MY WRITING JOURNAL

Tuesday, August 17

Spontaneous Creation

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking has said.

He had previously argued belief in a creator was not incompatible with science but in a new book, he concludes the Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics.

The Grand Design, part serialised in the Times, says there is no need to invoke God to set the Universe going.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something," he concluded.

'Planetary conditions'
In his new book, an extract of which appears in the Times, Britain's most famous physicist sets out to contest Sir Isaac Newton's belief that the universe must have been designed by God as it could not have sprung out of chaos.

Citing the 1992 discovery of a planet orbiting a star other than our Sun, he said: "That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions - the single Sun, the lucky combination of Earth-Sun distance and solar mass - far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings."

He adds: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going." READ MORE

So Tiny

Our Metabolism

Blaming those extra pounds on a slowing metabolism as you age? Not so fast.

A new international study counters the common belief that our metabolism inevitably declines during our adult lives. Well, not until we’re in our 60s, anyway.

Researchers found that metabolism peaks around age 1, when babies burn calories 50 percent faster than adults, and then gradually declines roughly 3 percent a year until around age 20.

From there, metabolism plateaus until about age 60, when it starts to slowly decline again, by less than 1 percent annually, according to findings published Thursday in the journal Science.

To tease out the specific impact of age on metabolism, the researchers adjusted for factors such as body size (bigger bodies burn more calories overall than smaller ones) and fat-free muscle mass (muscles burn more calories than fat).

“Metabolic rate is really stable all through adult life, 20 to 60 years old,” said study author Herman Pontzer, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and author of “Burn,” a new book about metabolism.

“There's no effect of menopause that we can see, for example. And you know, people will say, 'Well when I hit 30 years old, my metabolism fell apart.' We don't see any evidence for that, actually.”

Pontzer and colleagues studied a database of more than 6,400 people, ages 8 days to 95 years, from 29 countries worldwide who had participated in “doubly labeled water” tests.

With this method, individuals drink water in which some of the hydrogen and oxygen have been replaced with isotopes of these elements that can be traced in urine samples. READ MORE

Our Pets

Shape Shifting Fish

Scientists piloting a remote submarine have caught a rare glimpse of one of the deep sea’s most mysterious and elusive creatures.

The bright orange, female whalefish (of the order Cetomimiformes) was spotted half-swimming, half-gliding through the glare of submarine's lights around 6,600 feet (2,013 meters) deep offshore of Monterey Bay, California.

The whalefish sighting was one of only 18 made by marine biologists from The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute during 34 years of deep-sea exploration.

"Whalefish have rarely been seen alive in the deep, so many mysteries remain regarding these remarkable fish," the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute tweeted. "With each deep-sea dive, we uncover more mysteries and solve others."

So little is known about the lives of whalefish that for more than a century after their discovery (they were first recorded in 1895 by two Smithsonian Institution scientists), the three vastly different forms the animals may take across their life cycles were mistaken for entirely different zoological families.

First, there are the tapetails: scaleless larval forms with long, streamer-like tails and mouths that seem to have a comical overbite; they live and feed near the ocean’s surface.

When the time comes for these fish to assume their adult forms, two vastly different body shapes await them. READ MORE

Just A Man

Monday, August 16

Gasoline

Saigon = Afghanistan

Populist Press

Young and ARMED

Political Cartoons

Obesity in America

FROM THE Centers For Disease Control and Prevention...

Adult Obesity Facts

Obesity Prevalence Maps
Adult obesity prevalence by state and territory using self-reported information from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Obesity is a common, serious, and costly disease

The US obesity prevalence was 42.4% in 2017 – 2018.

From 1999 –2000 through 2017 –2018, US obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 42.4%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.

Obesity-related conditionsexternal icon include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. These are among the leading causes of preventable, premature death.

The estimated annual medical cost of obesityexternal icon in the United States was $147 billion in 2008. Medical costs for people who had obesity was $1,429 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight.

Obesity affects some groups more than others

[Read CDC National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data brief]

Non-Hispanic Black adults (49.6%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanic adults (44.8%), non-Hispanic White adults (42.2%) and non-Hispanic Asian adults (17.4%).

The obesity prevalence was 40.0% among adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among adults aged 60 and older.

Obesity and socioeconomic status

[Read the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)]

The association between obesity and income or educational level is complex and differs by sex and race/ethnicity.

Overall, men and women with college degrees had lower obesity prevalence compared with those with less education.

The same obesity and education pattern occurred among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic women, and non-Hispanic White men. However, the differences were not all statistically significant. Although the difference was not statistically significant among non-Hispanic Black men, obesity prevalence increased with educational attainment.

No differences in obesity prevalence by education level were noted among non-Hispanic Asian women and men and Hispanic men.

Among men, obesity prevalence was lower in the lowest and highest income groups compared with the middle-income group. Researchers observed this pattern among non-Hispanic White and Hispanic men. Obesity prevalence was higher in the highest income group than in the lowest income group among non-Hispanic Black men.

Among women, obesity prevalence was lower in the highest income group than in the middle and lowest income groups. Researchers observed this pattern among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Asian, and Hispanic women. Among non-Hispanic Black women, there was no difference in obesity prevalence by income.

AMERICA: Living Off the Government

One of the main lessons that my parents engrained and/or imprinted upon me was the concept of NEVER LIVING OFF THE GOVERNMENT... to pull myself up from my own bootstraps, calling upon family or friends for help, if necessary, but never the government.

However, under the Biden Administration and the new Progressive Democrats, our Federal Government has put itself in a position of attempting to arrange as many Americans as possible to start living off the government with:

unemployment benefits
healthcare benefits
food stamp benefits
education benefits
housing benefits

And... the biggest problem that all of this spending has created in not just inflation but an increase in the National Debt and a DEVALUATION of the American Dollar... while at the same time CHINA is putting pressure on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to change the international currency of trade from the US Dollar to the Chinese YUAN...

The Democratic THEORY is that the WEALTHY AMERICANS are going to be paying for this... Most of the Democrats are themselves WEALHY... do you really believe that they are going to increase taxes on THEMSELVES???

If you think they wealthy will pay... then, I wonder what you will want to do when you realize that you were WRONG...

Living Under Taliban LAW

Taliban Law

As the incompetent Joe Biden sends 3,000 troops to Afghanistan to provide security for the evacuation of the American Embassy in Kabul, Americans are left wondering what will happen to the innocent women and children left to fend for themselves against an evil terror group that has no respect for women or children?

CNN, who failed to mention the disappearance of the Taliban and ISIS under President Trump’s leadership, sent a female correspondent to Afghanistan where she embedded herself with the Taliban to report back, apparently, on the Islamic terror group’s future humanitarian efforts.

CNN is so deep into pushing the radical Democrat Party agenda they don’t even see how foolish their repulsive propaganda appears to the everyday American.

In what can only be described as an either incredibly stupid or utterly naive moment, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, who is dressed from head to toe in a black burqa and headscarf, actually asked a Taliban leader in Afghanistan about the terror group’s plans to protect women’s rights, now that they’ve re-established control of most of Afghanistan (only 9 months into the Biden regime’s takeover of the White House).

Watch the incredible moment at the 4:24 mark: “A lot of people are concerned that if the Taliban takes power again, women’s rights will move backwards. How can you guarantee that women’s rights will be protected?” CNN’s Clarissa Ward asks. READ MORE

Always Friends

Milky Way Streaking

In 2017, astronomers noticed a star streaking out of the Milky Way at nearly 2 million mph (3.2 million km/h) — roughly four times faster than our sun orbits — and flying against the direction in which most stars trek around the galactic center.

It's also made of completely different star stuff, mostly heavy, "metallic" atoms rather than the usual light elements.

LP 40-365, as it was called, was as eye-catching as a wooden car barreling up the interstate against traffic at hundreds of miles per hour.

"It is exceptionally weird in a lot of different ways," said study lead author J.J. Hermes, an astronomer at Boston University.

The star moves so quickly that it's headed out of our galaxy for good, which astronomers have taken as evidence that the metallic explorer was launched here by a cosmic catastrophe — a supernova.

But they couldn't tell how the supernova had sent it flying. Was LP 40-365 a piece of the exploded star itself? Or was it a partner star flung clear by the shockwave associated with star explosions?

A new analysis of old data finds that the star — called a white dwarf — spins about its axis at a leisurely pace — a hint that it is indeed a piece of stellar debris (not a partner star) that managed to survive one of the galaxy's most violent and mysterious events.

"We can now connect this star to the shrapnel from an exploded white dwarf with a lot more confidence," said Hermes. READ MORE

Masks

Quantum Physics and Consciousness

One of the most important open questions in science is how our consciousness is established.

In the 1990s, long before winning the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his prediction of black holes, physicist Roger Penrose teamed up with anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff to propose an ambitious answer.

They claimed that the brain’s neuronal system forms an intricate network and that the consciousness this produces should obey the rules of quantum mechanics – the theory that determines how tiny particles like electrons move around.

This, they argue, could explain the mysterious complexity of human consciousness.

Penrose and Hameroff were met with incredulity. Quantum mechanical laws are usually only found to apply at very low temperatures.

Quantum computers, for example, currently operate at around -272°C. At higher temperatures, classical mechanics takes over. Since our body works at room temperature, you would expect it to be governed by the classical laws of physics.

For this reason, the quantum consciousness theory has been dismissed outright by many scientists – though others are persuaded supporters.

Instead of entering into this debate, I decided to join forces with colleagues from China, led by Professor Xian-Min Jin at Shanghai Jiaotong University, to test some of the principles underpinning the quantum theory of consciousness. READ MORE

I've Been Expecting You

Sunday, August 15

Populist Press

Sunday Morning Juxtaposed

Sunday mornings have traditionally been a day of peace and surrender from the anxieties and animosities of the world...

I say this because East TN like all other areas of Tennessee as well as every other State in the USA is not immune from the politics of our global world and its environment...

Every month, I calculate my finances to make sure that there will be sufficient monies available to my wife and I until we both live until 95/96 years of age... and, so far, we have sufficient funds but like everything else that could change in a heartbeat as inflation grows...

The wealthy need to protect the rest of us because without us there will be nobody around to do their dirty work...

Maybe that is why they do not have any problems with illegal immigration...

In my little world here in East TN, I am blind (as long as I want to be) to the rest of the world and can continue to live my life as I am currently living it, without the slightest concerns for what happens in the rest of the world...

Afghanistan does not really bother me
The Olympics does not really bother me
Socialism does not really bother me
Defunding police does not really bother me
CRT theory does not really bother me
Racism does not really bother me
A divided America does not really bother me
A growing CHINA does not really bother me
Islam wanting to control the world does not really bother me
My dysfunctiuonal family does not really bother me
An increase in violence does not really bother me

I am bothered or rather annoyed by hackers who break into my Facebook and LinkedIn Accounts and take them over... but, in the grand scheme of things neither one of these social media forums is a necessary thing for me... right now they are simply a diversion.

I am annoyed by my Cable Company who continues to provide piss poor service while raising their rates, but I have found alternatives and will be done with CABLE by the end of this month.

I don't give a SHIT about the rising prices of beef because I stopped eating beef 30 years ago... I have switched to chicken, fish, beans, and vegetables... all of which are healthier for you anyway...

Time is illusive and on-going and always moves forward... getting old is inevitable... and once at an older age, one can always change their minds and their viewpoints but by then it is almost too late to influence the rest of the world... which is why one has no choice but to accept it.

Life in East TN will always be juxtaposed with the rest of the world... one will never be alone...

Screw the AFGHANS

Falling Down

A Summer Cartoon

The Metaverse

Silicon Valley has been anticipating virtual reality for more than three decades, and keeps running into the same problem: people mostly like actual reality

Maybe this will be my Paul Krugman moment. The Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist was famously the winner of a study to establish which op-ed commentator was most consistently correct.

In 1998, he also famously claimed, “By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.”

I am not nearly so storied in accomplishments as Krugman. But I do make my living offering predictions and forecasts.

So I might as well say it: I predict that the metaverse won’t happen.

The “metaverse,” for those who don’t know, is a still-mostly-hypothetical virtual world accessed by special virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology.

The idea is to create a sort of next-level Internet overlaid on our physical world. People plugged into the metaverse exist in our physical world like everyone else but can see and interact with things that others can’t.

Think The Matrix or the Star Trek Holodeck or the Fortnite-esque brandscapes of Ready Player One. READ MORE

Dog and Fox

Serious About Climate

Is Biden serious about climate?

His 2,000 drilling and fracking permits suggest not

Just when we must be rejecting new drilling, fracking and pipeline infrastructure, Biden isn’t just tolerating fossil fuels – he’s uplifting them

The latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paints a stark and sobering picture: a global future of extreme weather events that are guaranteed to become more frequent and more intense over coming decades.

The horrific flooding that has recently shocked Europe will become more common. The unrelenting fires that have engulfed the western United States and Canada will intensify and widen.

And some island nations, it seems, may already be doomed to eradication by inevitable sea level rise.

The only glimmer of hope offered in the IPCC report is that immediate, aggressive action by world leaders could still prevent a future of assured climate chaos from being even worse. As devastating as a 1.5C global temperature increase will be, a 2.5C increase would be unfathomable.

Being the historical top emitter of climate-killing greenhouse gases, the United States has a clear obligation to help lead the world in rapidly reducing emissions and transitioning the planet to clean, renewable energy.

Yet every indication thus far from the Biden administration suggests that this critical, urgent action won’t be coming. READ MORE