Friday, November 29
Black Friday
Possible Alien World
Possible alien world bubbling over with volcanoes detected deep in space
It’s thought that there is at least one planet for every star in the galaxy. That means that there are billions of planets in our galaxy alone, and many of these could be in Earth’s size range. So far, researchers think they have found 5,000. But now, one research team has possible evidence that they have found an exoplanet [meaning a planet outside the solar system] with a sulphur-rich atmosphere deep into space (Picture: Getty) READ MORE...
Thursday, November 28
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Disney settles $43M class-action lawsuit with 9,000 female workers alleging they were paid less than their male counterparts in comparable roles (More)
> Jim Abrahams, film director and writer best known for "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" series, dies at age 80 (More) | French-Japanese TV series "Les Gouttes de Dieu (Drops of God)" wins best drama at 2024 International Emmy Awards (More)
> Former show host Wendy Williams reportedly "permanently disabled and legally incapacitated" amid dementia battle; Williams revealed her dementia diagnosis earlier this year (More)
Science & Technology
> Chipmaker Intel awarded close to $7.9B to support building and expansion of semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Ohio; funds come from the 2022 CHIPS Act (More)
> Cancer researchers discover how low glucose environments around tumors help cancer cells evade chemotherapy drugs; findings may lead to more effective treatments (More)
> Scientists transplant pig heart valve into a rodent with the assistance of human skin cells reprogrammed into heart valve cells; the procedure paves the way for similar organ transplants to humans, with roughly 30,000 Americans dying each year from aortic heart valve failure (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.6%, Dow +0.3%, Nasdaq +0.6%) following news of Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal (More) | Learn about the history of the US stock markets (More)
> Walmart rolls back diversity programs; changes include closing $100M equity racial center launched in 2020, phasing out the term "DEI," ending preference for suppliers majority owned by women, LGBTQ+ members, veterans, and others; ends sale of some transgender-linked products on Walmart.com (More)
> Federal Reserve minutes from meeting earlier this month suggest slower pace of interest rate cuts than previously indicated; next meeting is Dec. 17-18 (More) | Heard about the Fed, but don't know how it works? Sign up for 1440 Business & Finance, where we cover this topic and many more (Join here)
Politics & World Affairs
> Israel and Hezbollah agree to US- and France-led ceasefire, ending 14 months of rocket, missile exchanges; Israeli soldiers to withdraw, Lebanese army to repopulate country's south in the coming 60 days (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> President-elect Donald Trump signs memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House, clearing the stage for the next phase of the presidential transition (More) | How does a presidential transition work? (More)
> Thirty-three survivors rescued after Red Sea tourist boat with Egyptian crew sinks; seven people remain unaccounted for (More)
THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving has always been a special day for me, especially when I was young.
Our family lived in Alexandria, Virginia until the summer of 1962. Every Thanksgiving, we would pack up the car and drive to NC, specifically Winston-Salem, the tobacco capital of the USA.
The trip lasted about 5-6 hours as I recall and as we got closer to Winston-Salem, when the windows of the car were rolled down, you could actually smell the tobacco in the air.
Thanksgiving in Winston-Salem was a real treat. We all sat at a long dining room table that held all the Thanksgiving dishes in the middle. One by one these dishes were passed around while my grandfather, my dad's father, cut the turkey.
We had everything that you could imagine in terms of side dishes to go with the turkey like casseroles, rice, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, peas, lima beans, salad, sweet potatoes, etc.
The day after Thanksgiving, all our relatives would get together and rent a meeting hall in a nearby park and all the families would gather there and bring their leftovers.
While my memories are a little foggy, I would suspect that about 150 relatives would show up, most of whom I had no idea who they were. These relatives would represent both my mother's and father's side of the family.
It was a very memorable time that our entire family/relatives lost sight of as we all got older.
A Living World in Space
A generation ship is a hypothetical spacecraft designed for long-term interstellar travel, potentially lasting centuries. The concept involves an initial crew living, reproducing, and dying aboard the ship, with their descendants continuing the journey.
Originally conceived by US rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard, this enormous space ark is an enclosed, self-sustaining world with its own ecosystem, designed to meet all the needs of its crew as they travel for centuries or even millennia to their destination.
Equipped with agriculture, habitation, and life-support systems, these ships are intended to ensure survival across multiple generations.
Project Hyperion is part of a study aimed at assessing the feasibility of crewed interstellar flight using current and near-future technologies and hoping to guide future research and technology development while educating the public on the logistics and potential of interstellar travel. READ MORE...