Thursday, February 6
Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu (born November 28, 1970) is an Ethiopian American contemporary visual artist, known for her multi-layered paintings of abstracted landscapes on a large scale. Her paintings, drawings, and prints depict the cumulative effects of urban sociopolitical changes.
Mehretu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1970, the first child of an Ethiopian college professor of geography and a Jewish American Montessori teacher.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Grammy Awards draw in 15.4 million TV viewers, a 9% drop from 2024's telecast; weekend events raised $24M for Los Angeles wildfire relief (More)
> Amber Ruffin, Emmy- and Tony-nominated comedian and writer, tapped to headline 2025 White House Correspondents’ Dinner set for April 26 (More)
> Trial begins for man accused of 2022 knife attack on author Salman Rushdie that left Rushdie permanently blind in one eye (More) | Ten new sexual assault and misconduct civil lawsuits expected to be filed against Sean "Diddy" Combs in the coming days (More)
Science & Technology
> Scientists discover treatment to stop tumor formation and growth of a type of medulloblastoma, the most common childhood malignant brain cancer (More)
> Early North American communities peaked in population around the middle of the 12th century, falling by 30% before widespread European colonization, new study reveals (More)
> Researchers launch long-term study of Alzheimer's in young adults, beginning as early as age 18; 25-year project seeks to track molecular changes in the brain, find interventions for the disease before it develops (More) | How Alzheimer's works, treatments, risk factors, and more (1440 Topics)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.7%, Dow +0.3%, Nasdaq +1.4%) as investors review latest batch of earnings and as US job openings fell to 7.6 million in December, the lowest level since September (More)
> Alphabet shares fall more than 7% in after-hours trading after Q4 revenue miss (More) | Google 101 (1440 Topics) | Snap shares rise 5% in after-hours trading on better-than-expected Q4 results (More)
> Cruise to slash workforce by nearly 50%, or roughly 1,000 employees, after owner General Motors ended funding to robotaxi unit (More) | Estee Lauder to trim up to 7,000 jobs, or around 11% of workforce; shares drop 16% on the news (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Senate panels advance Tulsi Gabbard's bid for national intelligence director and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid for health secretary (More) | Senate confirms Doug Collins as veterans affairs secretary and Pam Bondi as US attorney general (More) | The US sends first migrant flight to Guantánamo Bay (More) | President Donald Trump proposes US control of Gaza and Palestinians to relocate elsewhere (More) | USAID direct hires put on leave worldwide, except those deemed essential (More)
> China announces retaliatory tariffs on select US imports, including gas and coal, as well as an antitrust investigation into Google after Trump administration's 10% tariff on Chinese imports takes effect (More)
> The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's estimated 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, dies at age 88 (More)
Free Market Enterprise System
.jpg)
A "free enterprise economic system" is an economic system where individuals and businesses have the freedom to operate with minimal government intervention, allowing market forces to determine prices and production, essentially meaning businesses can make decisions about what to produce, how much to produce, and who to sell to without significant government regulation; it's often synonymous with a "free market" or "capitalist" system.
Free market or capitalism is causing a lot of concern in the USA because Trump, a billionaire, has brought in several billionaires to help not just reduce the size of government but set it up to act more like a for profit organization than a non-profit.
The liberals think that in so doing they will destroy democracy and are trying to resist this as much as possible.
The free market enterprise system operates best when there is little involvement from government and will govern itself by what is called THE INVISIBLE HAND. This means that business is self regulating and will not intentionally allow companies to destroy themselves.
While the Invisible Hand has some merit, it does not prevent the accumulation of wealth to grow out of hand due to Marketplace Greed.
In fact, the invisible hand has nothing to do with controlling GREED.
Greed is the single biggest factor that is destroying this system because companies have literally ignored the worker while generously rewarding management and upper level executives with high salaries and bonuses while offering the workforce pennies on the dollar wage increases.
Consequently, the workforce is now considering SOCIALISM or a modified version of socialism where companies are owned by the employees, and everyone make the same based upon the level of their job. However, everyone gets bonuses and everyone shares in the profits. There is no 125:1 salary ratios anymore.
Socialism does not reward trying to make things better, so growth can be severely limited if any growth happens at all.
Whatever happens in this country, will be a direct result of what Capitalism did for management but did not do for labor.
The Mysterious Paraparticles
Rice University physicists have mathematically unveiled the possibility of paraparticles, which defy the traditional binary classification of particles into bosons and fermions.
Their research, which delves into the realms of abstract algebra and condensed matter, hints at groundbreaking applications in quantum computing and information systems, suggesting an exciting, albeit speculative, future for new material properties and particle behavior.
Breaking Conventional Particle Categories
Since the early days of quantum mechanics, scientists have believed that all particles fall into one of two categories — bosons or fermions — defined by their distinct behaviors.
However, recent research by Rice University physicist Kaden Hazzard and former graduate student Zhiyuan Wang challenges this idea. Their study, published in Nature on January 8, provides a mathematical framework suggesting the potential existence of paraparticles — particles that defy the traditional classification and were once thought impossible.
“We determined that new types of particles we never knew of before are possible,” said Hazzard, associate professor of physics and astronomy. READ MORE...
Wednesday, February 5
Neighbors
Most every thought of mine begins with a cup of vanilla cappuccino made with Kona coffee beans. I remember my pappy telling me not to trust anyone who didn't drink coffee all day long...
The lower forty-eight sits between freezin' ass cold Canada and bakin' ass hot Mexico. We tried our best to be nice to them two neighbors, but I don't rightly see how we can do that no more.
Canada supports liberals who want to destroy democracy and bring in another King George to control how we live and Mexico wants the cartels to get us all hyped up on illegals drugs, so we'll be in no condition to fight.
And... it that ain't bad enough, we got Europe wanting us to pay for the whole world going green whatever the hell that means, while Russia and China try to take our future away with their brands of communism.
It seems, none of the world has the damn money that we do, nor do they care about getting any money as long as we pay for everything... now in this here part of America, we gots a saying... THAT DOG DON'T HUNT
Now who in their right mind wants that, pray tell?
Cindy Sherman - Photographer
Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters.
Her breakthrough work is often considered to be the collection Untitled Film Stills, a series of 70 black-and-white photographs of herself evoking typical female roles in performance media (especially arthouse films and popular B-movies).
In The News
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Beyoncé announces concert dates in support of her Grammy-winning album "Cowboy Carter"; the 22-show world tour will kick off in Los Angeles April 28 (More) | "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" sequel series in the works featuring original show star Sarah Michelle Gellar (More)
> Former President Joe Biden signs with talent firm Creative Arts Agency; CAA represented Biden for a book deal and paid speaking tours from 2017 to 2020 (More)
> Sexual assault trial against former Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales begins; Rubiales is accused of an unwanted kiss on Spanish star Jenni Hermoso following Spain's victory at the 2023 Women's World Cup (More)
Science & Technology
> OpenAI unveils deep research tool, an AI agent the company says can perform complex, multistep tasks and information synthesis with minimal user input (More)
> Engineers develop approach for mass-produced inkjet printing of wearable biosensors; technology could lead to cheap and widely available monitoring of health data (More)
> Daily omega-3 supplements may slow biological aging by up to four months, according to three-year study of more than 700 participants (More) | Biological aging and epigenetic clocks, explained (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.8%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq -1.2%) amid spate of tariff announcements (More)
> President Donald Trump signs executive order seeking to establish first-ever US sovereign wealth fund—a government-owned fund that invests in various financial assets; fund would require congressional approval (More) | Vanguard cuts fees on nearly half of its US funds in largest fee reduction in firm's history (More)
> Tech giant Palantir shares surge nearly 23% in after-hours trading after posting better-than-expected Q4 earnings and revenue; company attributes much of its growth to its use of artificial intelligence (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Salvage crews remove wreckage of American Airlines regional jet from Potomac River after last week’s deadly midair collision near Reagan National Airport; at least 55 of 67 victims have been recovered and identified so far (More)
> Jury selection begins in trial of Aimee Bock, the alleged ringleader behind a $250M pandemic relief fraud scheme that exploited federal child nutrition programs and led to criminal charges against 70 individuals (More)
> Blast in Moscow kills at least two people, including the founder of a separatist unit fighting in eastern Ukraine, per reports (More) | Rwanda-backed rebels declare ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, beginning today (More)
United Again
We live in a country that is declining, and the people blame the other side for that decline. Both sides claim they are righteous and correct, and the other side should be destroyed, censored, or in prison.
BOTH SIDES ARE THE PROBLEM
DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS
Why?
Because in 1966 we had the same problems today that we had then and neither side fixed anything although they promised they would.
The Problems:
- racism
- declining education
- healthcare costs
- drug addiction
- wealth gap
- poverty
- middle class paying most of the taxes
James Webb Space Telescope Validates Expansion
Through the lens of the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, scientists are zeroing in on the Hubble Constant, a vital measure that indicates the universe’s expansion rate.
Recent studies, especially those involving the JWST, have provided more precise measurements, crucial for understanding the universe’s broader properties.
Understanding the Hubble Constant
In recent years, we’ve witnessed incredible advancements in our understanding of the universe, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Both telescopes have revolutionized astronomy, uncovering stunning discoveries.