Saturday, September 9

Our Whynter ARC 147 Portable AC/Heat Unit

We purchased a Whynter Portable AC/Heat unit the other day and it arrived this week.  The unit is rated to heat and cool 500 square feet.  Our space is 150 square feet but has a vaulted ceiling...  so, we decided to get the stronger unit just to make sure our space would be heated and cooled to our satisfaction.  Overkill?  Perhaps but necessary, we thought.


Our sunroom space is not a normal space as it was built by the previous owner who was an amateur builder.  On two side the windows are plexiglass and on the third side the windows are single pane.  We are not sure if there is any insulation in the walls...  so, overkill was, in our opinion, warranted.


Putting the Whynter together was EASY.  We were provided with everything we needed.  The window that we are using does not come down on the exhaust and intake pipe strong enough to hold the fixture solidly in place, so we have used duck tape to hold it in place.  It does not look the best but it is functional.


We have used the unit for a couple of days, turning it on around noon and off around 6pm.  In the morning, my wife sits out on the deck under the umbrella and has yet to get too hot.  She moves into the sunroom in the afternoon.  In about an hour or less the sunroom has a comfortable temperature once we turn the unit on.


Not sure how much electricity it will use, but it would have cost us $12-15,000 to seal the sunroom properly with windows and insulation and would still have had to purchase a unit like this to cool and heat it.


Sometimes, taking the cheaper approach works out fine in the long run...  even though the unit must constantly run...  


If this unit raises our bill by $100/month (which is highly unlikely), it will be $1,200/year and will take us a little over 13 years to break even.  We will be 89 and 84 respectively.  The odds are the increase will be less than half that amount which will take us 26 years to break even.  We will both be dead by then.

Getting Ready for Myrtle Beach

My wife and I typically plan to go to Myrtle Beach, SC at least twice a year...  once in May and once in September...  before and after the summer crowds and the hot humid weather patterns.


 We usually stay in a resort condo in South MB which seems to be a little cheaper than North Myrtle Beach.


The condo is always OCEAN FRONT with a balcony, living room/dinning area, full kitchen, bathroom, washer and dryer, and bedroom in the back.


There are numerous places to go, but we like to visit: the coastal grand and Myrtle Beach malls, Tanger Outlet, Barefoot Landing, Broadway at the Beach, and the Market Commons.


While we eat breakfast and lunch at the Condo, we ALWAYS go out for dinner but not at the places that charge you an arm and a leg to eat there.  Red Lobster is a favorite of ours, along with Margaritaville, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, and God Father's Pizza.


We always go to God Father Pizza and Red Lobster...  but, we also go to  Subway once or twice to save money.  The other 2-3 nights are up for grabs but we are looking for places where we will not spend over $50 for two...  sometimes this is hard to find...  however, we are more interested in being at the beach than in eating at a fancy, expensive restaurant.


At least one night, my wife will not eat a dinner, instead eating COLD STONE ice cream instead.  On those nights I eat at Subway.


Sometimes, we eat at the Mall at one of those Japanese or Chinese places.  I love the way either one of the cook the rice.


During the day, at least my wife, is out on the beach no later than 9am and refuses to come in until 4/4:30 after the lifeguard puts up the chairs and umbrellas.  Usually, they let her sit in the chair until she is the last one to get.


I join her about 10am and may go in for a couple of hours around noon, returning at 2pm and remaining there until she is ready to leave.  I can only stay down there if there is a wind blowing, otherwise the humidity and heat make me sick.


Due to my cancer treatments, I am not supposed to be getting a lot of direct sunlight.  I always take with me UV rated long sleeve shirts and pants and sometimes wear them and sometimes I don't.


When I am down there sitting under the umbrella, I will either write poetry or listen to an audiobook on my Samsung tablet.  The book that I downloaded to listen to this time is about training dragon riders.


The night before we are scheduled to leave, we pack up the car, and sometimes we try to get away by 5/6:00am so that we can be home around noon.  By leaving early we avoid the leaving Myrtle Beach traffic but we run into normal traffic along the way back which can be heavy when driving through some rather large cities.  We will take a snack with us and stop once for gas and to use the restrooms.


Of the 6.5 hours, I drive all of it except for 2 hours that my wife drives in the middle to give me a break.

Technology Expectations

I have always hoped for the best but expected the worst...  some say that is not a very positive attitude...  but, I say that I am never disappointed which always provides me with a positive outlook.

Technology throws a monkey wrench into that philosophy just by it being technology.


I doubt that new technology will be developed over the next few years, but the technology that we already have will advance beyond our wildest expectations.


Electric Vehicles will still be advanced but not as quickly as a majority of globe does not want to give up their dependence on gasoline or petroleum crude oil and all of its byproducts.

Hydrogen Vehicles we be perfected and will directly compete with EVs when it is discovered how to make an inexpensive fuel cell.

However, EVs will also experience bigger batteries and faster charging times.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a huge monkey wrench because of its potential applications and implications.  AI alone will revolutionize the medical industry in all aspects including research.

AI/Robots will turn the world UPSIDE DOWN with their possibilities as researchers get closer and closer to developing chips that mimic human thought processes, actions, and reactions.

The potential for AI/Robots is literally astronomical in its implications and potential.  For example:

  • AI/Robot surgeons
  • AI/Robot airplane pilots
  • AI/Robot workers
  • AI/Robot autonomous vehicles
  • AI/Robot militaries (armies, etc.)
  • AI/Robot space crews to build colonies on planets
  • AI/Robot teachers
  • AI/Robot law enforcement officers
  • AI/Robot security guards
There will be advancements in Virtual Reality (VR) incorporating Augmented Reality (AR).
More of the world (as each year passes) will be able to connect to the internet.
Technology will create more and more billionaires while destroying the middle class and creating a new global middle class with less financial ability but on the whole more than they had before.
Probably one of the biggest advancements outside of AI will be the harnessing and use of nuclear fusion as a renewable source of energy.
Cancers and other deadly diseases will be eliminated.
Technologies will replace the need for wars as AI/Robot armies will give every country the advantage of mutually assured destruction.

Spider Weaving Web


 

What To Do In Order To Be Happy


Are you in a slump you can’t get out of? Do you often feel like a drone that’s only working, sleeping, and not much else?

Well, that was me only a couple of years ago. However, I’ve managed to turn my life around and be happier than ever.

Here are the things I did every single day that helped me make a 180.

1) Dance or listen to music
Music has a powerful impact on mood. Put on your favorite music and dance like no one’s watching.

Now, I won’t lie to you and say that I danced every day. Or ever. Dancing isn’t my forte.

But I did listen to music that lifted my spirits and inspired me to take on new projects. Apart from that, there are so many motivational videos you can listen to that will help you get moving if you’re stuck in life.

The thing is, you should do this every day. Don’t wait for the time you need it. Simply make this a routine.

2) Have self-compassion
If you’re anything like me, you’re often your harshest critic. You’re never satisfied with your work, interactions with other people, or your life in general.

That’s, of course, a big mistake. It’s also a surefire way to never get ahead in life and stay deeply unhappy.

Treat yourself with kindness and understanding. When facing challenges or making mistakes, remind yourself that it’s okay to be imperfect.

Self-compassion encourages a healthier relationship with yourself and reduces self-criticism.

Ultimately, why make your life even harder than it already is? Why be a starving artist if you can be a thriving one?

Here’s another thing that will help you feel better and happier.

3) Lift your spirits with positive self-affirmations
Positive affirmations help you reinforce positive beliefs about yourself. Repeat affirmations such as:
  • “I’m capable,”
  • “I can do this,” or
  • “I’m resilient”  to boost your self-esteem and self-confidence.
Pump yourself up or have a pep talk in the mirror each morning if you have trouble going through the day.

The key is to be specific in your affirmations. Instead of using broad statements, narrow them down to address individual aspects of your life.

For example, if you’re working on self-confidence, say, “I’m confident in my abilities in…”    READ MORE...

Gyroscope

 

Friday, September 8

Our Visit at SAMS

We went to SAMS yesterday in Knoxville because my wife was getting her port flushed and we needed to stock up on some items.  We usually get our protein drinks there, along with our Keurig coffee pods, Olive Oil, Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, Salmon and Cod, Salad Dressings, and a variety of other items.  What we save pays for the annual membership.


We are careful what we purchase there because sometimes, it is cheaper to buy the item at Walmart rather than SAMS which is Walmart's warehouse.  In other words, we just don't buy because it is available and we think that it might be cheaper.


While we are there, believe it or not, we get a SAMS hotdog (all beef) and a large drink for $1.40 which is an incredible price.  When we go to Myrtle Beach next week, we are going to stop by SAMS down there just for a cheap dinner.


SAMS sells gasoline as well but we have not yet taken the time to get gas there.  It is supposedly cheaper than other places in Knoxville.


If we are lucky, there will be vendors giving away free samples...  although, that usually only happens on the weekends.  We can go there on the weekends, fight the traffic for parking and all the people inside, and eat enough from the vendors not to feel hungry at all when we leave.


We have purchased clothes at SAMS from time to time, cell phone and computer equipment that was on sale but those items, at least the computer stuff should really be purchased at Best Buy where we have GEEK SQUAD protection.


SAMS is a nice diversion from the normal and one can spend a good 60-90 minutes in there just looking around and taking time to price the items.  Oftentimes, you will find great deals.


I have been told that COSTCO is very similar to SAMS and there are several people we know who have memberships at both places, but one is enough for us.

S. W. O. T. Analysis

What is this analysis?

  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats

Most people who have business degrees or who have worked in business for a while, are familiar with this analysis.  However, they are not familiar with the fact that most businesses are using this analysis incorrectly.

Why am I saying this?
Well... because it is true...
I have worked for several companies and had several arguments and have had to defend my position because they were performing this analysis incorrectly.

STRENGTHS...  this one is easy.  Everyone knows exactly what their strengths are, and have no problems letting other people know this fact...  that attitude is why these people remain in middle management and never go higher.

WEAKNESSES...   this one is NOT EASY.  Who in the hell wants to admit their weaknesses or flaws, especially in front of their bosses and other co-workers?  And, it is for this reason that most SWOT analyses fail when implemented.

OPPORTUNITIES...  this one is relative easy as well since most people know exactly where they want to go or where they want to take the company.

THREATS...  this one is NOT EASY...  because they do not spend enough time analyzing their competition, nor do they spend much time on market forecasts, forecasted research and development trends, or domestic and global economics.   They are totally ignorant on the various political trends in the USA and what the Democrats and Republicans are pushing in Congress.

At the present time, would you be considering:
  1. the unintended consequences of Artificial Intelligence or Robots with AI?
  2. the future consequences of the USA's increasing national debt?
  3. the nations involved with BRICS that are trying to replace the US dollar as the global currency?
  4. the divisions in this country between whites/blacks, males/females, and liberals/conservatives?
  5. the cost of re-training workers who did not retain knowledge in high school or college?
  6. the economic/business consequences of doing away with petroleum crude oil?
  7. the fact that China wants to replace the USA as the global leader?
  8. the positive consequences of replacing your workforce with robots?

Drones

 

Not From This Solar System


A sprinkling of tiny beads recovered off the coast of Papua New Guinea might have come from a rock with a rather interesting history, having crossed light years of space from its origin around a star that's not our Sun.


While the conclusions are yet to be appropriately reviewed, they're already provoking debate in the scientific community as researchers caution against reading too deeply into the analysis.


The meteor was traced by US government satellites before disintegrating over the Pacific in 2014. The unusual velocity of the bolide meteor, classified CNEOS 2014-01-08 (or more simply, IM1), attracted interest as a potential missile from afar.


It was an opportunity too good to miss for renowned Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb, who founded the Galileo Project in 2021 to search for signatures of technology of extraterrestrial origin. This June, he led an expedition to search for remains of IM1.


Using an array of powerful rare-earth magnets, members of the project's search team sifted hundreds of tiny spherules 0.05 to 1.3 millimeters in diameter out of sediment 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) below the surface, around 85 kilometers north of Manus Island.


A preliminary evaluation of 57 of the mineral objects by a team of researchers from Harvard University in the US suggests at least a few of them don't reflect the kind of chemistry we'd expect of our own Solar System, fueling speculation that IM1 crossed interstellar space before slamming into our planet's atmosphere.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political














 

Back to Walking

The only therapy that the orthopedic surgeon allowed after my spinal fusion was walking.  He wanted me to build up to a mile a day as quickly as possible, then gradually add to that distance each day that I walked.  He was hoping for 7 days a week.


I got up to a mile and a half but only 5 days a week and could do that distance consistently in about 30-35 minutes.  What you do not understand yet is that my walking was not done on a flat surface in a gym but in our community where the roads went up and down.


When we started looking for a smaller house, and after finding one, getting both houses ready; one to sell and one to move into, I no longer took the time to walk.  After moving in, then there was putting everything away and organizing.  After three months of intense daily activity, I just did not want to do anything, let alone start back walking


Also during that time and for about 6-8 weeks my cancer was growing and it was making me feel daily nausea and higher than normal fatigue.  As my body got used to the change and the medicine began working, I was able to return to some kind of normalcy.  My last PET scan showed ACTIVITY but no GROWTH.


So, about a week ago, I started walking again.  I did not try to walk fast.  I did not time myself, nor did I calculate the distance.  My plans were to walk like that for several days, then increase the distance and maybe calculate the distance.  Today, I walked the increased distance but did not calculate to see how far that was.  I will walk the same tomorrow, then on Sunday we leave for Myrtle Beach and there will be no walking.


On Monday, our first morning at Myrtle Beach, I will make sure that I walk a mile...  half way up and half way back...  this will be done in front of our condo just like I did it the year before.


While walking is good for the heart and overall health, I am mainly walking because of my back and will hopefully get back to the pre-surgery condition where I enjoyed walking.  When walking is a struggle, it is no fun to walk.



Bear and Fast Food


 

Toyota's New Battery Achieves 932 Mile Range


Toyota, renowned as the world’s largest car company, has often been perceived as an anti-EV automaker due to its cautious approach and reluctance to embrace the EV revolution.

Toyota maintained its course to focus on alternative options or rather specifically saying hydrogen path for its automobility future.  

Instead of succumbing to the hype surrounding these vehicles, Toyota has consistently maintained its stance, emphasizing the need for battery technology to reach a certain stage before committing to the electric path.

However, recent revelations from the company’s “Let’s Change the Future of Cars” workshop suggest a shift in perspective.

After being called an EV-skeptic for ages, they’ve finally shouted from the rooftops that they’re ready to join the party. Cue the confetti cannons and the techno beats because Toyota is projecting that by 2026, the long-awaited stage for electric vehicles will finally be here.

Get this: their battery-powered beauties are expected to cruise an eye-popping range of 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) by 2028. Oh, and here’s the kicker—giga castings!

Yes, you heard it right. Toyota is now jumping on the Tesla train with their own Giga castings, proving that even the biggest skeptics can’t resist a little electric charm.

In light of these revelations, let us delve deeper into Toyota’s evolving stance and the significant implications it holds for the future of electric mobility.    READ MORE...

Learning

 

Thursday, September 7

Eating Asian Again

There is an Asian restaurant 3 miles from the house next to Lowes and we go there once in a while for take out.  We always get Hibachi Chicken (2 dinners) with Wonton soup for me and an egg roll for my wife.  I usually get extra rice.  The total bill is $26 and some change.  They give you so much, that my wife and I make two meals out of it.


I will use the extra rice to mix with something else and that is usually two meals as well.  Six meals for $26 or about $4.30/meal.  For those eating on a budget this is a great deal not to mention the fact that it really tastes good.


While we do not patronize the Asian restaurant because of its price, the lower price helps over a long period of time as it helps us keep our average price for going out to eat lower.


Tomorrow, we will go to SAMS and probably get hotdogs and a drink for lunch.  Last time it was $1.30 for each of us.  More than likely, I will get a hotdog to go and mix it with my extra rice just to see if that combination is any good.


Our Hibachi chicken comes with cooked onions, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli in a dark broth that mixes well with the rice.  They also give us a shrimp sauce that is out of this world.  We always ask for extra.


What we have found over the years in order to maintain a healthy body weight is that it is not what you eat but how much you eat at any one time.  Some dieticians even recommend eating 5 small meals each day and no snacks.  However, we stopped eating red meat over 20 years ago...  If we do eat red meat it is a hamburger or a steak once or twice a year.


The last time I had a hamburger it was so long between the one I had eaten that it did not even taste good to me.  Of course, it might have been the grease it was cooked in.


This is exactly why we like Asian food because we never get tired of eating it and no matter how long it is between the times that we feast on Asian, it always tastes good.

Operating in the Cloud

Before my Dell Vostro 7620, I had an HP Chromebook (which I disliked tremendously) and a Lenovo Yoga...  all three were laptops.


In order to save space on the hard drive, I have free accounts at Google Drive, Gmail, Microsoft One Drive, and numerous external storage devices that connect via USB.  I also have Drop Box, but the free account does not hold much.


Being older in age, I am not that familiar with all the things you can do in the cloud and don't really want to find out for fear of not being able to understand and get frustrated.  Additionally, each place has passwords and they have to be change periodically and REMEMBERED...


I was on facebook but they discovered I had multiple accounts under one phone number so I have been locked out...  not sure if it is permanent or temporary but I am getting to the point where I don't really care.


I mentioned Facebook because you can use that account to log into all sorts of things online or in the cloud.  I am sure I can do the same thing with google and Microsoft but I keep forgetting that I have used them and when I have to reset the password, I am not sure what other devices will be impacted.


I am sure there is a better way to do all of this, but at 75, I ain't gonna spend that much more time on the internet...  because of the years I have left.  By 80, which is only 4 years from now as I will be 76 next month, my time on the internet will be limited to gmail if that.


Gmail allows me to send letters to people I know (albeit not very many) without having to pay the cost of paper, pens, envelopes, or postage.


All of my novels are stored in the cloud on MS One Drive and backed up by attaching them to emails that I send to myself on Gmail.  Some, but not all of them are also saved on the HDD on the Dell.


What I also like about the cloud is that all my audible books are stored there and I download them to a tablet when I want to listen to one.  Once I listen, I delete but they are stored in my cloud library forever.


I remember when I had to download the books to my laptop, transfer them to an ipod in order to listen...  the problem with that was different operating systems for the laptop and the ipod.


Getting back to my three laptops.  Both the Lenovo and HP starting experiencing problem with the KEYBOARD, and in order to continue to use them I had to attach an external keyboard.  That defeated the purpose, at least to me, of using a laptop...  something else to carry around.


Once I remove all the files from both computers, I will nuke the hard drive, if I can remember how, and give them away.  For a year back in the early 2000s, I worked as a computer technician, building new computers and repairing old ones under the guidance of someone who knew what they were doing.  He taught me alot, but most has been forgotten.


It is amazing that I know what I know about the CLOUD...

Introspection and Self-Reflection

In high school, I played several sports, basketball, baseball, track and field, football, and volleyball.

I was a forward in basketball, a defensive linebacker in football, played first base in baseball, and in track and field, threw the javelin, discuss, and shotput.

In all those sports areas, we won about as much as we lost, because our collective talents were mediocre at best.

I would not know what it feels like to be on a winning team year after year, playing with others where everything and everyone worked in harmony.

In college I was an "A" student and excelled in communications when I was in the military.

As far as my career was concerned, my ambition was greater than my loyalty and I changed jobs often in an effort to gain more income and gain more experience that would help me get better jobs and more money.

In order to achieve that type of goal, I had to not just be better than average, but I had to be better than everyone else.  However, being in the right place at the right time, did not hurt either and I was able to experience that a couple of times.  I would have been happy if I had only experienced it once.

When I taught classes, I just knew from the getgo that I was better than anyone else around...  I was better because I was unconventional in my approach to learning.  Most of the teachers taught their students just as they were taught, not admitting to themselves that their teachers were boring...  therefore, they must be boring too.


Self-awareness is the hardest goal to achieve because no one really wants to admit that they can get better, especially if they are on top when they are considering that.


Then there are those who are so egotistical that see no need to improve themselves...  while others think if it ain't broke why fix it?

Thorium

 

ALICE RINGS - Loops in the Fabric of Reality


Strange loops in the fabric of reality have finally been witnessed forming in a super cold gas, providing physicists with an opportunity to study the behaviors of a rather peculiar kind of one-sided magnetism.

Known as 'Alice rings' after the Alice of 'Wonderland' fame, the circular structures were observed by a collaboration between researchers in the US and Finland which already has a long list of discoveries concerning the distortions in quantum fields known as topological monopoles.

The isolated equivalent of a pole on a magnet, monopoles truly sound like something Alice would have seen in her hunt for the white rabbit. Cutting a magnet in half won't succeed in separating its north from south, but monopoles can theoretically arise in the quantum machinery that gives rise to various forces and particles.

One version of the monopole takes the form of an elementary particle, one that has defied all attempts to identify so remains, for now, purely hypothetical.

Yet monopoles can emerge in other settings. The frothing of various quantum fields can give rise to their own style of one-sided magnetism as they swirl, pulling and tugging on their surrounds to give birth to short-lived anomalies that stand out for a split moment before vanishing into the churn once more.

As a member of the Monopole Collaboration from Aalto University in Finland, physicist Mikko Möttönen is intimately familiar with a whole variety of whirlpools, strings, and tangles that can emerge in the weave of a quantum fabric.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 






Feeling One's Age

It is relatively easy for people like Chuck Norris or Arnold Schwarzenegger to be active and full of energy well up into their 70s...


Reason:  they have not been sick nor experienced any serious illnesses.  That is a HUGE reason why you see stories about senior citizens who have the physical behavior of those 20 years their junior.


On the other hand, at age 60, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and experienced a heart attack that was serious enough for the surgeons to recommend triple by-pass surgery.  I had 5 stents inserted into my heart arteries instead.

Five years later, I was diagnosed with Melanoma, so now I am being treated for two cancers.  

Side effects of cancer and cancer treatments:

  1. Nausea
  2. Extreme Fatigue
  3. Loss of Appetite
  4. Anemia
  5. Loss of Immunity
  6. Thyroid damage
At 75 years of age, I am in my 15th year of treatment and have survived (so far) two cancers.  This has only made my symptoms worse.
I have experienced:
  • surgery
  • chemo
  • radiation
  • immunotherapy
all of which has left my body physically weaker than I was at age 60 before all this started.
In addition to my cancer treatments, last year I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and had 5 disks fused together:  L2-L3-L4-L5-S1...  it has taken me a good year to get back to the place I was at physically before back surgery...  which was again not the best place to be.

My wife is 6 years younger than me and has also had cancer but after 3 years she went into REMISSION (Mine will never go away). She also has back problems but takes shots to avoid surgery.  She believes that I should be as active as she is...  I love her dearly but she is completely out of touch when it comes to that reality.  I am anxious (somewhat) to see how active she is when she turn 75...  the problem with that is that I will be 80 which is why I said somewhat.

Younger people typically never feel the age of older people therefore it is difficult for them to understand what we are going through...   at the same time, it is difficult for me to understand what my wife is going through with her pain(s) as well...

My back surgery was not performed because I was in pain, it was performed because one morning when I got out of bed my knees gave way...  and, I could no longer walk without a limp...  plus walking was a struggle instead of a pleasure as it used to be.  I never experienced the pain she is experiencing.

Kayak


 

The Murmuration of Being

Art by Lia Halloran for The Universe in Verse. (Available as a print.)



“This life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of the entire existence, but is in a certain sense the whole,” quantum pioneer Erwin Schrödinger wrote as he bridged his young science with ancient Eastern philosophy to reckon with the ongoing mystery of what we are.

A century later — a century in the course of which we unraveled the double helix, detected the Higgs boson, decoded the human genome, heard a gravitational wave and saw a black hole for the first time, and discovered thousands of other possible worlds beyond our Solar System — the mystery has only deepened for us “atoms with consciousness,” capable of music and of murder. 

Each day, we eat food that becomes us, its molecules metabolized into our own as we move through the world with the illusion of a self. Each day, we live with the puzzlement of what makes us and our childhood self the “same” person, even though most of our cells and our dreams have been replaced. Each day, we find ourselves restless miniatures of a vast universe we are only just beginning to fathom.

In Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being (public library), the Buddhist scientist Neil Theise endeavors to bridge the mystery out there with the mystery of us, bringing together our three primary instruments of investigating reality.  

These are empirical science (with a focus on complexity theory), philosophy (with a focus on Western idealism), and metaphysics (with a focus on Buddhism, Vedanta, Kabbalah, and Saivism) — to paint a picture of the universe and all of its minutest parts “as nothing but a vast, self-organizing, complex system, the emergent properties of which are… everything.”  READ MORE...

Bird & Dog

 

Wednesday, September 6

Being Home Owners

We purchased our first home in 1969 after getting married.  Since then, my wife (second wife) and I have purchased half a dozen more homes, including this last home where we downsized homes due to age and health concerns.  I have never not owned a home.


Owning homes can easily be accomplished if you are willing to buy a home that is within your capability to make the mortgage payments.


It does not matter where you live, a home is affordable, regardless of how high or low the cost to borrow money...  but not for those homes that are out of your price range, especially when you have a mortgage for 30 years.


I think the problem comes in because these people who are wanting homes that are above their capability to make payments are being denied by the bank.


NO ONE WANTS TO START SMALL AND BUILD UP...


Your first home cannot be a condo or a 5,000 square foot home in an exclusive neighborhood.  Anyone who thinks that is possible is not living in reality and will be turned down by the banks.


I have known people who purchased a $100,000 home that did not meet their immediate needs but they made do.  In 5 years they sold it for $125,000 and purchased a $150,000 home.  In 5 years they sold that home for $200,000 and purchased a $250,000 home. Twenty years later, they had a home in an exclusive neighborhood worth almost $500,000.


Young people have the same issue with homes as they have with vehicles and jobs.  They want to start out on top from the getgo...  and, when that does not happen, then society has been designed to suppress them.


With this attitude they will be disappointed for the rest of their lives.


BTW -  being a homeowner is not all that great because of all the time and money that must be spent to keep your house and yard looking good.  I believe if I had to do it all over again, I might have gone the condo route where there is minimal maintenance costs or just rented an apartment.  The only real advantage to home owning is waiting until you retire, sell your home and use the profits to help supplement your retirement income.  In that regard, home ownership is nothing more than an investment.


If you cannot own a home, there are other investments that you can afford...  like saving $2.50 each day...  if that money is put into a mutual fund each month and you do this for 40 years, you will have $500,000....  that is way easier than maintaining a home!

America: The Beautiful

 There are places throughout Europe, Africa, Russia, China, Australia, South and Central America, and Canada that are incredibly beautiful...  so much so that they take one's breath away.


However, nothing can compare to the magnificence of the United States of America...  as it appears that we have it all.

  1. The massive Mississippi River
  2. The Grand Canyon
  3. The Rocky Mountains
  4. The Mountains of Alaska
  5. The beaches of Hawaii, the west and east coasts
  6. Hawaiian Surfing
  7. The Smoky Mountains
  8. The American farmlands
  9. The Great Lakes
  10. The Intercoastal Waterways
  11. The Finger Lakes
  12. The Wine Vineyards
  13. Outer Banks NC Fishing
  14. All our National Parks
  15. The Tennessee Valley Lakes

Additionally, we are sitting on top of a massive amount of petroleum crude oil as well as an abundance of other materials.  We have more colleges, universities, community colleges, and trade schools than any other country in the world.

BUT, our crowning achievement is not our people and all their talents, but the FREEDOMS that we give our people!!!

Nowhere in the world, does a group of people enjoy the FREEDOMS that we have here in this country.

It is our FREEDOMS that allow and enable us to pursue happiness and a high quality of life.

Think about all the WILD ANIMALS that live throughout AFRICA...  animals that are found nowhere else in the world...  These animals are more FREE than the people who live in that country.

There is a movement underway here in the US of A to eliminate some of these FREEDOMS but I do not think that the people will ever allow that to happen...  certainly not the SUPREME COURT whose job it is to define and interpret the US CONSTITUTION from which our FREEDOMS are derived.

America is beautiful and will continue to be beautiful because of what is found here and because of the FREEDOMS that exist here.

COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF

Our New Sunroom

Our new house has a sunroom that measures 10 feet by 15 feet with a vaulted ceiling.  There is a ceiling fan and a light that does not give off much illumination.  Not sure if there is any insulation in the walls and the windows are single pane so the room is not very efficient when it comes to cooling and heating.


Early morning and late afternoon are good times to come out here but tonight is the first time for me.  The room is comfortable and the humidity seems low...  so, it is an ideal space to remove one's self from the noise that one does not want to hear inside.


My wife purchased a recliner just for the sunroom and it is that recliner in which I am sitting now.


Sometime this week, our portable heating/AC unit will arrive, and we will see just how that unit might work for us.   Because of the windows and the potential of no insulation, this room will NEVER HOLD its cooling or heating.  However, if the unit keeps it comfortable to use, then it saves us $20,000+ in renovation expenses.


If I am coming out here in the early evening after the sun goes down, then I will want more illumination...  during the day there is plenty of light.


When we purchased this house, its condition was that we did not really have to do anything...  however, we wanted different floors in the house and bathrooms.  We wanted different toilets in both bathrooms.  


Additionally, we sold our living room furniture and our kitchen appliance, so we had to replace all of those as well.  About $30,000 is what we have estimated.  Fortunately, we made $32,000 profit when we sold our house to a northerner from Chicago.


This house gives us exactly what we want and we were damn lucky to find it one street over from where we were living at the time.  For us, it is an IDEAL RETIREMENT HOME.



Saturday Night Live

 

TWENTY-TWO People Needed to Colonize Mars


Researchers estimated that as few as 22 people would be needed to sustain a colony on Mars. But there are lots of caveats, and the new study largely misses the point of colonizing the Red Planet in the first place, experts say.

Only 22 people are needed to create a colony on Mars, an optimistic new study suggests. However, not everyone agrees, and some experts think many more people would be needed to create a lasting human presence on the Red Planet.

In the study, which was uploaded to the pre-print database arXiv on Aug. 11 and has not been peer-reviewed, researchers used a computer program, known as an agent-based model (ABM), to predict how many people would be needed to sustain a colony on Mars. ABMs simulate how well groups react to challenging scenarios based on their personality types.

The model looked at four personality types: agreeables, who are not very competitive or aggressive; socials, who are extroverted and do well in social settings; reactives, who struggle to deal with changes to routine; and neurotics, who are highly competitive and aggressive. The model then varied the number of each type when doing key tasks such as Martian mining and farming.

The researchers found that iIf most people were agreeables or socials, just 22 people could sustain a colony. With more neurotics and reactives, larger groups were needed to succeed.

Limiting the size of the first Martian colonies will be very important, because the more people and equipment that are needed, the more expensive it will be.    READ MORE...