Wednesday, January 15
Tuesday, January 14
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> The 2025 Grammy Awards (Feb. 2) face possible postponement due to Los Angeles wildfires (More) | Jeff Bridges, Paris Hilton, and Billy Crystal among Hollywood stars who have lost homes to wildfires (More)
> Sam Moore, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and one-half of soul duo Sam & Dave, dies at age 89 (More) | Leslie Charleson, actress best known for starring on "General Hospital" for 46 years, dies at age 79 (More)
> Ohio State tops Texas 28-14 in College Football Playoff semifinal, will take on Notre Dame in national championship (Jan. 20) (More) | NFL Wild Card round wraps up tonight; see latest playoff bracket and schedule (More)
Science & Technology
> Blue Origin attempts delays first full launch of New Glenn rocket due to vehicle issues; date of next launch attempt to be determined (More)
> Researchers discover new type of cell in cartilage that acts as "bubble wrap," providing cushioning and structure to surrounding tissue, including making the human nose flexible (More)
> New theory suggests Pluto may have captured its largest moon after a collision billions of years ago; how Charon, almost half the size of Pluto, became trapped in orbit has been a longstanding mystery (More)
Business & Markets
> Markets tumble Friday (S&P 500 -1.5%, Dow -1.6%, Nasdaq -1.6%) as strong jobs report lowers expectations of interest rate cuts (More) | How stock markets work (More)
> Apple antitrust lawsuit begins in the UK today; tech giant faces claims it charges excessive fees on App Store downloads, faces up to $1.8B in fines (More)
> Federal judge rules American Airlines violated federal law by emphasizing environmental, social, and governance principles in investment decisions for employee 401(k) plans (More) | See 1440's overview of 401(k) plans, how they work, and much more (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Special counsel Jack Smith resigns from the Department of Justice; Smith led separate probes into President-elect Donald Trump over alleged election interference and mishandling of classified documents (More) | Senate confirmation hearings for Trump nominees begin this week; see schedule (More)
> Israel sends David Barnea, director of the country's Mossad intelligence service, to Qatar to join Gaza ceasefire talks (More) | See updates on war in maps and charts (More)
> Winter storm brings freezing temperatures, multiple inches of snow across the US South from Texas to Georgia; more than 10,000 flights canceled or delayed over the weekend (More)
The Limits of Nostalgia & Being Nostalgic
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word nostalgia is learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of νόστος (nóstos), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric word, and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning "pain, ache", and was coined by a 17th-century medical student to describe the anxieties displayed by Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home. Described as a medical condition—a form of melancholy—in the Early Modern period, it became an important trope in Romanticism.
So, if we are nostalgic or being nostalgic then we are expressing a sentimentality for the past...
But is this a good thing?
At 77 years old, I oftentimes (since I am retired) reflect upon previous years and sometimes those
reflections are received fondly and sometimes they are not.
1. My childhood was not a fond reflection
2. My high school years were a fond reflection
3. My college years were not a fond reflection
4. My time in the military was not a fond reflections
5. My first marriage was not a fond reflection
6. Various aspects of my career employment were not fond reflections
What this little analysis tells me that there is only one area of my life with which being nostalgic
would not be a problem for me... but, if I were to spend too much time reflecting upon that period of my life that was never replicated... would I feel good about those reflections or bad?
Perhaps being nostalgic is not the way to go for me or for others who are like me... and perhaps nostalgic journeys to my negative past might help me better appreciate what I have now?
While this may seem that I am being a little too critical of not having an enjoyable life, let me say that there were many events in my life that were extremely happy, productive, and fulfilling but if I look back on them in a general way, they were more negative than positive.
Entangle Light and Sound
The quantum entanglement of particles is now an established art. You take two or more unmeasured particles and correlate them in such a way that their properties blur and mirror each other. Measure one and the other's corresponding properties lock into place, instantaneously, even when separated by a wide distance.
In new research, physicists have theorized a bold way to change it up by entangling two particles of very different kinds – a unit of light, or a photon, with a phonon, the quantum equivalent of a wave of sound.
Physicists Changlong Zhu, Claudiu Genes, and Birgit Stiller of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Germany have called their proposed new system optoacoustic entanglement. READ MORE...
Monday, January 13
Plan for the FUTURE
I have often wondered why people who are not wealthy want to spend money on items that makes them feel like they are wealthy, causing them typically to sink deeper into debt?
Most of us realize, early on in our lives, if we are going to be in the top 10-1% of those Americans that are or that will be or become wealthy. We just know it or feel it in our bones.
Wealthy people have expensive homes, cars, and clothes but they do not become asshole deep in debt to own these assets. They have the money to pay them off whenever they feel the urge they need to do this.
However, those of us who pretend to be wealthy, hardly ever pay off these debts; instead, they just keep increasing their debt.
Why does making it appear to your neighbors that you are wealthy make so much difference to Americans?
There is a desire among Americans to live your life better than your parents lived their life, I understand that, but it is not the same thing as going into debt that you will never pay off to achieve that. WHO CARES???
My wife and I paid off our debt 20 years ago and have been living debt free ever since. Two years ago, we downsized to a smaller house to further cut expenses and the physical strain on our bodies to take care of a larger house and yard.
We put as much of our money into savings so that we will always have more money to pay our expenses as they increase but to also take care of unexpected expenses.
We are happy and content and want for nothing although, we have also accepted a simple lifestyle which makes a difference as well.
You should give serious thought to what you want your future to look like and start planning for that as young as you can...