Political Cartoons

 

Western Civilization

One weekend, I found my younger son at the kitchen table, carefully writing out everything he knew about the Olympian gods for his school homework. His brow was furrowed, and he trained his eyes on the page with a level of concentration that I wish he would pay to his maths homework. So I asked him—casually, I thought—why he was so interested in the ancient Greeks. He beamed up at me with an angelic smile and answered, “Because that’s what you study, Mama.”

At this point, my heart nearly burst with parental pride. I am a Professor of Classical Archaeology and the ancient Greeks are, quite literally, my bread and butter. But my heart sank when my son added as an afterthought, “and because the Greeks gave us Western Civilization.” Buckle up, kid, I thought, you’re in for a lecture.

I wanted to tell him that the ancient Greeks did not give us Western Civilization. That there is no golden thread, unfurling unbroken through time from Plato to NATO. That we in the modern West are not the heirs of a unique and elevated cultural tradition, stretching back through Atlantic modernity to Enlightenment and Renaissance Europe, and from there through the darkness of the medieval period and ultimately back to the glories of classical Greece and Rome.

For most of us, it seems normal—even natural—to think of Western history in these terms. Unthinkingly, we assume that the modern West is the custodian of a privileged inheritance, passed down through a kind of cultural genealogy that we usually refer to as “Western Civilization.”

It is a version of history that is all around us, set out in popular textbooks, encoded implicitly into children’s stories and Hollywood movies, and proclaimed loudly and sometimes even angrily by commentators on both sides of the political spectrum. But it is a version of history that is simply wrong.

Research points to a different version of Western history. I have myself spent two decades of my professional life uncovering how ancient Greeks and Romans were much more diverse than we might think. They were neither predominantly white nor predominantly European, and indeed did not conceive of racial and geographical categories in the same way that we now do. As a result, the monks of western Europe, laboriously copying Latin manuscripts in their dusty scriptoria, were not the only medieval heirs of classical antiquity.

So too were the merchants of fourteenth century Sudan, conducting their trade in Greek; and so too were the Buddhist sculptors of northern India and Pakistan, who drew on the artistic traditions of the Indo-Greek kingdoms.

But perhaps the greatest centre of medieval classical learning when it came to the sciences was in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, where classical scholarship was fused with new philosophical and scientific developments drawn from across Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Put simply, the real history of the West is much richer and much more complex than the traditional grand narrative of Western Civilization acknowledges. It is not a golden thread but a golden tapestry—in which strands of diverse peoples, cultures, and ideas have been woven together over the centuries.

Our notion of Western Civilization is then demonstrably wrong, proven to be factually incorrect again and again by the mounting weight of historical and archaeological research. So where did the idea come from anyway? And why do we still cling to a version of Western history that we know to be untrue?  READ MORE...

Full Capacity

 

Beach Lightening

 

Selling Superintelligent Sunshine

The OpenAI CEO is on a world tour to talk up the benefits of AI and the need for regulation — but not too much. Some, though, think Altman’s vision is dangerous.

The queue to see OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speak at University College London on Wednesday stretched hundreds deep into the street. 

Those waiting gossiped in the sunshine about the company and their experience using ChatGPT, while a handful of protesters delivered a stark warning in front of the entrance doors: OpenAI and companies like it need to stop developing advanced AI systems before they have the chance to harm humanity.

“Look, maybe he’s selling a grift. I sure as hell hope he is,” one of the protestors, Gideon Futerman, a student at Oxford University studying solar geoengineering and existential risk, said of Altman. 

“But in that case, he’s hyping up systems with enough known harms. We probably should be putting a stop to them anyway. And if he’s right and he’s building systems which are generally intelligent, then the dangers are far, far, far bigger.”  READ MORE...

Love

 

2024 Presidential Election

It looks like the two front runners for the GOP are Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.  There are several others equally as qualified, but the general public seems to be only like the two mentioned above.  Some might also argue that Trump and DeSantis are the only two who could defeat Joe Biden.  However, I believe Biden is going to defeat himself with his age and lack of accomplishment that only the Liberals favor and support.

Who do I like better?  Well, neither candidate is a favorite of mine.  Trump has proven himself but his comments work to his disadvantage.  DeSantis is waging war against Disney but that is not the same as Russia and China.  Being the governor of Florida shows his domestic skills but no his international skills.

My main concerns are:

1. Inflation
2. Illegal Immigration
3. Stopping gasoline
4. Going Green
5. A divided country
6. National Debt
7. Weakened Military
8. Increased Taxes
9. A weak presence globally
10. Weak economy

The push for EVs is not very smart especially since the infrastructure is not there to support the direction.

Ignoring the growth of China is not very smart especially since China wants to control the world.

Allowing illegal immigration into our country is not very smart considered the costs of taking care of people who cannot work and cannot speak English.

Our Time is Done

 

Bring Burned Tesla In

An owner was driving his Model Y down the road when the car began shaking. A few minutes after he pulled over to check for a flat tire, the whole car burst into flames.

The only advice Tesla's customer service team offered was to bring the burnt vehicle to their service center.

What Happened: After Bishal Malla's Tesla went up in smoke on the side of the road, he called Tesla looking for help. Instead of answers, he was met with ridiculous requests, per a Business Insider report.

Although the company made note of the report, no one offered any real guidance. He followed up with the company several times, but again received much of the same.

"One agent I talked to had an audacity to tell me to take my fully burned Tesla to the Tesla recommended servicing center," Malla wrote in a post on Reddit.

"How in the world am I going to do that?"

"The Best Report Benzinga Has Ever Produced"

The Tesla owner reportedly told Business Insider that the customer service representative didn't even recommend a way of transporting the burned vehicle.

He acknowledged on Reddit that the incident would be covered by insurance, but Malla was more concerned about his safety and the safety of others.

He still hasn't been able to get answers from the EV maker, which is surprising, he said, adding he was shocked when he pulled over to find the car on fire and noted that he felt lucky to be alive.

"If this had happened 30 minutes later, my whole family would be in there," Malla said.  READ MORE...

Loneliness

 

What Not To Say

 

Our Moon's Hidden Resource

Alongside advances in space exploration, we’ve recently seen much time and money invested into technologies that could allow effective space resource utilisation. And at the forefront of these efforts has been a laser-sharp focus on finding the best way to produce oxygen on the Moon.

In October, the Australian Space Agency and NASA signed a deal to send an Australian-made rover to the Moon under the Artemis program, with a goal to collect lunar rocks that could ultimately provide breathable oxygen on the Moon.

Although the Moon does have an atmosphere, it’s very thin and composed mostly of hydrogen, neon, and argon. It’s not the sort of gaseous mixture that could sustain oxygen-dependent mammals such as humans.

That said, there is actually plenty of oxygen on the Moon. It just isn’t in a gaseous form. Instead, it’s trapped inside regolith — the layer of rock and fine dust that covers the Moon’s surface. If we could extract oxygen from regolith, would it be enough to support human life on the Moon?

THE BREADTH OF OXYGEN
Oxygen can be found in many of the minerals in the ground around us. And the Moon is mostly made of the same rocks you’ll find on Earth (although with a slightly greater amount of material that came from meteors).

Minerals such as silica, aluminium, and iron and magnesium oxides dominate the Moon’s landscape. All of these minerals contain oxygen, but not in a form our lungs can access.

On the Moon, these minerals exist in a few different forms including hard rock, dust, gravel, and stones covering the surface. This material has resulted from the impacts of meteorites crashing into the lunar surface over countless millennia.

Some people call the Moon’s surface layer lunar “soil”, but as a soil scientist, I’m hesitant to use this term. Soil as we know it is pretty magical stuff that only occurs on Earth. It has been created by a vast array of organisms working on the soil’s parent material — regolith, derived from hard rock — over millions of years.

The result is a matrix of minerals which were not present in the original rocks. Earth’s soil is imbued with remarkable physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Meanwhile, the materials on the Moon’s surface is basically regolith in its original, untouched form.  READ MORE...

Moving Train

 

money... Money... MONEY... MONEY!!!

 Once you reach a certain age in life you don't really care about earning money but if you don't have money, then the end of your life SUCKS...

Everything costs money...

The money you have the less you own and the less that you can buy...

ONLY 2% of the population will be billionaires

Only 20% of the population will be millionaires or more

80% of the population will ALWAYS get the big chili up the brown eye...  simply because it is not in their nature to become wealthy.

In order for the average person to have an average life, one must work...  and when one turn 62-67, one can retire...  BUT, if they have not saved enough money, they will need to keep working.  If you are making just enough money to pay your bills, then there is no way you can save any money.  So, you will need to keep working.

Five years ago we screened in our back deck with a roof that tied into the main roof of the house.  It was $10,000 and was a little high because the crew we wanted was not available.  That same screened in deck with roof is $18,000 to $20,000.  As costs continue to increase, trying to save money for retirement becomes increasingly more difficult.

By 2030, the only people that are retiring will be the multimillionaires and not the general public as they will need to continue working.  Older folks are not as productive as younger folks which will also cause companies to raise their prices to compensate.

In order to live well in America, you need to be wealthy.

Wrestling

 

The Future of Nuclear Energy

Between 2009 and 2019, global consumption of renewable energy grew at an annual average of 13.4%. Over that time, renewable energy consumption grew from 8.2 exajoules (EJ) globally to 28.8 EJ.


Yet, global carbon dioxide emissions rose by more than 4 billion metric tons per year during that time, reaching an all-time high in 2019.


Between 2009 and 2019, global consumption of renewable energy grew at an annual average of 13.4%. Over that time, renewable energy consumption grew from 8.2 exajoules (EJ) globally to 28.8 EJ.


Yet, global carbon dioxide emissions rose by more than 4 billion metric tons per year during that time, reaching an all-time high in 2019.



The reason for this is that overall global energy consumption — while growing at an average annual rate of only 1.9% — rose by 92 EJ from 2009 to 2019. Renewables are growing at a much faster rate, but it will take decades at the current growth rates before renewables can make a serious dent in global carbon dioxide emissions.


That’s why nuclear power could play a critical supporting role in reining in global carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, nuclear power is concentrated in a handful of countries, and very few are growing their nuclear energy production.


The reason for this is that overall global energy consumption — while growing at an average annual rate of only 1.9% — rose by 92 EJ from 2009 to 2019. Renewables are growing at a much faster rate, but it will take decades at the current growth rates before renewables can make a serious dent in global carbon dioxide emissions.That’s why nuclear power could play a critical supporting role in reining in global carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, nuclear power is concentrated in a handful of countries, and very few are growing their nuclear energy production.  READ MORE...

GE Appliances

 

Why Only 2% Succeed

 

Old Fossil Unveils Early Life

Cutting-edge technology has revealed new insights about a globally famous fossil treasure trove, which may provide critical evidence concerning early life on Earth.

Scientists investigating the 400 million-year-old fossil cache, discovered in the remote northeastern region of Scotland, report that their results display a higher level of molecular preservation in these fossils than what was previously expected.

Fresh scrutiny of the exquisitely preserved treasure trove from Aberdeenshire has enabled scientists to identify the chemical fingerprints of the various organisms within it.

Just as the Rosetta Stone helped Egyptologists translate hieroglyphics, the team hopes these chemical codes can help them decipher more about the identity of the life forms, that other more ambiguous fossils represent.

The spectacular fossil ecosystem near the Aberdeenshire village of Rhynie was discovered in 1912, mineralized and encased by chert – hard rock composed of silica. Known as the Rhynie chert, it originates from the Early Devonian period – about 407 million years ago – and has a significant role to play in scientists’ understanding of life on earth.

Researchers combined the latest non-destructive imaging with data analysis and machine learning to analyze fossils from collections held by National Museums Scotland and the Universities of Aberdeen and Oxford. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh were able to probe deeper than has previously been possible, which they say could reveal new insights about less well-preserved samples.

Employing a technique known as FTIR spectroscopy – in which infrared light is used to collect high-resolution data – researchers found impressive preservation of molecular information within the cells, tissues, and organisms in the rock.

Since they already knew which organisms most of the fossils represented, the team was able to discover molecular fingerprints that reliably discriminate between fungi, bacteria, and other groups.

These fingerprints were then used to identify some of the more mysterious members of the Rhynie ecosystem, including two specimens of an enigmatic tubular “nematophyte”.     READ MORE...

Fox Dive

 

Advice From a Retiree

 At 75 years old, I have been retired since 2015 and while my career has not been glamorous or financially productive, I have always managed to earn a little bit more than what I need to pay my bills, and have managed to save almost $1,000,000 in the bank.

Here is a little advice:

One - understand the Rule of 72 and start saving as quick as you can.  $2.50/day saved for 40 years will give you $500,000.  If you and your wife save this amount, it will be $1,000,000...  If you start at 25, you will have this amount of money by the age of 65.

Two - a carpenter measures twice and cuts once.  What this means is create a plan and review that plan often (like quarterly) and revise that plan as your interests and personality changes.

Three - decide what kind of quality of life that you want and adjust your spending habits accordingly around a budget that reflects how you want to live.  Stick to that budget and revise that budget as the cost of living changes.

Four - become debt free as soon as possible and stay out debt.  Use a credit to build your credit but only with the understanding that you will pay it off completely at the end of the month.

Five - keep yourself healthy with the right kind of diet, daily exercise, and the right amount of sleep.  Part of staying healthy is learning to manage stress.  Managing stress is not easy for everyone as everyone is different, but failure to manage stress could end your life prematurely.

Six - learn to be patient and thorough.  Don't rush through doing anything just so you can do more because that can create costly mistakes.  If you must take risks, do so when you are young and make sure that you have thought through all possible contingencies.  Learning to play chess will help you with this strategy.

Seven - don't trust anyone but yourself.  Don't base your self-esteem on what others think of you.  Realize that the only person you can change is YOURSELF.

Going Down

 

True Descendants of the Spartans

There is a Greek village in Mani, on the Peloponnesian peninsula, called Neochori where residents boast that they are true descendants of the Spartans.

While Maniots claim their ancestors were natives to the southeastern part of Peloponnese even before Sparta became a famed city-state, the ties between Sparta and Mani have been continuous since historical antiquity.

Ancient Maniots were both slaves and landowners who paid fifty percent of their agricultural products as a tithe, or tax, to Sparta. In the wealthier areas of outer and lower Mani, the landowners had helots (slaves), as well.

The close ties of ancient Maniots and Spartans are also demonstrated by the common worship of certain deities. The Spartans not only respected the traditional religious ceremonies of the Maniots but also adopted them.

Sparta descendants of Neochori
In a recent BBC report in the Neochori village of Mani, former coffee shop owner Giorgos Oikonomeas—who never left his birthplace—claimed that the villagers were true descendants of the brave Spartans.

“If you want to get a taste of what life would have been like in Ancient Sparta, look no further,” he told the reporter. “We are as Spartan as can be.”

To further drive the point home, the 86-year-old Maniot, whose physique still suggests that he could jump onto the battlefield at any moment, served the reporter a lalangi, a crispy strip of dough deep-fried in olive oil.      READ MORE...

1988 Slam Dunk Contest

 

Muggsy Bogues

 

Batteries Powered by Nuclear Waste

Nuclear power is considered a clean energy source because it has zero carbon dioxide emissions; yet, at the same time, it produces massive amounts of hazardous, radioactive waste that pile up as more and more reactors are built around the world.

Experts have proposed different solutions for this issue in order to take better care of the environment and people’s health. With insufficient safe storage space for nuclear waste disposal, the focal point of these ideas is the reutilization of the materials.

Radioactive diamond batteries were first developed in 2016 and were immediately acclaimed because they promised a new, cost-effective way of recycling nuclear waste. In this context, it’s unavoidable to deliberate whether they’re the ultimate solution to these toxic, lethal residues.

What Are Radioactive Diamond Batteries?
Radioactive diamond batteries were first developed by a team of physicists and chemists from the Cabot Institute for the Environment of the University of Bristol. The invention was presented as a betavoltaic device, which means that it’s powered by the beta decay of nuclear waste.

Beta decay is a type of radioactive decay that occurs when an atom’s nucleus has an excess of particles and releases some of them to obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons. This produces a kind of ionizing radiation called beta radiation, which involves a lot of high-speed and high-energy electrons or positrons known as beta particles.  READ MORE...

Nice Try

 

BIG is BETTER

 Americans are impressed with big or large when it comes to buying and owning stuff.  We want a big house, a big car, a big swimming pool; we want big meals, big deserts, lots of clothes, and lots of shoes.  But, depending upon where we live the yards that our big houses are sitting upon are relatively small, typically mowing and trimming in an hour.

Most of the Americans that eat big meals and drink lots of beer or other alcohol have big bodies that a doctor would refer to as OBESE...   and, those of us who are in this big category, spending NO TIME at all exercising...  therefore, our big bodies get BIGGER.

Most of the males (but not all) want women with big breasts...  and I am not sure why because anything over a handful is wasted...  still that is what we want and once we have the female with big breasts, we get bored with those big breasts relatively quickly.  However, when we are out in public, those big breasts cause lots of attention from the other males who wish they had a date with big breasts.

Most of the women (but not all) do not really like their big breasts after they turn 40 and seek out a doctor who will perform breast reduction surgery.  Those females who do not get a breast reduction find that by the time they are 60, those big breasts of theirs hang down like the balls on a hound dog, sometimes drooping down to their waist or below.

Executives measure their success in a variety of ways:

1. Their big salaries
2. Their big offices
3. Their big number of employees they supervise
4. Their big compensation packages
5. Their power and influence
6. Their big amount of assets/toys they own
7. Their big homes
8. Their big egos

Those of us who are not obsessed with BIG, realize that there is absolutely no need to have more that you need.  Having more, makes you spend more and when you spend more, you want more.  This viscous circle causes us to make irrational and illogical decisions because we are motivated by BIG. 

Ninja

 

Measuring a Quantum Paradox

Vacuum chamber containing the atom chip. Credit: Thomas Schweigler, TU Wien

How do quantum particles exchange information? An intriguing hypothesis regarding quantum information has recently been validated through experimental verification conducted at TU Wien.

If you were to randomly pick an individual from a crowd who stands remarkably taller than the average, it’s quite likely that this person will also surpass the average weight. This is because, statistically, knowledge about one variable often gives us some insight into another.

Quantum physics takes these correlations to another level, establishing even more potent connections between disparate quantities: distinct particles or segments of a vast quantum system can “share” a specific amount of information. This intriguing theoretical premise suggests that the calculation of this “mutual information” is surprisingly not influenced by the system’s overall volume, but only by its surface.


This surprising result has been confirmed experimentally at the TU Wien and published in Nature Physics. Theoretical input to the experiment and its interpretation came from the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik in Garching, FU Berlin, ETH Zürich, and New York University.


“Let’s imagine a gas container in which small particles fly around and behave in a very classical way like small spheres,” says Mohammadamin Tajik of the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) — Atominstitut of TU Wien, first author of the current publication.


“If the system is in equilibrium, then particles in different areas of the container know nothing about each other. One can consider them completely independent of each other. Therefore, one can say that the mutual information these two particles share is zero.”   READ MORE...