Growing Up Outside

Highland Hills is the neighborhood in which we have lived for over 20 years.  The name has a Scottish ring to it but none of the homes were built by Scottish people and no Scottish people live here.

This neighborhood is full of retirees for the most part...  I would say that about 80% of the people who live here are retired, which makes their age somewhere in the 60s or 70s.  It is possible that we have some couples in their 80s but I have not met them yet.

Most of the residents do their own yard maintenance but for the rest, they have hired different outside crews to come in...  and on any given day of the week, including Sundays, you will see a pickup truck and a trailer carrying lawn mowing equipment parked on the side of the road.

Other than the noise associated with lawn care tasks, this neighborhood is relatively quiet and it is seldom that you see anyone outside unless they are doing something in the yard.  So, it seems that staying inside the house is common practice in this neighborhood.

In contrast, when I was growing up in the 1950s, I too was in a community about 5 miles outside of any city; Alexandria to be exact.  Our neighborhood was similar to the size of Highland Hills, and was called Wellington Heights.  The neighborhood was full of couples with children and on any given day of the week, most of the children would be outside playing.

I remember that the parents got together every year at Christmas time and agreed to buy similar gifts so that all the children would have the same toys with which to plays.  Of course, there were boy toys nd girl toys back then which would be frowned at today.

Back then, we had television sets and cartoons were broadcasted on Saturday morning, but we were outside playing.  We did not have cell phones, iphones, ipads, ipods, or any hand held electronic devices to distract us from playing.  Back then, it was easy to socialize...  and that socialization did not care what color your skin was...  although, there were no blacks in our community.

Had there been blacks in our community, we all would have played together as there was no racism back then...  at least not until you got to high school.

Somewhat Political

 

Uncertainty Abounds

Uncertainty begins before we are born as we do not know if we will be black or white, male or female, tall or short, or if we will have the intellect to go to college.

Not even the weatherman (or woman) can accurately predict the uncertainty of the weather.

Each day that we are alive on earth, we have no idea if this is going to be our last day or not because of the uncertainty we have about tomorrow.

As a child and perhaps as a young adult that uncertainty does not seem to make much difference to us as we are concerned with other things...  BUT, as we grow older, that uncertainty becomes more and more of a problem for us both mentally and physically.

I certainly had no idea that I was going to have a heart attack while walking on the treadmill at age 60 but I did.  I had not smoked for 20 years.  I had not eaten red meat for 20 years.  I had not consumed alcohol for 20 years.  I exercised 5-7 days each week without hesitation...  and yet, I had the heart attack.

Talk about being surprised because of that uncertainty.

None of us know how long we are going to live nor do we know how we are going to die.  We don't know what our careers will look like or if we will get married and have a family.

We live each day, one day at a time, but when you think about it, we live that one day actually one moment at a time.

With that in mind, I have no certainty that I will finish this article and post it, although the odds are in my favor that I will.  Still, there is uncertainty even with that thought.

This uncertainty can work to our advantage.  Let's say that we are in the Army and our unit has been sent into a war zone to engage in battle with the other side.  Do we hide as much as possible or simply go about our business since we don't know when our time will come to die?

On the other side of the coin, if the enemy understands that logic, then they could wildly charge since nothing is certain that they will die and could possibly overrun our position.

Wealthy people continue to work and see how much money they can make, even though they don't need the money, simply because they have no idea when they are going to die.

We don't admit it and perhaps we don't want to admit it but we live with uncertainty EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY.

Cheese

 

Remnant Galaxies from Universe's Inception

The red region (left) shows the shell enclosed by the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation, with individual galaxies depicted as luminous tiny specks. The blue filaments show the greater Cosmic Web, with previously known features like Laniākea highlighted. Credit: Frédéric Durillon, Animea Studio; Daniel Pomarède, IRFU, CEA University Paris-Saclay. This work benefited from a government funding by France 2030 (P2I – Graduate School of Physics) under reference ANR-11-IDEX-0003



Astronomers have identified an immense bubble, Hoʻoleilana, 820 million light years away. This structure, believed to be a remnant from the universe’s inception and larger than predicted, offers valuable insights into galaxy evolution and the universe’s expansion dynamics.


A University of Hawaiʻi-led discovery of an immense bubble 820 million light years from Earth is believed to be a fossil-like remnant of the birth of the universe. Astronomer Brent Tully from the UH Institute for Astronomy and his team unexpectedly found the bubble within a web of galaxies. The entity has been given the name Hoʻoleilana, a term drawn from the Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant evoking the origin of structure.


The new findings published on September 5 in The Astrophysical Journal, mention these massive structures are predicted by the Big Bang theory, as the result of 3D ripples found in the material of the early universe, known as Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO).

The Unexpected Find
“We were not looking for it. It is so huge that it spills to the edges of the sector of the sky that we were analyzing,” explained Tully. “As an enhancement in the density of galaxies, it is a much stronger feature than expected. 

The very large diameter of one billion light years is beyond theoretical expectations. If its formation and evolution are in accordance with theory, this BAO is closer than anticipated, implying a high value for the expansion rate of the universe.”

Astronomers located the bubble using data from Cosmicflows-4, which is to date, the largest compilation of precise distances to galaxies. Tully co-published the exceptional catalog in the fall of 2022. 

His team of researchers believe this may be the first time astronomers identified an individual structure associated with a BAO. The discovery could help bolster scientists’ knowledge of the effects of galaxy evolution.     READ MORE...

Owning a Home

Ever since 1969, when I first got married at the age of 22, I have owned my own home.  My first home was in North Carolina and all the others about 4-5 were purchased in Tennessee.

Owning one's own home has its advantages and disadvantages...   and I am wondering if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages...

1. You own property and land.
2. You can use your home as collateral.
3. You are more trusted if you own a home.
4. Your home is an investment that grows in value.
5. You can use your home to trade up to a nicer more expensive home.
6. Owning a home helps your credit score.

I am sure there are others but those are the main ones.

On the downside of owning a home, there is:

1. mortgage that has to be paid
2. furniture and appliances must be purchased
3. home insurance that needs to acquired
4. there are property taxes that must be paid
5. home owners are responsible for all repairs
6. home owners are responsible for maintenance, such as:

• lawn care
• window care
• cleaning
• plumbing
• electrical
• painting

NOTE:  if you want to sell your home in 3-5 years so that you can upgrade to a better home in a better location, you have invest money in those improvements that you may or may not get back when you sell your home...  there are no guarantees.

Improvements should only be made in the kitchen and bathrooms.

If you decide to purchase a home with a basement, then depending upon several factors, you now have to worry about water drainage when it rains and were your basement walls properly sealed...  If the basement is unfinished, then there is that cost and labor these days is not cheap nor are building materials.

Bear in mind that new home owners need to take into consideration there annual income, and other expenses, and should create a budget that includes:

EXPENSES

Mortgage

Home insurance

Home Maintenance

Lawn Equipment

Car Payment

Gasoline costs

Car Insurance

Car Maintenance

Life Insurance

Food

Electric

Gas

Water

Taxes (IRS, City, County)

Health Insurance

Clothes

Cable or WIFI

Home Entertainment (Netflix, Hulu, etc)

Cell phones

Computers

Vacations

Holidays/Birthdays

Children?

• clothes
• medical
• school supplies
• clothes
• toys/games

MISC

• cigarettes
• alcohol
• out of pocket medical
• cost of pets (food, vet bills)
• cost of a divorce (50% of all first marriages in USA end in divorce)

One of the issues that first time homeowners miss when creating a budget is that they do not anticipate inflation and rising costs, illness, death of a spouse, being laid off, or getting sued because they caused an accident with injuries.

They also do not take into consideration items that are only paid once or twice a year and anticipating the cost of that expense each month so they will not get caught off guard.  What I am thinking about here is car insurance is only paid twice a year.

Owning a home is a big deal and it takes lots of planning to take everything into consideration and have an alternate plan for just in case situations.

 

Bird Bath

 

The Concept of Thirds in Photography

 Back in the 1970s, I was very much interested in photography and when I was in the Navy and we visited Rota, Spain (a US Naval Base), I purchased a PENTAX slr camera with several additional lenses for about 1/3 of what all that would have cost me in the USA.

The camera came with a leather case and I was advised by one of the "lifers" to buy a metal strap because someone with a sharp knife could cut the leather and steal the camera off my shoulder.  That is exactly what I did...  however, no one ever tried to steal it from me that I knew about.

One of the first techniques you should learn is the concept of thirds.  Study the photo above...  notice the crisscrossing lines.  These lines divide the frame of the lens into thirds...  right to left and top to bottom.

You should also notice that there are four points where two of the lines go across each other.  It is at these points that you should place the focus of the shot that you want to take.

This is illustrated in the photos below...

Cat Jump

 

Quantum Universe Inside an Atom

In many ways, the quest for what's truly fundamental in our Universe is the story of probing the Universe on smaller scales and at higher energies.

By going inside the atom, we revealed the atomic nucleus, its constituent protons and neutrons, and the quarks and gluons inside, plus many other spectacular features.

It's through this investigation of the subatomic world that we've revealed the elementary building blocks of our Universe and the rules that allow them to bind together to compose our cosmic reality.

If you wanted to uncover the secrets of the Universe for yourself, all you’d have to do is interrogate the Universe until it revealed the answers in a way you could comprehend them. 

When any two quanta of energy interact — irrespective of their properties, including whether they’re particles or antiparticles, massive or massless, fermions or bosons, etc. — the result of that interaction has the potential to inform you about the underlying laws and rules that the system has to obey. 

If we knew all the possible outcomes of any interaction, including what their relative probabilities were, then and only then would we claim to have some understanding of what was going on. Being quantitative in precisely this fashion, asking not only “what happens” but also “by how much” and “how often,” is what makes physics the robust science that it is.

Quite surprisingly, everything that we know about the Universe can, in some way, be traced back to the most humble of all the entities we know of: an atom. 

An atom remains the smallest unit of matter we know of that still retains the unique characteristics and properties that apply to the macroscopic world, including the physical and chemical properties of matter. And yet, an atom is a fundamentally quantum entity, with its own energy levels, properties, and conservation laws. 

Moreover, even the humble atom couples to all four of the known fundamental forces. In a very real way, all of physics is on display, even inside a single atom. Here’s what they can tell us about the Universe.   READ MORE...

Wrench

 

Sunday Reflections

Most people, I would think, use Sundays to go to church or for some sort of spiritual recharge.  Most Sundays are reserved for LAZINESS as no work either inside or outside the house is done.  It is time for family and friends and recharging one's batteries.  I suppose this pertains to those people who are working because once you have retired, most days are seen as weekend days and there is not work week per se.

For me, I use that time to reflect on stuff that I have not reflected on during the week.  I bitch about prices, about inflation in general, about division, about illegal immigration, and about our DO NOTHING CONGRESS...  sometimes, I will mention the BS that Trump is going through and sometimes, I will mention Biden's idiocy...  but those are individual topics and do not require reflection.

Today, I have been actually reflecting on the CORRUPTION OF THE BIDEN FAMILY.  It is one thing to become corrupt as a President, but this guy started his corruption game while he was a Vice President under Obama.  Surprisingly, Obama knew nothing about this...  well, that's another story...

Did Biden's son initiate the corruption or did Joe decide on his own that he needed to supplement his government salary.  His entire family was involved 

in that they received money from foreign sources.  Joe Biden used aliases in his email communications and there were 20 or so shell companies set up through which money was sent.

It was quite a sophisticated, well thought through operation to say the least.

How many public officials turned their backs on what Biden was doing?

It is also hard to believe that the SECRET SERVICE knew nothing of this...  makes me wonder just how good they think they are versus how good they really are...

What's more important than all of this is the fact that NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO THE BIDENS...  maybe Hunter might spend a few years in jail but not much more.  Joe and the family will skate out of this as if nothing in the world has happened.

If this can happen in the USA can you imagine what happens in other countries???

Presidential Race 2024 (not about the candidates)

The election year here in the US of A for 2024 will be a critical one not just for the liberal and/or conservative parties along with all the other factions out there...  WHY?

We know there is a battle between fossil fuels and going green.  We know that fossil fuels will keep our economy health and going green will weaken our economy until the transition has been completed.  What we should also realize is that we are going green regardless of 2024...  it just matter how fast we get there.

We also know that AMERICA IS DIVIDED and will remain divided until we elect a President and a Congress that sees OUR UNITY as being more important than their re-election.  Part of our knowledge revolves around our enemies taking advantage of us while we are weak.

We also know that the US of A has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world but WILL NEVER USE THEM to gain an advantage over their enemies.

The 2024 election is important because we on the cliff of an AI/Robot revolution and this election will dictate the speed and importance of that revolution.  

• The revolution does not care about fossil fuels or going green.
• The revolution does not care about our divisions.
• The revolution does not care about taxes.
• The revolution does not care about social programs.
• The revolution does not care about our national debt.
• The revolution does not care about our enemies.

AI/Robots will change the following:

1. Healthcare
2. Education
3. Manufacturing
4. Retail
5. Transportation
6. Militaries
7. How we wage wars
8. Space travel
9. Farming
10. Back office functions
11. Entertainment
12. Professional Sports
13. Construction
14. Mining

There is not an industry that this movement will not touch and substantially influence.  It will forever change our lives and how we live those lives.

Election Year 2024 is a critical year from the standpoint of how our government manages and controls this technology...  OR...  does nothing because it really does not know what to do.

Many people across the globe will become very wealthy as a result of this movement while the global MIDDLE CLASS will suffer and will be financially thinned out.

CAN YOU IMAGINE 80% OF THE GLOBAL WORKFORCE WITHOUT WORK AND WITHOUT AN INCOME?

It is predicted that displaced workers will be used to repair and upgrade the robots and their programming...  but, if you think about it, robots can perform that function 24/7.

A couple of years ago, we experienced this DEFUND THE POLICE movement and police departments were downsized and some eliminated.  In those cities where this happened, CRIME INCREASED...  no one thought about the unintended consequences of those actions.

This same IGNORANCE will be applied to AI/Robots and it is the general public that will suffer.

 

Pythian Games

 In 1977, I was hired by a Board of Directors to be the Executive Director of the Alamance County Arts Council.  The Arts Council was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose bylaws instructed me to promote ALL ASPECTS OF THE ARTS to ALL residents of Alamance County.  I remained in that position for 8 years until I decided to work for a Community College promoting industrial training.

While I was at the Arts Council, any research that I needed to conduct must be done in the library.  University libraries had more research materials than public libraries and since my father was an alumnus of a university, I was able to use the university library.

In my research, I discovered that the Pythian Games pre-dated the athletic Olympics and consisted of music, oratories, pottery art and drama.  Since I was working for an Arts Council, the idea that I had was to recreate the FIRST MODERN PYTHIAN GAMES to be held in Alamance County at the park.

To read more about the Pythian Games, CLICK HERE...

How to accomplish this?

About this time OPEC was beginning to become recognized by the USA and the rest of the world, so I thought I would contact the OPEC countries that had Embassies in Washington DC, and convince them to agree to ARTIST EXCHANGE PROGRAMS between Alamance County Artist and their artists.

Once I got them to agree to do that, my next job was to organize those artist exchange programs.  The idea I had was to get that started then visit each of these embassies, explain the Pythian Games to them and get them to finance whatever needed to be done to get the games to Alamance County.

As an incentive, I would name each of the art games after each OPEC country that agreed to donate.

At the time Telly Savalas was a recognizable movie star and I was going to ask him to be one of the judges.  Malina Mercouri (also an actress) was Cultural Director for Greece, and I was going to ask her to be one of the judges as well.  Additional judges would come from the OPEC countries that donated as well as a local government official.

I am sure that I could have convince another company to pay for having medals being forged.

The competitions would include:

1. music
2. painting
3. sculpture
4. weaving
5. crafts
6. print making 
7. pottery
8. drama
9. poetry
10. photography

Obviously, each main category would have numerous subcategories.

One of the tricks of the trade that I learned while I was employed as the Executive Director was that if you got the EDITOR of the local newspaper involved in your activity...  like being the MC for the event...  you would receive all sorts of free publicity.  The ego of editors could not resist the attention.

Friends

 

Artist Dale Chihuly’s Stunning Seattle Studio

You may think you know all there is to know about Dale Chihuly, master of glass, whose delicate handblown creations take the medium to the realm of fine art.

But stepping inside the Boathouse, the former Seattle boatbuilding workshop on Lake Union that has served as the headquarters of his artistic production since 1989, reveals a museum-like space that celebrates not only Chihuly’s curvaceous, colorful glass forms, but the artist’s many decades of collecting both art and antiques. 

And while you can’t visit, you can get a taste of the space in a new book, The Boathouse: The Artist’s Studio of Dale Chihuly, from the University of Washington Press.  From the street, the Boathouse is a nondescript 25,000-square-foot box with gray corrugated metal siding. 

Inside, Chihuly has filled every nook and cranny of the space with a cornucopia of visual delights, from an 85-foot-long banquet table made from a single slab of a 500-year-old Douglas fir set beneath his signature Murano-inspired glass chandeliers to the floor-to-ceiling shelving in the downstairs bathrooms that display the covers of vintage children’s books like The Hardy Boys.

Something of a collector of collections, Chihuly has—in one room alone—antique cast-iron dog doorstops, Edward S. Curtis photogravure portraits of Native American women, some 300 Pendleton blankets, and floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with Native American baskets, as well as glass forms by the artist that they’ve inspired. 

And that’s just a few of the untold treasures that await around every corner.     READ MORE...

Outlets

 

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

 

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