELT of TN was also 50%.

This just goes to show that BORN-AGAIN BAPTISTS did not do any better with their marriages than NON BORN-AGAIN AMERICANS.

In The NEWS

Japanese voters head to polls tomorrow in Japan's snap elections.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling Liberal Democratic Party faces its most significant electoral challenge for the first time since 2009 amid corruption scandals and declining public support. Analysts predict the opposition, particularly the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, may gain ground. Ishiba called the parliamentary elections after taking office Oct. 1 following the resignation of Japan's former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.



Robotaxi developer Waymo raises record $5.6B in funding.

The funding round is the largest for Alphabet's autonomous vehicle division, Waymo, as it looks to expand its robotaxi services across more cities. The round—led by Alphabet and joined by venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price—brings Waymo's total capital raised to more than $11B. Waymo operates in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, and plans to expand to Austin and Atlanta as part of a partnership with Uber.



Grateful Dead cofounder and bassist Phil Lesh dies at 84.

Lesh played for the Grateful Dead for its entire 30-year history and also cowrote some of the band’s most noteworthy songs, including “St. Stephen," “Dark Star,” “Cumberland Blues,” and “Box of Rain.” The Grateful Dead was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and disbanded in 1995 after the death of the group's leader, Jerry Garcia. Lesh had faced health challenges later in life, including battles with prostate and bladder cancer. No cause of death was made public.



'Well Man' identified from 800-year-old Norse saga.

Researchers have linked ancient DNA from skeletal remains found in a well at Sverresborg Castle in Norway to the "well man" mentioned in the medieval Sverris Saga. The research indicates the remains likely belong to a man who died during a 1197 raid and was thrown into the well to poison the water supply, corroborating the historical narrative. The finding represents the first instance of physically identifying an individual described in historical texts through genomic analysis.



India, China begin implementing Himalayan border pact.

India and China have begun withdrawing their troops from an undefined 2,100-mile-long disputed Himalayan border, marking a step toward deescalating a four-year military standoff (see background). The withdrawal follows a recent agreement between the two nations to resume military patrols along the border, which had been a source of tension since deadly clashes in July 2020 that killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers.



Boeing reportedly exploring sale of parts of it space business.

The aerospace company's space business up for sale includes its troubled Starliner vehicle and operations that support the International Space Station. The sale exploration is reportedly at an early stage and may not result in a deal. The report comes after a SpaceX capsule carried four astronauts from the space station back to Earth after their return was delayed due to problems with Boeing's capsule and Hurricane Milton.

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

In Our Likeness & Image

 

Genesis 1:26-27
New International Version

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So, God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

This is creation according to the Bible.  The verses before Genesis 1:26 address what God created on each of the days before He created mankind.

But right now, let's just stay with mankind and the fact that mankind was created IN THEIR IMAGE AND IN THEIR LIKENESS.

I use the word THEIR, because the verse uses the word OUR and that word implies more than one.

Have you ever stopped to think the word OUR is used?

Is there more than one God?

<or>

Are the writers speaking of God-Jesus-the Holy Ghost?

And if it is the latter, then why has that not been made clear, or was it just meant to be ASSUMED?

When God (THEM) created mankind, they created both male and female, not just male and certainly not just female.

Therefore, is God male or female?

<or>

Is God both male and female?

The latter cannot be true because if you make people in one's image, then why make both male and female, why not just make an individual that is both male and female?

Now, I believe this is explained later when God realizes man needs a companion and taking a rib from Adam, creates Eve.

But, if this was really the case, why was not that clarification pointed out in Genesis?

<or>

Did someone try to fix that mistake later with the Garden of Eden story?

What I am pointing out are some inconsistencies that are later corrected in later books of the Bible.  Why was there correction needed anyway, if the Bible had truly been inspired by God through the hand of man?

All along my spiritual growth from 8 years old to 18, I was told not to question, just accept the faith as it had been presented to me.  This is what faith is all about.  Belief without proof.

That just leads me to more questions.

Somewhat Political

 

Forging of Stars & Planets

New insights into the formation of gas streams that propel the growth of infant stars have been unveiled by astronomers with help from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, revealing deeper insights into how they feed on material from their surrounding disks.

The new findings are offering astronomers unprecedented new details about young stars and planets, and the processes that give rise to their formation and evolution over time.

The new research focused on investigations into the structure of gas flows in protoplanetary disks, which are the massive, dusty clouds of gas surrounding newly formed stars. Based on recent Webb telescope data, researchers involved were able to confirm the existence of a previously “hidden” mechanism that astronomers have long suspected to be behind what allows stars to gain mass as they grow.

Revealing a Magnetic Mystery
Detailed in a new paper in Nature Astronomy, the new research, led by scientists from the University of Arizona and supported by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, reveals that magnetic winds play a key role in transporting material that helps stars grow, along with shaping the mass present in their surrounding disk into a planetary system.     READ MORE...

Lynyrd Skynyrd 'Sweet Home Alabama' (Live In Atlantic City)

Good for Me

 

I have been giving a lot of thought to this presidential election, more than it really deserves.  I have convinced myself that this election represents a turning point for the USA, maybe the world, but that just might be an exaggeration because, no one really wants a nuclear war.

The USA is on the verge of perhaps the biggest change it has ever made since 1776 when it became a sovereign nation.  That is to say, it might be changing from a Democratic Republic to a Socialistic Democracy that depends on CAPITALISM to pay its bills.

But is that ALL BAD?

If you look at our economy, it is slow growing and on the verge of having problems as it tries to transition to green energy.  Initially, I thought that was bad because the rest of the world IS NOT REALLY GOING GREEN due to the expense of doing so...  

BUT...  a slow growing economy means that the banks and credit unions will be offering CDs with a higher-than-normal interest rate.  For those of us who have saved money, we can invest in those CDs and generate about $4,000-$5,000 each month on interest alone.

My wife and I could just about double our income without putting forth any additional effort or work...  and while others are struggling to get by, we would be in good shape financially.

Going green is not going to happen overnight and since there are so many people in the middle and lower classes in the USA, the odds are this transition might take a decade or more.

20% of the American population is financially in GOOD SHAPE and can pretty much weather any financial storm, but 80% of the population is NOT SO LUCKY.

When labor strikes for higher wages and gets those higher wages, all that means is that prices will continue to go up which mean INFLATION will continue.  

While inflation is bad for 80% of Americans, it is good for me and my wife because CD interest rates will remain high.

IF TRUMP WINS THE WHITE HOUSE, there is a good possibility he will reduce inflation and build a strong economy...  when that happens, CD interest rates WILL GO DOWN.

It is nothing personal, but I have to think about what is right for my wife and I and not really care what happens to this country.  Of course, you must understand that I am 77 years old, my wife is 72 and neither one of us have a long future ahead of us.

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles district attorney recommends resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez due to new evidence related to their conviction for the 1989 murder of their parents (More)

> Ron Ely, actor best known for starring in titular 1960s TV role on "Tarzan," dies at age 86 (More) | Jack Jones, two-time Grammy-winning singer and actor, dies at age 86 (More)

> TKO, parent company of the WWE and UFC, purchases Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG for $3.25B (More)


Science & Technology
> Group of cable companies, advertisers, and news outlets sue the Federal Trade Commission over "click-to-cancel" rules, which would simplify canceling contracts from a variety of businesses (More)

> Study finds the human brain can parse and process single sentences as quickly as 125 milliseconds, roughly equal to the blink of an eye (More)

> Astronomers discover first black hole in a triple star system; findings raise questions about how black holes form and their resulting gravitational pull on nearby objects (More) | Explaining black holes, one of the universe's biggest mysteries (More, w/video)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq +0.8%); Tesla stock lifts Nasdaq, closing up 22% in best day since May 2013 (More) | Lilium shares close down 61% after air taxi startup says main subsidiaries will file for insolvency (More) | Insolvency 101 (More)

> Keurig Dr Pepper to buy energy-drink maker Ghost for over $1B, with initial cash investment of $990M in exchange for 60% ownership stake; Keurig Dr Pepper will acquire remaining 40% stake in 2028 (More) | Judge blocks Coach owner Tapestry's $8.5B acquisition of Michael Kors owner Capri (More)

> Southwest Airlines and activist investor Elliott Investment Management strike deal on Southwest's leadership, including keeping CEO Bob Jordan; deal averts proxy fight (More) | Proxy fight 101 (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Owner of Dali container ship that crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year and killed six people agrees to pay $102M in settlement with Justice Department (More)

> Three Georgia men convicted in 2022 for federal hate crime in the killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery seek new trial; the three men had confronted and shot Arbery, who was out on a run (More)

> India's east coast braces for Cyclone Dana as more than 1 million people are evacuated (More) | Hurricane Kristy strengthens into Category 5 storm in Pacific Ocean southwest of the southern tip of Baja, California; Kristy is expected to remain away from land (More, w/tracker)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Gasoline & EVs

 

My last gasoline fill-up of 13 gallons was $2.50/gallon which is obviously down from $3.66/gallon I was paying several weeks ago...  however, it is still up from the $1.60 I was paying four years ago.

I also know that the USA has enough petroleum crude oil under the ground to last us for over 50 years which includes selling our over production for foreign countries.

Right now, we are buying petroleum crude oil from other countries because we do not have enough domestic crude oil to fill our needs.

WHOSE FAULT IS THAT???

I also understand that the current administration wants to go GREEN and have electric vehicles but there are some fundamental problems with that INITIATIVE:

First - we do not have to power grid to accommodate our electric vehicles, since we are currently experiencing brown-outs in certain areas of the country.

And what happens when the power is out due to hurricanes or other bad weather?

What then?

Do people just park their EVs and not go to work?

Second - Electric Vehicles are expensive and the Middle Class and Poor Class simply cannot afford EVs.  

Are you going to force Americans to buy EVs with what little money they have?

Are you going to tell the car companies to hire ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to make our cars because they represent cheap labor?

Third - currently, it takes a long time to charge an EV and in addition to the time, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate a higher level of EVs even if the price were to come down and people started to buy them.

Fourth - the transition from gasoline to EVs if forced upon the American public would keep our weakened economy from growing as a sustainable rate in order to achieve full employment.  That weakened economy would make us vulnerable to our enemies...  to say the least.

Our current administration is not doing a very good job of PLANNING FOR OUR FUTURE...  outside of making a lot of free stuff available which is going to raise taxes.

Somewhat Political

 

China's Cargo Drone

An unmanned cargo aircraft developed by Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co. takes part in a maiden flight at an airport in Zigong, Sichuan province, China August 11, 2024. 

BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Engineers sent China's biggest-yet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soon-to-open 100-km (62-mile) route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country's expanding low-altitude economy.

Packing a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twin-engine cargo drone developed by state-funded Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co took off in southwestern Sichuan province on Sunday for its inaugural flight that lasted approximately 20 minutes, state media reported.     READ MORE...

SANTANA - Black Magic Woman / Oye Como Va

Abortion