Ark

 

A United America Divided

The phrase, UNITED WE STAND--DIVIDED WE FALL, has been attributed to the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop, both directly in his fable "The Four Oxen and the Lion" and indirectly in "The Bundle of Sticks". A similar phrase also appears in the biblical "New Testament" – translated into English from the historic Greek in Mark 3:25 as "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand".


However, Americans typically think that it originated with them, specifically John Dickinson, one of our Founding Fathers... I have always found it amazing how ARROGRANT Americans try to be when it comes to showing our best side to the rest of the world.


The point here is that the phrase has a long tradition of usefulness that has typically relied upon history to prove its validity. That validity has been proven over and over again.


AND YET...
American leaders allow their country to remain divided.
"Stupid is as stupid does..." Forrest Gump


How is America DIVIDED?

1. Wealthy versus not wealthy
2. Liberal versus conservative
3. Black versus white
4. Northerners versus Southerners
5. Christians versus non christians
6. Educated versus non educated
7. Males versus females
8. Trans versus non trans
9. Married versus single
10. Old versus young

Politicians keep talking about how we need to unify the country but it is all talk because no one ever does anything about it.  That is really sad, but not half as sad as we are going to be when CHINA eats our lunch.  

If I was an adversay of America, now is when I would be attacking the country...  Blacks ain't gonna fight for the whites and whites ain't gonna fight for the blacks.  Screw them...  Screw each other...

Right now the country is obsessed with green energy and electric vehicles and are not looking past their noses to see if we have the frigging infrastructure to support those electric cars.

BUT more importantly is the anger that we are causing around the world because of our war on fossil fuels...  it has pissed off:

1. Saudi Arabia
2. China
3. India
4. Russia
5. Brazil
6. South Africa
7. Iran/Iraq
8. North Korea

Are we UNITED HERE IN AMERICA to do battle with these countries?

Will our WOKE military rise to the occassion?

Will the left support a war?

Will the wealthy support a war?

A DIVIDED AMERICA IS SELF-DETERMINED TO FAIL...

Steak Cuts Guide

 

Face off

 

Mixed Drinks

 

THe Reality of Wireless Energy

DARPA plans to create wireless energy transfer infrastructure to supply near-uninterruptable power to U.S. military bases worldwide. The plan, as reported by Popular Mechanics, is to use laser technology to beam electricity around the planet. Famously a dream of Nikola Tesla over 100 years ago, if successful, this technology, called fittingly enough POWER ("Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay"), would make the U.S. military less reliant on liquid fuel like diesel and vulnerable power lines, which can be intercepted or sabotaged by enemy forces.

“First of all, the environment has changed, and the need for more resilient energy transport methods for military operations is at a premium,” explained Col. Paul “Promo” Calhoun to Popular Mechanics in an exclusive interview. American forces operate globally like the special operations units he resupplied as a C-17 cargo pilot, from outposts in the South China Sea to the Iraqi desert. Since there is no simple way to power them, many forces use their radars, anti-drone microwave weapons, lasers, or other energy-intensive equipment. And with each passing year, the severity of the issue increases.

“On the technology side, significant advancements have been made in high-energy lasers, wavefront sensing, adaptive optics, high-altitude electric air platforms, safety interlocks, and narrow-bandgap-tuned high-efficiency photovoltaics,” Col. Calhoun explains.

“POWER is an optical power beaming program,” Calhoun says. “There are other potential power-beaming modalities, such as microwaves, that we intend to explore in future programs. For POWER, the propagating wave is a laser [that] provides long-range high-throughput capability when transmitted at high altitudes. The relays redirect the laser energy without conversion, and then the end-user converts that laser energy back into electricity using narrow-bandgap-tuned monochromatic photovoltaics,” he added.  READ MORE...

Sink Pool

 

Mud Racing

 

A New Hypersonic Plane

Venus Aerospace is building a hypersonic aircraft that can carry about a dozen passengers, traveling at Mach 9, nine times the speed of sound. The Stargazer, which measures 150 feet long by 100 feet wide, will travel between two cities in the world, says the Houston-based company, by flying 6,905 mph at an altitude of 170,000 feet.

Hypersonic is defined as five times the speed of sound. By comparison, the last commercial supersonic jet, the Concorde, traveled at Mach 2, or about, 1,535 mph. The fastest aircraft ever built, Lockheed’s SR-71 “Blackbird,” traveled at Mach 3.2 (2,455 mph).

Venus co-founder and CTO Andrew Duggleby plans to move Stargazer from science fiction to reality with a rotating-detonation engine that spins at 20,000 rotations per second. “Rotating detonation means the supersonic combustion happens continuously inside the engine and our video shows the detonation wave moving around the engine at supersonic speeds,” noted the company after its recent successful test of a prototype at its Spaceport Houston headquarters.

The Stargazer is one of several hypersonic aircraft trying to get off the ground.

Courtesy Venus Aerospace

The rotating-detonation concept, which burns 20 percent less fuel than a conventional engine, is being promoted by the US Navy. This technology has been successfully tested before. But the Venus test was the first time using a room-temperature storable propellant, which will make the engine more viable for aircraft. “We now have both the technical knowledge and engineering to fully advance into next steps of development and flight testing,” said Duggleby.

The 150,000-lb. Stargazer will take off with conventional jet engines, but then transition to rockets once it reaches altitude. The route it will fly is not technically on the edge of space, or the Karman line, which is 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. But it will be high enough to see the planet’s curve and the blackness of space.

“This represents a key advancement towards real flying systems, both for defense applications and ultimately commercial high-speed travel,” said Jim Bridenstine, former NASA administrator and US Congressman, following the test.  READ MORE...

Magic

 

Underwater Ballet

 

Open

 

Everyday Routines

Regardless of who you are and how much money you have or don't have, we all have ROUTINES...  including doing nothing at all.

Many of us, do the following:

1. Wake up
2. Use the bathroom/dress
3. Eat breakfast
4. Work for 1/2 day
5. Eat Lunch
6. Engage in social media
7. Work for 1/2 day
8. Return home for dinner
9. Evening activities
10. Go to bed

Obviously, there is variation to this routine and obviously there are numerous items that I intentionally overlooked since I wanted to be general to fit most all circumstances.  But, bascially, this is it...

However,

for those of us who are retired or semi-retired, these 10 items are going to revolves around other activities that you think are absolutely necessary to your survival and existence, like:

• shopping for stuff
• visiting with friends
• going on vacation
• attending parties
• stealing from your employer
• using illegal drugs, sex, alcohol
• avoiding accountability

INTERESTINGLY - we cannot avoid routines because when we do try, that in and of itself, is another routine.  While that might piss many of us off, it is nonetheless true.

What I find comical are those people who insist that they have no routines as each day is fundamentally different than the day before...  and yet, there is the routine of:

• waking up
• dressing
• eating
• going somewhere
• doing something
• more eating
• undressing
• sleeping

It is just as comical as those people who say that I don't know what I don't know...  because you do know what you don't know...  even though knowing that unknown is still known...   WHY?  because you still don't know it on the inside...  just on the surface which does not make it known...

NOTE HERE:  that these people are playing with words and those that do that, cannot be trusted...  WHY?  Because you never know when they are not playing with words...

Incidentally,

I love my retired routine...  especially because there is no one's ass that needs kissing.  The foundation of our capitalistic society is KISSING ASS...  how's that going as a routine for ya?

Ancient DNA

 

Underwater Fishes

 

Two Rules

 

Graphene-Based Quantum Circuits

Imagine having a building made of stacks of bricks connected by adaptable bridges. You pull a knob that modifies the bridges and the building changes functionality. Wouldn't it be great?

A team of researchers led by Prof. Aitor Mugarza, from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and ICREA, together with Prof. Diego Peña from the Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials of the University of Santiago de Campostela (CiQUS-USC), Dr. Cesar Moreno, formerly a member of ICN2's team and currently a researcher at the University of Cantabria, and Dr. Aran Garcia-Lekue, from the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and Ikerbasque Foundation, has done something analogous, but at the single-atom scale, with the aim of synthesizing new carbon-based materials with tunable properties.

As explained in a paper just published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) and featured on the cover of the issue, this research is a significant breakthrough in the precise engineering of atomic-thin materials —called "2D materials" due to their reduced dimensionality. The proposed fabrication technique opens exciting new possibilities for materials science, and, in particular, for application in advanced electronics and future solutions for sustainable energy.

The authors of this study synthesized a new nanoporous graphene structure by connecting ultra-narrow graphene strips, known as "nanoribbons", by means of flexible "bridges" made of phenylene moieties (which are portions of larger molecules).

By modifying in a continuous way the architecture and angle of these bridges, the scientists can control the quantum connectivity between the nanoribbon channels and, ultimately, fine-tune the electronic properties of the graphene nanoarchitecture. The tunability could also be controlled by external stimuli, such as strain or electric fields, providing opportunities for different applications.

These ground-breaking findings, resulting from a collaboration between top-tier Spanish institutions (CiQUS, ICN2, University of Cantabria, DIPC) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), shows that the proposed molecular bridge strategy can have a great impact on the synthesis of new materials with tailored properties and is a powerful tool for the realization of quantum circuits.  READ MORE...

Turtle & Cat

 

WOKE

 

Quantum Secrets from Strange Metals

Scientists have made progress in understanding the behavior of a strange metal called Y-ball, which is central to next-generation quantum materials and could drive future technologies. By using gamma rays in a synchrotron and Mossbauer spectroscopy, the researchers found unusual fluctuations in Y-ball’s electrical charge and discovered that these strange metals may pave the way for high-temperature superconductivity and other quantum applications.

Physicists at Rutgers University have offered theoretical perspectives on an experiment involving a “strange metal,” which could play a crucial role in the development of future quantum technologies.

Researchers investigating a compound referred to as “Y-ball,” which belongs to a mysterious class of “strange metals” considered crucial for the development of advanced quantum materials, have discovered novel methods for examining and comprehending its behavior.


The outcomes of the experiments may contribute to the creation of disruptive technologies and devices.


“It’s likely that quantum materials will drive the next generation of technology and that strange metals will be part of that story,” said Piers Coleman, a Distinguished Professor at the Rutgers Center for Materials Theory in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and one of the theoreticians involved in the study. 

“We know that strange metals like Y-ball exhibit properties that need to be understood to develop these future applications. We’re pretty sure that understanding this strange metal will give us new ideas and will help us design and discover new materials.”

Reporting in the journal Science, an international team of researchers from Rutgers, the University of Hyogo, and the University of Tokyo in Japan, the University of Cincinnati, and Johns Hopkins University described details of electron motion that provide new insight into the unusual electrical properties of Y-ball. 

The material, technically known as the compound YbAlB4, contains the elements ytterbium, aluminum, and boron. It was nicknamed “Y-ball” by the late Elihu Abrahams, founding director of the Rutgers Center for Materials Theory.  READ MORE...

Month of MAY

 

Needing Money

 

Laughter is Good

BREAKING THE LAW(S) IN AMERICA

I have always been a "rebel" from my earliest memories, going back to the 3rd grade.  My late adolescence/early teens was spent stealing, breaking and entering, and evading law enforcement.  After the military (which taught me very little), I simply did not agree with the rules (laws) of my employers and over a 45 year career, I was terminated for not playing by the rules TEN TIMES...  that is once ever 4.5 years...  not a very good track record when trying to build a career...  so, I hid the facts by clevery using words to describe all those situations differently so that they were easily accepted by my next employer.

While I am not wealthy, I still managed to save enough money to live comfortably...  

SO SCREW THE LAWS...

Unfortunately...  there are more people like me than are not like me...   and, as a result, the USA is rapidly turning into an enviornment where ALL LAWS ARE DISPRECTED AND VIOLATED BY THE PEOPLE...

This is exactly what happens when the majority bands together.

The police cannot stop or catch us all...  and, because of that the people will always have the advantage...

The district attorneys are helping us break the laws by not prosecuting crimes that are under a certain value.  What a frigging brilliant idea!!!

ALL HANDS ON DECK...  we are going to only steal $999...  no more...

The only people who get hurt are the companies that manufacture and sell and the companies who provide the insurance.

Americans have turned into ROBIN HOODs...  what a great idea and the people who inforce the rules are helping us do this.

It is a great time to be living in the USA...

  

FOX News

 

Chinese Agents

 

Age is Just a Number

 

Pioneerng Nuclear Fusion

To achieve fusion, the U.S. National Ignition Facility focuses its lasers onto a gold cylinder containing a diamond capsule filled with hydrogen isotopes. NIF could need safety upgrades, if its energy yields continue to climb. Credit: UPI/Alamy Stock Photo




Last month, the US National Ignition Facility (NIF) fired its lasers up to full power for the first time since December, when it achieved its decades-long goal of ‘ignition’ by producing more energy during a nuclear reaction than it consumed. The latest run didn’t come close to matching up: NIF achieved only 4% of the output it did late last year. But scientists didn’t expect it to.

Building on NIF’s success, they are now flexing the programme’s experimental muscles, trying to better understand the nuclear-fusion facility’s capabilities. Here, Nature looks at what’s to come for NIF, and whether it will propel global efforts to create a vast supply of clean energy for the planet.

WHAT WAS THE GOAL OF THE LATEST EXPERIMENT?
NIF, based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, is a stadium-sized facility that fires 192 lasers at a tiny gold cylinder containing a diamond capsule. Inside the capsule sits a frozen pellet of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium. The lasers trigger an implosion, creating extreme heat and pressure that drive the hydrogen isotopes to fuse into helium, releasing additional energy.

One of the main challenges in getting this scheme to work is fabricating the diamond capsule. Even the smallest defects — bacterium-sized pockmarks, metal contamination or variations in shape and thickness — affect the implosion, and thus the pressure and heat that drive the fusion reactions.

Record-breaking experiments in 2021 and 2022 used the best capsules available, but in March, while waiting for a new batch, NIF scientists ran an experiment with a capsule that was thicker on one side than the other. Modelling suggested that they could offset this imperfection by adjusting the beams coming from the lasers, to produce a more uniform implosion. This was a test of their theoretical predictions, says Richard Town, a physicist who heads the lab’s inertial-confinement fusion science programme at the LLNL.

The results fell short of their predictions, and researchers are now working to understand why. But if this line of investigation pays off, Town says, “it opens up more capsules for us to use and will improve our understanding of implosion”.  READ MORE...

Remembering Khrushchev

 

Arnold's Prediction