Monday, January 20
Sunday, January 19
In The NEWS
Polar vortex set to freeze the US as far as the Deep South.
An arctic blast from a polar vortex is set to bring dangerously cold temperatures to the US this weekend, with wind chills reaching a minimum of minus 30 degrees to minus 50 degrees in some areas. About 120 million people—more than one-third of the US population—are expected to experience subzero conditions, particularly in the Northern Plains and Midwest. See a visual explainer on the polar vortex here.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill JD Vance’s senate seat.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) appointed Husted (R) over other potential candidates, including Vivek Ramaswamy (R), a former presidential candidate and incoming colead of President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Husted, 57, will serve until a special election in November 2026.
Separately, Trump's inaugural ceremony has been moved inside the US Capitol due to freezing temperatures. The last time a similar move occurred was in 1985 for Ronald Reagan's second inauguration.
Israel approves Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Israel's full cabinet approved the agreement a little over two days after Hamas and Israel had struck the deal. The plan will temporarily pause fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages held by Hamas as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. The deal—facilitated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar—goes into effect tomorrow. See full details here.
Biden commutes sentences of nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders.
The recent round of clemency follows President Joe Biden's commutations last month of the sentences of roughly 1,500 people and the pardoning of 39 nonviolent offenders. That round, at the time, was the largest single-day act of clemency by a US president since records began in 1900. Biden holds the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued.
Joan Plowright, Tony Award-winning British actress, dies at 95.
Plowright's career spanned over 70 years in theater and film, including on Broadway. Her achievements included winning a Tony Award in 1961 for her role in "A Taste of Honey," in which she played a troubled teenager, and two Golden Globes in 1993, for her roles in the film "Enchanted April" and the HBO TV movie "Stalin." Plowright was also made a dame in 2004. She was married to fellow renowned British actor Laurence Olivier for 28 years, until his death in 1989.
Lavish bathhouse unearthed from ancient Rome's Pompeii. (w/photos)
Archaeologists in Pompeii have uncovered a private spa complex built more than 2,000 years ago, featuring thermal rooms capable of hosting 30 guests. The discovery, connected to an elegant black-walled banquet hall, offers a rare insight into how wealthy Romans used architectural spaces to showcase their culture, social status, and political ambition.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Happiness
We are bigger, more important than we think we are, just because we don't have the power and wealth that others have.
Power and wealth do not create happiness...
Your neighbors and friends do not create your happiness...
Nor does your job or things you own...
HAPPINESS is an internal concept that allows you to accept and make the most out of what you have and not feel envious of what others may have.
We have been taught to WANT MORE and when we do not get more, we feel unhappy.
Everyone says that they want a better life for their children and that is why they do what they do.
But what do their children want???
I have two siblings and only one could not stop wanting more.
We had the same parents and the same teachings and influence but there were 12 and 8 years separating two of us from the third.
It was the third child that could not stop wanting more.
Two of us are happy and content, our younger sibling claims that is the case for him, but still mentally wants to get as much as he can before he dies.
HE CANNOT BE HAPPY...
Wrong About the Origins of Life
In a new peer reviewed analysis, scientists quantify amino acids before and after our “last universal common ancestor.”
The last universal common ancestor is the single life form that branched into everything since.
Earth four billion years ago may help us check for life on one of Saturn’s moons today.
Scientists are making a case for adjusting our understanding of how exactly genes first emerged. For a while, there’s been a consensus about the order in which the building block amino acids were “added” into the box of Lego pieces that build our genes.
But according to genetic researchers at the University of Arizona, our previous assumptions may reflect biases in our understanding of biotic (living) versus abiotic (non-living) sources.
In other words, our current working model of gene history could be undervaluing early protolife (which included forerunners like RNA and peptides) as compared to what emerged with and after the beginning of life.
In other words, our current working model of gene history could be undervaluing early protolife (which included forerunners like RNA and peptides) as compared to what emerged with and after the beginning of life.
Our understanding of these extremely ancient times will always be incomplete, but it’s important for us to keep researching early Earth. The scientists explain that any improvements in that understanding could not only allow us know more of our own story, but also help us search for the beginnings of life elsewhere in the universe. READ MORE...
Saturday, January 18
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> NFL playoffs Divisional Round kicks off tomorrow; see schedule and predictions for all four matchups (More) | Saudi-backed LIV Golf league signs multiyear broadcasting deal with Fox Sports (More)
> Comedian and five-time Emmy winner Conan O'Brien selected as 26th recipient of prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (More)
> Bob Uecker, longtime baseball broadcaster, comedian, and actor known as "Mr. Baseball," dies at age 90 (More)
Science & Technology
> DNA mutation responsible for brain cell death in Huntington's disease found to act over the span of decades; discovery solves mystery of why symptoms arise in middle age despite it being an inherited disease (More)
> Google says it won't add fact-checks to Google searches or YouTube videos despite a forthcoming European Union law requiring the practice (More)
> Ancient human relative Homo erectus lived in extreme desert environments as early as 1 million years ago; study suggests ancient humans were much more adaptable to harsh climates than previously believed (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.9%) (More) | Average US 30-year fixed mortgage rate rises above 7% for first time since May (More) | Electric, hybrid vehicle sales reach record 20% of total US vehicles sold last year (More)
> American Express to pay $230M to settle federal probe into alleged deceptive marketing practices (More) | Digital payments company Block to pay $255M to federal and state regulators to settle Cash App's banking law violations (More) | Toyota’s truck division Hino to pay $1.6B over US emissions scandal (More)
> Oil giant BP to lay off around 4,700 employees, roughly 5% of its total workforce (More) | Spirit Airlines to lay off 200 employees amid Chapter 11 bankruptcy (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Israeli cabinet delays ratifying ceasefire and hostage-release plan to today following last-minute disagreement with Hamas; Israel continues strikes in Gaza day after ceasefire deal announced (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) to fill Sen. Marco Rubio's (R) seat in US Senate; Rubio was nominated to be the US secretary of state (More) | Senate confirmation hearings continue, including for treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent and interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum; see recap (More)
> Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor, reaches settlement deal to end $148M defamation case with two former Georgia election workers (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Inverted Totalitarianism
Inverted totalitarianism - is a system where economic powers like corporations exert subtle but substantial power over a system that superficially seems democratic. Over time, this theory predicts a sense of powerlessness and political apathy, continuing a slide away from political egalitarianism.
Sheldon Wolin coined the term in 2003 to describe what he saw as the emerging form of government of the United States. He said that the United States was turning into a managed democracy (similar to an illiberal democracy). He uses the term "inverted totalitarianism" to draw attention to the totalitarian aspects of such a system, while the term inverted helps to portray the many differences with classical totalitarianism.
Illiberal Democracy - While liberal democracies protect individual rights and freedoms, illiberal democracies do not. Elections in an illiberal democracy are often manipulated or rigged, being used to legitimize and consolidate the incumbent rather than to choose the country's leaders and policies.
So... here's the question: Do you believe/not believe this?
While our elections are not rigged, in the traditional sense, super wealthy Americans invest millions of dollars in the hopes of influencing the outcomes of these elections.
Both the Democrats and Republicans spend millions, it is not just one sided.
Additionally, these same wealthy people pay millions of dollars to both the House and the Senate members in order that they will vote their way on certain bills that will influence their invested capital.
Congress continues to allow these wealthy people to have offshore bank accounts that are not subject to US taxes.
What is a totalitarian form of Government?
Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and controls the public sphere and the private sphere of society. In the field of political science, totalitarianism is the extreme form of authoritarianism, wherein all socio-political power is held by a dictator, who also controls the national politics and the peoples of the nation with continual propaganda campaigns that are broadcast by state-controlled and by friendly private mass communications media.The USA DOES NOT HAVE a totalitarian government...
This to me means that inverted totalitarianism is not really applicable to the USA...
HOWEVER...
Illiberal Democracy does seem to apply to the USA in all democratically elected positions.
China's Mars Mission Leaves US Behind
Hong Kong CNN — China’s historic attempt to bring samples from Mars to Earth could launch as soon as 2028, two years earlier than previously stated, according to a senior mission official.
The country’s Tianwen-3 mission would carry out two launches “around 2028” to retrieve the Martian samples, chief mission designer Liu Jizhong said at a deep-space exploration event in eastern China’s Anhui province last week.
The projected mission launch is more ambitious than a 2030 target announced by space officials earlier this year, though the timeline has fluctuated in recent years. A 2028 target appears to return to a launch plan described in 2022 by a senior scientist involved with the Tianwen program – a mission profile that would see samples returned to Earth by 2031. READ MORE...
Friday, January 17
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> "Conclave" leads all films with 12 nominations at the 2025 British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTA Awards; "Emilia Pérez" is just behind with 11 nods (More) | "Challengers" and "A Complete Unknown" lead 2025 Writers Guild Awards nominations (More)
> Nine NBA games rescheduled due to Los Angeles fires and Atlanta winter storm (More) | Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Michael Vick headline 2025 College Football Hall of Fame class (More)
> NCAA approves payment for women's basketball teams who compete in March Madness; $15M will be distributed among tourney teams and will expand to $25M by 2028 (More)
Science & Technology
> Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander successfully launches, with a lunar touchdown date of March 2; NASA-led mission is part of a series of flights to deliver payloads to the moon's surface (More)
> Meta unveils AI-powered speech-to-speech platform that can perform real-time translation across 101 languages (More) | Watch Mark Zuckerberg discuss the company's push into all things AI (More)
> DNA analysis of a first-century gravesite in southern England reveals occupants shared a maternal family tree tracing back to a single woman; study suggests women were at the center of Iron Age Celtic communities (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets rise (S&P 500 +1.8%, Dow +1.7%, Nasdaq +2.5%), with all three major indexes notching best day since November after tame inflation data (More) | Core consumer price index rises 3.2% year-over-year in December, less than expected (More) | Want to learn about inflation, and many other topics? Sign up for 1440 Business & Finance (More)
> JPMorgan posts record quarterly and annual earnings and revenue, with Q4 profits jumping 50% to over $14B and annual profit reaching $58B (More) | Goldman Sachs beats revenue and earnings estimates; records Q4 profit of $4B, highest in more than three years (More)
> Meta Platforms plans to lay off 5% of workforce, or about 3,600 people, based on performance evaluations (More) | Short-seller Hindenburg Research to shut down (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> US Food and Drug Administration bans use of Red Dye No. 3 from nation's food supply, drinks, and ingested drugs due to potential cancer risks; move comes 35 years after the FDA banned the artificial coloring from cosmetics (More)
> Six Trump Cabinet nominees face Senate confirmation hearings, including Pam Bondi for attorney general, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for secretary of state, and former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) for CIA director; see recap (More) | President Joe Biden delivers farewell address to nation (More)
> US Supreme Court weighs First Amendment constitutionality of Texas’ age-verification requirement for pornography sites (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Americans Are Not Really into Customer Service - 2
This new breed of worker:
1. may/may not believe in God
2. may not have any social heroes
3. is really technology savvy
4. has no values or integrity
5. sees no reason for company loyalty
6. has no interest in moral behavior
7. just as feminine as manly
8. has no allegiance to anyone
9. is totally self-absorbed
10. feels they are owed everything
Of course, I am generalizing here but if I am only 80% accurate, how will that impact our American Business and their ability to remain globally competitive? And, without going too far into the future, how will their children be should they decide to have any?
My generation... the baby boomers... on or a few years before/after 1950 have at best, only 20 good years left... and most of that will be lived in retirement or under strict medical supervision. And, pretty soon, those born on or around 1970, will be in the same situation that we are currently; so, in about 30 years, the OLD GUARD will be dead and gone...
Somewhere between 2046 and 2050 is when the shit will hit the fan, but, as early as 2030, we will know for sure that the shit is really going to hit the fan, and it may be a tad earlier... who knows? In 2030, I will be 84 and still around to see if my predictions come true... But, just as sure as someone is my witness, when that day comes, I will no longer give a shit, nor will I have any desire to tell you that I told you so.
However, the fact remains that Americans are not good at customer service and since the potential employment pool for customer service type workers is shrinking in size big time, there will be a huge void in the customer service arena that... believe it or not... will be filled by immigrants and foreigners,
causing many Americans, like me, to bitch even louder.
My wife and I, ventured up to the big city of Morristown, TN to see if I was eligible to upgrade my phone to the new S7 Edge by Samsung. We were told no on the upgrade but that I would be eligible in about 5-6 weeks. In the meantime, there was this great promo deal on jet packs that we were eligible for today. So, based upon what our 20 something service rep told us, we took the deal... only to find out via email when we got home, that most of what she told us had been a lie... and, if it was not a lie, then it was certainly not true.
Our rep is going to call us when she gets to work tomorrow, but we have already boxed up the item and plan to return it to the store tomorrow since we anticipate a negative outcome with our phone call. Not only have we wasted a lot of our time, but we have put mileage on the car that did not need to be there, and we will be burning additional gas online that did not need to be burned had we been told the truth.
How many times do companies and their poorly trained workforce have to misinform customers before those same customers take their business to another cell phone provider? And, does that question even matter to management?
Probably not.
And would you like to know why it doesn't?
Because they are getting more new customers each month than they are losing each month, so the bottom line is still positive. None of the cruise ships that are currently operating in global waters, would have been successful with that attitude.
You might just say that I am nothing more than a foolish old man who has nothing better to do with his time than to write negative articles about America, Americans, or American companies... and, you may be right, but, what if I am right and American companies start a serious decline because of the lack of customer service that I describe here?
Are you going to apologize?
I doubt it... probably because you will not even remember this article or me. But what you will remember will be the quality that seems to be getting a little worse since the last time you paid attention to it. And it may or may not register with you either that you are paying a higher cost for that lack of quality than you were the last time. Still, the only way that you will not buy American is when they are out-of-stock, and you are forced to purchase the item from a foreign manufacturer... and, once that happens, you will never buy American again.
It is called GLOBALIZATION... and it was put into place by a Republican, if that really matter now. And, as I have said earlier... it is just a matter of time.
Robot Companion from a Suitcase
World-leading humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) company Realbotix has announced it will unveil its latest robot, “Melody,” at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025).
Melody is, by all accounts, an open-source design that features functionality, adaptability, and user experience above beyond its previous offerings.
Realbotix, in case you are unaware, develops “customizable, full-bodied, human-like robots with AI integration that improve the human experience through connection, learning, and play.”
One of Melody’s main improvements includes its advanced motor technology, which, according to Realbotix, dramatically improves “her” movement fluidity, modularity, and interaction. This should, it is hoped, enable it to be dramatically more versatile when performing various tasks.
This firmly fits the company’s mission “to create robots and AI that are indistinguishable from humans in appearance and social interaction.”
P-Series servo motors developed by Dynamixel can provide smooth, more fluid, and humanlike movements. The inclusion of them into Melody’s body dramatically improves motion, making them more natural compared to other robots. READ MORE...
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