Collection Day

 

Olive Oil: Spanish versus Italian

Options are abundant for olive oil, and the olive oil section at the grocery store can pose a challenge. How do you efficiently and confidently choose the best-tasting or best-value bottle? 

For starters, like wine or any food for that matter, it's difficult to say what will taste best since taste is so specific to the individual, says How Stuff Works. It's a good idea to experiment with what tastes good to you within your price range.

That said, several guidelines and tips ensure you get high-quality olive oil. Many may want to use the olive oil's country of origin — like Spain or Italy — as the prime determining factor. 

While each region and variety does affect the taste, first, it's best to know how and where to look for the best olive oil on the shelf. Then, you can consider the olive oil's region.

Premium extra virgin olive oil is superior and best used fresh as a topping, drizzle, or condiment. Extra virgin olive oil is next in line for high quality, per How Stuff Works. This is because extra virgin olive oil is the least processed and is chemical and additive-free, says Bon Appétit. 

Next, pick a dark-colored bottle. Olive oil spoils quickly, and clear bottles speed up the process. If you're wanting to avoid pesticides, anything certified organic is the way to go.  READ MORE...

Following the Leader

 

Draining Brain Capacity

Digital technology is integrated into our lives—arguably, to a fault. On one hand, our ability to connect to others and access information at any given moment offers new opportunities for our work life, relationships, health, and more.


On the other hand, the long-term effects of being constantly "dialed in" to infinite information and technology haven't been revealed yet. Dealing with constant stimuli has ushered in an unprecedented attention crisis that can also affect our jobs, relationships, and health in a negative way.

In fact, evidence suggests that simply having your smartphone near you can cause "brain drain," drastically affecting your ability to concentrate on whatever task you're trying to accomplish.

Why our brains have limited cognitive resources.


Our brain is only able to retain a certain amount of information at any particular moment—this is called our "cognitive capacity." Different cognitive tasks require different amounts of our brain's cognitive capacity.  READ MORE...

Creating a Marble Sculpture

 

Are You Of Age To Think For Yourself?

 

Since Biden has been in office:

• Afghanistan Debacle
• Rise of Inflation
• Higher gasoline prices
• Higher food prices
• Increase in Crime and Violence
• Increase in drugs
• Increase in illegal immigration
• Way too much government spending
• Loss of respect among world leaders
• Sluggish economy/maybe recession
• Increase in Racism
• A divided country's hatred intensifies
• Continued attacks on Trump

Where are we heading?

Can we really defend ourselves against China?

Will China's economy surpass our economy?

Why are we going green when other major countries are not following out lead?

What will happen to Hunter Biden?

What will happen to Hillary Clinton?

Will the GOP take over Congress after the midterms?

Will robots with artificial intelligence take over our jobs?

Do we really need to go to college?

Are we dumbing down education?

For those of you who want SOCIALISM, let me suggest that you take a looksee at those countries who are socialistic and see what kind of quality of life they offer their citizens and then look at their militaries and see if those militaries would be strong enough to stop an invasion that would take their lifestyles away...  Socialism GIVES it does not PROTECT...

Stop listening to other people, like me, and do your own research and make up your own minds...  if you are not that smart to learn for yourself and make your own decisions then you need a socialist government to take care of you...  but I doubt you are that ignorant...  maybe lazy but not stupid.

Medical Update

 

I am ending my 14th year of cancer treatments and will soon be entering my 15th year...  my cancer in non-hodgkin's Lymphoma and about 5 years after my initial treatments I was also diagnosed with Melanoma (possibly as a result of the drugs used to contain my Lymphoma) that forced my Oncologist to change from chemotherapy to immunotherapy augmented by radiation...  the new recommended treatment for Melanoma...  I switched from infusions for Lymphoma to taking daily pills for Lymphoma which my insurance company refused to pay 100% because they were so expensive.

When my cancer treatment began 14 years ago, I had also experienced a heart attack and instead of a triple bypass that was recommended, I had 5 stents inserted  in 3 heart operations.  A recent surgery indicated that my stents were still in pristine condition and my heart arteries remained clear of plaque.

About 4/5 months, I was having back problems that resulted in an MRI that result in back surgery 10 weeks ago to fuse 5 lumbar disks.  My recovery is incredibly slow and I am currently undergoing bursitis therapy on my left hip that resulted from my surgery...  I do not see my orthopedic surgeon until week 14.

Yesterday, I met with my Oncologist to hear the results of my CT scan before my monthly treatment, and the scan showed an increase in my abdomen area - all else was contained.  My oncologist thought that this was just a result of me stopping my daily pills for 3 weeks because of the surgery and he ordered another CT scan in 6 weeks to see if this was remedied.  If not, he was considering increasing my daily pill dosage.

The pills that he is referring to is IMBRUVICA and I take 2-140 mg pills each...  he can increase to 480 but no higher.  This pills over the long haul destroy the iron in my hemaglobin...  some what of a CATCH 22 situation for those of you who know about catch 22.  An increase in pill dosage would also increase fatigue which I need to recover from my back surgery by walking.

In October, I will be 75 and some people think that I have lived long enough...  maybe so...  but I think I will live another 20 years...  my mother lived to age 95 and I would like to live longer...

I eat healthy

I keep my mind active

I am exercising regularly

I sleep the required time

I have low stress and anxiety

I have a positive outlook

I live with 3 cats

I am married

I have friends

My financial income will always be sufficient

I have faith in a creator even though I am not that religious

I have no debt

What else do I need?

Student Loan Forgiveness

 

Personally, I don't give a shit is the government forgives student loans or not because I never had a government loan for college, as the GI Bill paid for all of my education...  yeah...  yeah...  yeah...  I know the GI Bill's money comes from taxes...  so, in essence it is just like a student loan...  but, it isn't.

If I had it to do all over again, I would not go to college...  although, in the state of TN, the lottery pays the student's tuition for the first two years.  Still, I am not sure if I would have gone to college.

Maybe a trade school or a technical school.  Computer programmers get paid a lot of money these days as do those who design video games.

I am not sure if I would have been a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter, or an HVAC tech as there is a lot of physical labor required in those professions.   Maybe a contractor or a builder.

Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with managing a restaurant or a hotel/motel or a resort.

What I really like more than anything else was teaching...  and, one had to have a college education to teach...  but my second most enjoyable position was managing a project.  You do not need a college education to do this...  you just need to work at a company where there are projects going on and after 2500 hours or 63 weeks, you can take your PMP Certification Exam which is just as valuable as a Masters Degree.

College is not for everyone.  The key to college is not the grades but the retention of knowledge and if you did not retain the knowledge, then your degree won't mean shit because your employer will simply FIRE YOU.

Achieving Results is what keeps you employed...

Being a team player keeps you employed...

Not rocking the boat keeps you employed...

Generating revenue keeps you employed...

A COLLEGE EDUCATION DOES NOT ALWAYS KEEP YOU EMPLOYED...

Cat in Bubble

 

Galileo Manuscript for the 17th-Century

For more than 80 years, a manuscript drafted by Galileo Galilei was considered “one of the great treasures” of the University of Michigan’s library. That is, until recently, when an expert on the 17th-century astronomer discovered that the document is a 20th-century fake.

Acquired by the school in 1938, the top half of the single-leaf letter finds Galileo reflecting on the potential uses of a telescope he built in 1609. On the lower part, the Italian scientist demonstrates one of the first observations he made with the instrument: glowing objects around Jupiter that appeared to move position nightly—the planet’s moons.

Galileo’s revelation would, in due time, have profound implications on our understanding of the universe. And the document, according to the university, was thought to be among the first pieces of “observational data that showed objects orbiting a body other than the earth.”

But in May, Georgia State University historian Nick Wilding made his own important observation: the Galileo letter had a few suspicious peculiarities.

The researcher, who is working on a book about Galileo, found there was no record of the manuscript in Italian archives. In fact, there was no record of the document at all before 1934, when it was acquired at auction by a Detroit businessman. (The owner donated the letter to the university upon his death, four years later.)

Wilding also noticed that, even though the two sections of the letter were written months apart, the ink appeared consistent across both.

“It just kind of jumps out as weird,” he told the New York Times this week. “This is supposedly two different documents that happen to be on one sheet of paper. Why is it all exactly the same color brown?”

The catalogue for the auction at which the manuscript first appeared further inspired doubt in the historian’s mind. It claimed that a former archbishop of Pisa had authenticated the letter by comparing it to two other Galileo documents that had been given to him by Tobia Nicotra—an infamous counterfeiter from Milan.

Wilding reached out to the University of Michigan library with his evidence, and after conducting its own investigation into the provenance of the piece, the institution came to the same conclusion: The manuscript was a forgery. The school announced the news this week.  READ MORE...

Wave Controlled Pool

 

Vibrant New Species in Ocean

(CNN)Hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface, somewhere between the dark ocean floor and the bright blue shallows, lies the twilight zone.

It's a world of the unknown, but in some tropical and subtropical waters coral reefs thrive. Very few scientists have ventured to these deep reefs, known technically as mesophotic coral ecosystems, meaning "middle light," and many assumed that the lack of light and chilly temperatures meant few species could exist there.

But one scientist has been diving into the inky depths to show there's much more to life there than was first thought.

"When you get up close, it's a very colorful ecosystem," says Luiz Rocha, Brazilian ichthyologist (a person who studies fish) and co-director of the Hope for Reefs initiative at the California Academy of Sciences. "There's many different kinds of fish and many of them are unknown."

Despite its dimness, the twilight zone is home to fish of a stunning variety of colors, such as the Cirrhilabrus wakanda.

Rocha, whose studies focus on ocean life between 200 and 500 feet deep, was attracted to twilight zone reefs because of their mystery.

"Every dive we do to those depths (leads to) a new discovery," he says.
To date, he has identified around 30 new species -- from a purple fairy wrasse named after the mythical nation of Wakanda, to the Tosanoides aphrodite, a pink and yellow reef fish named after the Greek goddess of love. 

But his deep-sea explorations have also proven that these reefs and the rainbow-hued species that roam them are under threat. His mission is to protect them.  READ MORE...

Keep Going

 

Crystal Fragments in Prehistoric Burial Site

Hundreds of fragments of a rare transparent type of quartz called 'rock crystal' suggest Neolithic people used the mineral to decorate graves and other structures at a ceremonial site in western England, archaeologists say.

The rock crystals were likely brought to the site from a source more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) away, over mountainous terrain, and the crystals appear to have been carefully broken into much smaller pieces, possibly during a community gathering to watch the working of what must have seemed like a magical material.

"You can think of it as a really special event," Nick Overton, an archaeologist at The University of Manchester in England, told Live Science.

"It feels like they're putting a lot of emphasis on the practice of working [the crystal] … people would have remembered it as being distinctive and different."

Overton is the lead author of a study published in July in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal that describes the discovery of more than 300 of these quartz crystal fragments at a 6,000-year-old ceremonial site at Dorstone Hill in western England, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) south of the monument known as Arthur's Stone.

As well as being almost as transparent as water, several of the crystal fragments are prismatic, splitting white light into a visible rainbow spectrum.  READ MORE...

Mixing Sodium with Potassium

 

Missing Straw

 

Navy SEAL Sleep Technique

Every day, it seems there’s another viral hack making its rounds that promises to transform your quality of life for the better. In the realm of sleep, one such hack that’s been trending on TikTok all summer long is the Navy SEAL Sleep Technique — initially shared by author, podcaster, and former Navy SEAL officer Jocko Willink

(opens in new tab), and made even more popular by lifestyle coach Nick Vitello(opens in new tab).

To get a better sense of this napping strategy—including what it involves, how effective it is, and how it compares to other popular sleeping techniques like the 4 7 8 Sleep Method and the Military Sleep Method—we spoke to Po-Chang Hsu, MD, a medical content expert for Sleeping Ocean and graduate of the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Before we dive in, remember that sleep hacks can only get you so far. To give yourself a greater chance of better sleep, it’s worth investing in the best mattress for your body type and preferred sleeping position.

What is the Navy SEAL Sleep Technique?
“The Navy SEAL Sleep Technique involves laying the back on the floor at the edge of the bed and then putting the legs on the bed,” Dr. Hsu begins. “This puts the sleeper in a position similar to the letter Z, but with the laps stretching a bit onto the bed. The legs are elevated at a 90-degree to 120-degree angle.”

In addition, it’s important to highlight that the Navy SEAL Sleep Technique is actually geared for a short, restorative nap of eight to 10 minutes (rather than a full night’s rest) to stay alert when you’re short on sleep and crunched for time. “In a military sleep manual, special forces are advised to use breaks in combat for an afternoon nap,” he explains.  READ MORE...

Hanging Birds

 

The Handbreak

Bison Versus Buffalo

Never mind what the unofficial anthem of the American West says about buffalo roaming—this type of bovid is not found on U.S. soil. What we have stateside, making up the best-known herds in Yellowstone National Park and on Catalina Island, are bison.

Though bison are sometimes colloquially called buffalo, the two are biologically different, unconnected in their ranges, and can be told apart by a few distinguishing physical features. Here's everything you need to know about the two oft-confused families of ancient grazing giants.

Buffalo and Bison Classification
Buffalo and bison belong to the tribe Bovini, which includes medium to massive animals of the Bovidae family. The Bovidae family also includes antelopes, gazelles, goats, and sheep.

While a number of Bovini species are commonly called buffalo or bison (the anoa a "dwarf buffalo" and the gaur "Indian bison," for example), there are only four true bison and buffalo species.

American bison (Bison bison) roam in Yellowstone and are portrayed on the National Park Service's arrowhead emblem and the U.S. Department of the Interior's seal. They're the heaviest land animals in North America and, since 2016, the U.S.'s national mammal, joining the patriotic ranks of its national bird, the bald eagle.  READ MORE...

Glider

Old Chinese Pyramid

The unknown civilization that built the ancient pyramid vanished without traces. The recent discovery at the footstep of the pyramid could help archeologists identify it. The ancient city is home to immense fortifications and sophisticated infrastructure, thousands of luxurious artifacts and a 230-foot-high stepped pyramid.

During excavations at the 4,300-year-old Shimao pyramid in Shenmu, northwest China’s Shaanxi province, archaeologists have uncovered what appears to be a portrait of a king carved in stone.

The Shimao Archaeological Site is located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, at the southern end of the Ordos Desert.

The site dates back to around 2000 BC and covers an area of approximately 400 hectares. Originally believed to be part of the Great Wall of China, Shimao’s walls were uncovered to be Neolithic in age after jade pieces were discovered at the site.

More than 70 meters tall, the pyramid there is almost half as high as the pyramids of Giza. In contrast to other ancient pyramids, Shimao was built with a practical purpose: at the peak stood a palace covering nearly ten football fields’ worth of space, or 80,000 square meters.  READ MORE...

Biking Cat

 

Another Day in Paradise

Being sarcastic usually gets me in a lot of trouble with people as my comments are more pointed than they should be, but living in America or the USA or in the South these days is far from living in Paradise unless you compare the way we are living here to the way the Chinese are living there.

So, what has changed here in America???

• Racism has increased because BLM, WOKE, and CRT decided to make RACISM an issue...
• Inflation/Recession has hurt the economy because of all the government spending...
• Getting off our dependence on OIL happened too quick which has turned our economy upside down...
• Politically, we are divided 50/50 which has resulted in neither side having a clear majority or a mandate...

So, what we used to think of being a paradise in the USA is no longer paradise...  and, to make matters worse...  politicians have never fixed the problems that we had over 50 years ago, like:

• Racism Problems
• Declining Education
• Wealth Gap
• Housing Issues
• Heathcare Issues
• Illegal Drug Issues
• Double Standard
• Biased Judicial System

It seems that career politicians just want to make promises and tell us what we want to hear while getting nothing done other than making sure they get re-elected.  We re-elect the bastards because we believe their LIES and HALF-TRUTHS.  In essence, we did this to ourselves and the politicians took advantage of our apathy and/or political ignorance, and mental laziness...

It wasn't until Trump became president and tried to clean the SWAMP that our equally divided sides emerged that was exascerbated by the BLM movement.  Consequently, two equally opposing side emerged...

We have confronted the REAL ENEMY and it is US (Not USA) but the general public us.

Censorship & Truth

What I dislike more than anything else other than someone who is BUTT UGLY is the media censoring the news because they are of the opinion that there are things going on of which I should not be aware.

This is BULLSHIT...

And, this is bullshit because these media outlets are financed by liberal billionaires and what they don't want me to know will hurt their liberal party and its movement...

Hitler did the same thing in Nazi Germany...  and currently both Russia and China are doing the same thing with their people...  giving them the news that only the government wants them to know...

Oftentime, censorship is designed to HIDE THE TRUTH...

So, we are living in a world of lies, just like we did when we were a child and our parents told us that Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were all real...  those were lies...  designed to keep us innocent and naive...  it wasn't until much later that we found this out and realized our parents had lied to us and they could no longer be trusted....

How much do you trust someone who lies to you over and over again?

It hurts when you find out that they have lied...

But most of us refuse to admit that liberals lie to us...  even though they lied about Trumps relationship with Russia and tried to impeach him because of this lie...  no one was penalized because of this lie...  what kind of truth is that?

Truck Fight

 

Giant Megalithic Complex

The megalithic site. (José Antonio Linares-Catela et al., Trabajos de Prehistoria, 2022)

A huge megalithic complex of more than 500 standing stones has been discovered in southern Spain which could be one of the largest in Europe, archaeologists told AFP Thursday.

The stones were discovered on a plot of land in Huelva, a province which flanks the southernmost part of Spain's border with Portugal, near the Guadiana River.

Spanning some 600 hectares (1,500 acres), the land had been earmarked for an avocado planation.

But before granting the permit, the regional authorities requested a survey in light of the site's possible archaeological significance – and revealed the presence of the stones.

"This is the biggest and most diverse collection of standing stones grouped together in the Iberian peninsula," said Jose Antonio Linares, a researcher at Huelva University and one of the project's three directors.

It is likely that the oldest standing stones at the La Torre-La Janera site were erected during the second half of the sixth or fifth millennium BCE, he said.

"It is a major megalithic site in Europe," he said.

At the site, they found a large number of various types of megaliths, including standing stones, dolmens, mounds, coffin-like stone boxes called cists, and various enclosures.

"Standing stones were the most common finding, with 526 of them still standing or lying on the ground," said the researchers in an article published in Trabajos de Prehistoria, a prehistoric archaeology journal in the Iberian Peninsula.

The height of the stones was between one and three metres (3-10 feet).  READ MORE...

Playing Dead

 

A Future Without White People

PHOTOGRAPH: LEONARDO CENDAMO/GETTY IMAGES

WHITENESS IS A seduction. Whiteness is also an illusion. These are the twin motifs on which Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid props up The Last White Man, his new novel about race metamorphosis and human morality. 

Anchored in the bare and elegiac prose Hamid has made his trademark style, the book springboards from a single unexplained incident. Anders, a white man, awakens one morning to a new reality: his skin has “turned a deep and undeniable brown.”

The transformation, of which Anders’ is the first—but not the only, and certainly not the last—elicits worthy exploration. What if whiteness were suddenly gone? Would the social order of life come undone? Would anything change? Where Hamid lands doesn’t exactly persuade.

The sequence of events that follows plays into an ancient fear, that of The Other. (One’s need to estrange, Toni Morrison has said, is “a desperate attempt to confirm one’s own self as normal.”) For Anders, confusion bubbles. Panic swells. 

Initially, he flirts with thoughts of violence after realizing the transformation is irreversible. “He wanted to kill the colored man who confronted him here in his home,” Hamid writes, “to extinguish the life animating this other’s body, to leave nothing standing but himself, as he was before.”

It’s understandable why those who benefit from a particular standing would do anything to preserve it. The conscious seduction of power, of understanding the privileges from which one benefits and the life it affords, is, in part, about the necessity of control. I’d probably be upset and a little sad if I lost all of that, too.  READ MORE...

Underwater Dancing