Steppenwolf - "Born To Be Wild"

Taxes

 

Cat

 

Child

 

Slide

 

Expreso Machine

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Zakir Hussain, legendary Indian tabla player and four-time Grammy winner, dies at age 73 (More) | Taylor Swift No. 1 on Billboard's year-end Top Artist chart for second straight year, first artist to top the year-end chart four times since it launched in 1981 (More)

> Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder defeat Houston Rockets in 2024 NBA Cup semifinals; Bucks and Thunder matchup in second-ever NBA Cup final tomorrow (More)

> Warner Bros. Discovery opts not to renew deal to air new episodes of "Sesame Street" on HBO and Max (More) | "Kraven The Hunter" brings in just $11M in its opening weekend, lowest-ever opener for a Sony-produced Marvel film (More)


Science & Technology
> Louisiana reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu, patient hospitalized; around 60 human cases have been confirmed nationwide but no human-to-human transmission observed; officials say threat to public remains low (More) | See bird flu stats (More)

> AI-powered blood screening detects signs of breast cancer at stages earlier than existing tests; technique detected stage 1A tumor presence with 98% accuracy (More)

> Astronomers observe a particle jet emanating from M87*—the first black hole to ever be imaged—with energy tens of millions of times greater than visible light (More) | Fascinated by black holes but don't know how they work? Start here (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed Friday (S&P 500 -0.0%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq +0.1%), with Dow's seven-day losing streak the longest since 2020 (More)

> Broadcom's stock jumps 24% to all-time high Friday, pushing the company past $1T valuation; news came after Broadcom's quarterly earnings call spurred reports the company is working to develop AI server chips for Apple and OpenAI (More)

> Amazon workers at two New York warehouses authorize possible strike after setting a Dec. 15 deadline for union contract bargaining dates; roughly 5,500 workers threaten to walk out days before Christmas (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Cyclone Chido hits French territory of Mayotte as Category 4 storm, the most destructive cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island in 90 years; 11 people confirmed dead and 250 injured as of this writing, with death toll expected to rise to several hundred or more (More)

> ABC News agrees to pay $15M and $1M in attorneys' fees to settle President-elect Donald Trump's defamation case over anchor George Stephanopoulos' false claims Trump had been found civilly liable of raping E. Jean Carroll; a Manhattan court found Trump civilly liable of sexual battery, not rape (More)

> An alleged Chinese spy attended a 2020 birthday party for Britain's Prince Andrew and was authorized to act on the prince's behalf in Chinese business dealings, UK court hears (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Good Health

 

When I was 40 years old, I gave up smoking, drinking alcohol eating red meat, fried food, and sugars.  In order to keep me honest, I eat 1-2 cheeseburgers a year, 3-4 pizzas a year, eat a couple of snickers each year, and have maybe 1-2 glasses of wine around Christmas.

I also started a daily exercise routine (seven days a week) that included walking outside or on the treadmill, working with strength machines for an hour.  

My routine also included a healthy diet where I tried to eat less than 2000 calories/day but never over 2500 calories/day.

This diet included:

• fish
• chicken 
• turkey
• colored vegetables
• a variety of beans
• onions
• bell peppers
• garlic

My total cholesterol (both good and bad) was 84.

However, all my exercising and diet, did not stop me from experiencing a triple bypass level heart attack while walking on the treadmill.  It did not stop me from experiencing spinal stenosis that resulted in me having L2-L3, L4, L5, & S1 fused together two years ago.

While my exercise contributed to my problems, my good health saved my life, and my overall health kept my physical condition from BEING WORSE than it was.

Somewhat Political

 

New Retirement Age in 2025

The new year will bring a series of changes to Social Security. Every year the Social Security Administration announces a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) which applies to beneficiaries’ payments starting with the disbursement that corresponds to January.

The increase this year was 2.5% which will also raise the amount contributors must earn for each Social Security credit, also known as a “quarter of coverage,” as well as the wage cap for Social Security taxes. Furthermore, beneficiaries will have to wait a little longer to reach full retirement age.   READ MORE...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends...

Offended

 

Beautiful

 

Sink In

 

Pardon

 

Japan

 

Slow Motion

 

Growth

 

Obviously, human beings grow from infancy to adulthood then to becoming senior citizens then death...  but, there is lots of growth that we do in-between.

• birth
• infancy
• adolescence
• teenager
• young adult
• adult
• middle aged adult
• senior citizen
• retired
• death

Our Lives has also been classified this way:

• birth
• unconsciously perfect
• unconsciously imperfect
• consciously imperfect
• consciously perfect
• death

To me, classifications of life do not interest me, what interests me is the evolution of our growth.

As a baby/child, our growth is limited basically learning from our parents or learning from our own actions.

do then feedback

That is to say, we touch the stove and realize it is hot and immediately feel the pain on fingers.

As we get older, we growth from learning by:

• reading
• listening
• watching
• writing
• feeling 
• tasting

But the real growth does not come until we realize that we can TEACH OURSELVES TO GROW.  That growth can take us in a variety of directions depending upon how curious we are.

As we reach a certain age, either a few years before or after retirement, we understand (as we look back) that a substantial part of our growth came from EXPERIENCE.

These experiences can be both good and bad like putting our fingers on the stove when it was hot or experiencing the love of a dog as it licks our face.

It is said or believed that wisdom comes to us as the final stage of our growth when we realize that life was really about how we lived, not what we accomplished or how much money we earned to leave behind or our legacy.

Our growth is learning how to live and how to adapt to the life we are living.  

With wisdom you understand if you lived your life well or did not, depending upon how one defines "well".

If you end up being the wealthiest man in the world and discover (admit to yourself) that you are unhappy, then one might conclude you did not live your life well, despite your accomplishment.

How will your life GROW?

Somewhat Political

 

First Carbon-14 Diamond Battery

There are many ways to make hydrogen, but only green hydrogen is climate-neutral—unfortunately, it isn't nearly as cost competitive as other energy sources.

A new proof-of-concept reactor, developed by scientists at Shinshu University in Matsumoto, Japan, aims to split water using photocatalysts and good ole sunlight.

Although the idea needs more time in the oven before being commercially viable, it offers a possible pathway for green hydrogen to be a useful for tool for helping humanity kick its fossil fuel addiction.

Hydrogen fuels come in many colors—each one an indicator of how the fuel was initially created. Blue hydrogen refers to fuel created from steam and capturing the resulting carbon underground, pink hydrogen means nuclear energy powers the electrolysis process, and black and brown carbon (as their name denotes) splits H20 using fossil fuels, which isn’t exactly helpful with the whole cutting emissions thing.     READ MORE...