What Will You DO?

 There is a article recently published on FOX News online by Justin Haskins that states...  "if the white house and congress don't stop spending soon, the results could be catastrophic."

He goes on to say that as prices continue to go up, the available money to spend is going down...  and, over the last hundred years the only time that available money dropped this quickly was right before the great depression of the 1930s.

Suppose this journalist is right...

Suppose in 2024, a depression like the great depression hits the USA...

Are you ready?

Ready for what, you ask?

• Layoffs
• Extremely high prices
• No available money
• People trying to take their money out of banks

And there will be much more to come...

• shortages of food
• shortages of gasoline
• shortages of medicine and medical supplies
• not being able to pay your bills

Of course, his article is predicated on a BIG IF...

If Congress does not stop spending...  currently, the Republicans in the House are trying to do just that...  but, the only have a 4 person majority.  In order to pass bills, they will need support of the Democrats and the Democrats will not help unless concessions are made...

What concessions, you ask?

Spending more money...  it does not matter on what...  The democrats want to spend because they think spending more money will get them more votes.

The other IF is if unemployment increases...

Then there is the IF of prices continuing to increase...

Americans are currently using their credit cards to pay bills and taking an unprecedented amount of money out of savings...  credit card debt now exceeds ONE TRILLION...

What happens if Americans cannot pay those bills?

Who pays that debt?

Do those Americans go bankrupt, or will might they be sent to jail when all their possessions are sold, and they still owe money?

What happens to their children?

DO YOU THINK I AM BEING OVER DRAMATIC???

Skateboard Dog

 

China Doubles Size of its Space Station

In a matter of less than two years, China assembled three modules of its space station dubbed Tiangong, an orbital habitat that can accommodate a crew of three astronauts.

And while it's still significantly smaller than the International Space Station — which took well over a decade to complete — that could soon change.


China is now planning to expand the station with an additional three modules, Reuters reports, offering the country and its international partners an important alternative to the ISS, which is set to be retired by the end of the decade.


Even with the additional three modules, Tiangong will still be only about 40 percent of the mass of the ISS, per the report — but a growing space for research in orbit is still arguably a lot better than not having one at all.

Heavenly Palace
Space contractor the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) announced this week that the station's lifespan will also be 15 — not the previously announced ten — years, according to Reuters, meaning that it'll outlive the ISS by several years if things go according to plan.  READ MORE...

Can't Sink Large Ships

 

Best Performance Ever

 

Ancient Footprints

Footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico. (National Park Service)



Dozens of awe-inspiring ancient footprints left on the shores of an ice age lake have reignited a long-running debate about when the first people arrived in the Americas.


Two years ago, a team of scientists came to the conclusion that human tracks sunk into the mud in White Sands National Park in New Mexico were more than 21,000 years old. The provocative finding threatened the dominant thinking on when and how people migrated into the Americas. 

Soon afterward, a technical debate erupted about the method used to estimate the age of the tracks, which relied on an analysis of plant seeds embedded with the footprints.


Now, a study published in the journal Science confirms the initial finding with two new lines of evidence: thousands of grains of pollen and an analysis of quartz crystals in the sediments.


“It’s more or less a master class in how you do this,” said Edward Jolie, an anthropological archaeologist at the University of Arizona who has studied the White Sands footprints in the field but was not involved in the new study. “As Carl Sagan said, ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.’ They have some extraordinary evidence.”


Lorena Becerra-Valdivia, a fellow at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, said that the results support her modeling work, which suggested that people first crossed into present-day North America before 29,000 years ago, possibly traveling via the ocean.


“If anything, early findings like the White Sands footprints should inspire further scientific investigation in what is a dynamic and changing field,” Becerra-Valdivia said.


Some critics who raised concerns about the initial study said that they were encouraged by the follow-up analyses but remained unconvinced.  READ MORE...

Cost of Housing Illegal Immigrants

 

One Party Government in the USA

To say that I am disappointed with the House Republicans would be a gross exaggeration and a gross understatement.  The only thing worse than a Democrat are impotent Republicans.

The Democrats have internal problems as well but to the public THEY ARE UNITED...  not only are they united, but they are clever in how they have been able to manipulate events in the US to their advantage.

NINETY ONE indictments against Donald Trump is an incredible achievement and it could only happen if the DAs and Judges have been influence by the Democratic party, like the FBI and the mainstream media.

Never in my lifetime have I ever seen that kind of control by one party.  The Republicans have never even come close to that kind of POLITICAL CONTROL.

UNFORTUNATELY, our Democratic Republics is predicated upon two parties that argue and debate back and forth to reach compromises.  If one party is silenced, then we no longer have a Democratic Republic...  We have a one party country and will be like many communist countries BUT we will still have the FIRST AND SECOND AMENDMENTS...

We will also have a country where at least half of the general public will be against a ONE PARTY GOVERNMENT.  It is these people, most of which own firearms, that will not accept this eventuality and will, in my opinion, rebel in some fashion.  It may not be a violent rebellion, but it will be a rebellion nonetheless.

This internal rebellion will plunge the ONE PARTY GOVERNMENT INTO CHAOS...

WHAT WILL OUR ENEMIES THINK OF US THEN???

Chasing Game

 

Magnetic Fusion Engines

A new study offers a new means of propulsion that could revolutionize space travel  

the Magnetic Fusion Plasma Drive (MFPD). Credit: Created with Imagine

Magnetic Fusion Plasma Engines Could Carry us Across the Solar System and Into Interstellar Space

Missions to the Moon, missions to Mars, robotic explorers to the outer Solar System, a mission to the nearest star, and maybe even a spacecraft to catch up to interstellar objects passing through our system. If you think this sounds like a description of the coming age of space exploration, then you’d be correct! 

At this moment, there are multiple plans and proposals for missions that will send astronauts and/or probes to all of these destinations to conduct some of the most lucrative scientific research ever performed. Naturally, these mission profiles raise all kinds of challenges, not the least of which is propulsion.

Simply put, humanity is reaching the limits of what conventional (chemical) propulsion can do. To send missions to Mars and other deep space destinations, advanced propulsion technologies are required that offer high acceleration (delta-v), specific impulse (Isp), and fuel efficiency. 

In a recent paper, Leiden Professor Florian Neukart proposes how future missions could rely on a novel propulsion concept known as the Magnetic Fusion Plasma Drive (MFPD). This device combines aspects of different propulsion methods to create a system that offers high energy density and fuel efficiency significantly greater than conventional methods.

Florian Neukart is an Assistant Professor with the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) at Leiden University and a Board Member of the Swiss quantum technology developer Terra Quantum AG. The preprint of his paper recently appeared online and is being reviewed for publication in Elsevier. 

According to Neukart, technologies that can surmount conventional chemical propulsion (CCP) are paramount in the present era of space exploration. In particular, these technologies must offer greater energy efficiency, thrust, and capability for long-duration missions.  READ MORE...

Airlines Curved Path

 

Hamas Attacks Israel

 

Matter in the Universe

Most matter in the universe cannot be seen — but its influence on the largest structures in space can.

Astronomers estimate that roughly 85% of all the matter in the universe is dark matter, meaning only 15% of all matter is normal matter. Accounting for dark energy, the name astronomers give to the accelerated expansion of the universe, dark matter makes up roughly 27% of all the mass energy in the cosmos, according to CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research).

Astronomers have a variety of tools to measure the total amount of matter in the universe and compare that to the amount of "normal" (also called "baryonic") matter. The simplest technique is to compare two measurements.

The first measurement is the total amount of light emitted by a large structure, like a galaxy, which astronomers can use to infer that object's mass. The second measurement is the estimated amount of gravity needed to hold the large structure together. 

When astronomers compare these measurements on galaxies and clusters throughout the universe, they get the same result: There simply isn't enough normal, light-emitting matter to account for the amount of gravitational force needed to hold those objects together.

Thus, there must be some form of matter that is not emitting light: dark matter.

Different galaxies have different proportions of dark matter to normal matter. Some galaxies contain almost no dark matter, while others are nearly devoid of normal matter. But measurement after measurement gives the same average result: Roughly 85% of the matter in the universe does not emit or interact with light.  READ MORE...

Japanese Versus Americans... LOL

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior executives was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people paddling and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people paddling.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were paddling.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the paddlers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and performance bonuses for the managers. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management team laid off one paddler, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses.

The next year, try as he might, the lone designated paddler was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles), so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold, and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly, the End.

Here's something else to think about: GM has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last year's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM racked up 9 billion in losses.

GM folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses...

IF THIS WEREN'T TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY!


The Government is supervising and we the people are paddling!

Causes of Death

Below are the top 10 causes of death, which accounted for 75.4% of all deaths. 

1. Heart disease: 695,547
2. Cancer: 605,213
3. COVID-19: 416,893
4. Accidents: 224,935
5. Stroke: 162,890
6. Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,342
7. Alzheimer’s disease: 119,399
8. Diabetes: 103,294
9. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis: 56,585
10. Kidney disease: 54,358

Currently, I am in a battle with the TOP TWO:  Heart Disease and Cancer...

Actually, I have been fighting these TOP TWO since 2008...

As far as the cancer is concerned, I am dealing with two cancers:

• Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma 2008
• Melanoma 2013

I am not sure what caused my cancers...  could have been the luck of the draw or it could have been the chemicals I was working with in the job I had while attending college.  Not really sure and I am not sure if the reason really matters.

My heart issues can only be attributed to stress as all the other predispositions for a heart attack and heart disease, I did not have...  go figure?

But if it was stress, then it was because I did not manage my stress well.  

For those of you who might be in my situation with stress, now is the time to think about what you are doing and change it.

• Smoking does not eliminate stress
• Alcohol does not eliminate stress
• Marijuana does not eliminate stress

What these things do is temporarily hide the stress so you don't think you have any stress.

There is a root cause for stress and that must first be identified.

One of the best ways to remove stress is change your job, if your job is causing you your stress.  If you cannot change your job, then create an exercise routine and follow the Mediterranean Diet as best as you can. 

However, it goes without saying that you must stop smoking and drinking alcohol...  and, for many of us that is going to be difficult.

Somewhat Political

 

The Magic Green Hat

Visiting in Chicago, last week, I needed to go to the emergency room for a pain in my side. Not wanting to sit there for several hours, I put on my MAGIC GREEN HAT.

When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people in the room, suddenly, got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all. It cut at least 3 hours off my waiting time.

Here's the hat:
($19.00 on Amazon)

It also worked at Dept. of Motor Vehicles. It saved me several hours.

At the laundromat, three minutes after entering, I had my choice of machine. Most were still running.  It might also cut your wait time at the grocery store.

But, don't try it at a restaurant. The whole crew ran out the back door and I never did get my order!

Pythagorean Theorem Found Older Than Pythagoras

Study math for long enough and you will likely have cursed Pythagoras's name, or said "praise be to Pythagoras" if you're a bit of a fan of triangles.

But while Pythagoras was an important historical figure in the development of mathematics, he did not figure out the equation most associated with him (a2 + b2 = c2). 

In fact, there is an ancient Babylonian tablet (by the catchy name of IM 67118) which uses the Pythagorean theorem to solve the length of a diagonal inside a rectangle. The tablet, likely used for teaching, dates from 1770 BCE – centuries before Pythagoras was born in around 570 BCE.

Another tablet from around 1800–1600 BCE has a square with labeled triangles inside. Translating the markings from base 60 – the counting system used by ancient Babylonians – showed that these ancient mathematicians were aware of the Pythagorean theorem (not called that, of course) as well as other advanced mathematical concepts.

"The conclusion is inescapable. The Babylonians knew the relation between the length of the diagonal of a square and its side: d=square root of 2," mathematician Bruce Ratner writes in a paper on the topic. 

"This was probably the first number known to be irrational. However, this in turn means that they were familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem – or, at the very least, with its special case for the diagonal of a square (d2 = a2 + a2 = 2a2) – more than a thousand years before the great sage for whom it was named."

So why did this get attributed to Pythagoras? No original writing from Pythagoras survives. What we know of him was passed on by others, in particular the Pythagoreans – members of a school he set up in what is now modern-day southern Italy. 

The school, named the Semicircle of Pythagoras, was secretive, but knowledge learned there or discovered was passed on, and often attributed to the man himself.   READ MORE...

First Moon Base

 

IT'S WAR...

HISTORICAL FACTS

The word Palestine derives from Philistia, the name given by Greek writers to the land of the Philistines, who in the 12th century bce occupied a small pocket of land on the southern coast, between modern Tel Aviv–Yafo and Gaza.

In 1917, in order to win Jewish support for Britain's First World War effort, the British Balfour Declaration promised the establishment of a Jewish national home in Ottoman-controlled Palestine.

While the State of Israel was established on 15 May 1948 and admitted to the United Nations, a Palestinian State was not established. The remaining territories of pre-1948 Palestine, the West Bank - including East Jerusalem- and Gaza Strip, were administered from 1948 till 1967 by Jordan and Egypt, respectively.

The 1968 Palestinian National Covenant described Palestine as the "homeland of the Arab Palestinian people", with "the boundaries it had during the British Mandate". However, since the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the term State of Palestine refers only to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is a militant group that controls the GAZA STRIP.

Yesterday, Hamas executed an unprovoked attack against Israel.  Hours later, Israel's Prime Minister, Netanyahu, declares war on Hamas.  Iran and Hezbollah applaud.  Hezbollah operates out of Lebanon, whose southern borders touch Israel's northern borders.  Both Hezbollah and Hamas want Israel destroyed.

There is a good possibility that IRAN gave Hamas money to attack Israel from the six billion of Iran's money that was frozen, that Biden gave back to them.  If that is true, it is water over the dam but an indication that Biden's decision making process is flawed.

Will this DECLARED WAR, bring in countries like the USA, Great Britain, Europe, NATO, to stand up against Iran, Iraq, most of the Middle East (minus Egypt and Jordan), Russia, China, and others???

If so...  could this lead to a WORLD WAR III?

Right now, the USA is CASH POOR, having invested tons of money into Ukraine to fight the Russians, along with sitting on top of the largest NATIONAL DEBT since the creation of this country in 1776.  Our social programs like Medicare, Social Security, and Unemployment Insurance have put enormous strains on the national budget.  If we print more money, we risk deflating the value of the dollar and further increasing inflation.

A world war would be disastrous for the USA...  at this time.

With the USA between a rock and a hard place, will we back away from our support of Israel?

Duck Landing on Pond

American Education

 Forty-eight percent of Americans have a college degree.

Asian Americans have the highest level of education with TWO-THIRDS of them having some sort of college education even if it is only an Associate's Degree.

According to PISA tests of academic achievement, the USA ranks somewhere between 17th and 31st out of 65 countries.

Really!!!

Can you believe that???

• The USA ranks near the bottom in math skills.
• The USA ranks near the bottom in English skills.
• The USA ranks near the bottom in Science skills.

As far as the demographics are concerned, American Blacks consistently rank below Asians, Whites, and Hispanics.

• Will MONEY fix this discrepancy???
• Will BLM fix this discrepancy???
• Will CRT fix this discrepancy???
• Will WOKE fix this discrepancy???
• Will SOCIALISM fix this discrepancy???

NO... is the answer to all of these...

The only solution is to hire teachers that want to TEACH... 

• Teaching is not using powerpoints.
• Teaching is not using videos.
• Teaching is not using lectures.
• Teaching is not getting students to memorize to pass.

TEACHING is teaching students to teach themselves.

TEACHING is learning by doing...  homework helps with that but it is not the only solution.

• How do I use math to be a carpenter?
• How do I use math to be an electrician?
• How do I use math to create a budget or balance my checkbook?
• How do I use math to invest/save for my future?
• How do I use math to decide if to rent or buy?

The same kinds of questions can be used for English and Science.  

Not all teachers want to put in this kind of work to earn their paychecks.

Sunday Morning Classic Newspaper Cartoons

 

Statue With Realistic Expressions

Photo: The Ministry of Culture and Tourism

New finds were discovered in Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe. At around 12,000 years old, Göbekli Tepe is the world’s oldest megalithic site – and it has a “sister site” called Karahantepe.

A recent discovery in the world’s oldest religious sanctuary, Göbeklitepe, “Potbelly Hill” in Turkish, which is described as the “zero point of history” has revealed a painted wild boar statue.

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Göbeklitepe has changed the way historians and archaeologists think about the cradle of civilization. And there is so much more to be discovered.

A painted wild boar statue was discovered during ongoing excavations in Göbeklitepe. The artifact, which contained red, white, and black pigment residues on its surface, was the first painted sculpture found from its period to the present day.

As part of the Taş Tepeler project, which sheds light on prehistory and has seen highly significant discoveries on a global scale, the archaeological excavations carried out in 2023 in 9 different areas have recently led to the discovery of human and animal statues.

The Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism has released a written statement providing the following information:

In the D structure of Göbeklitepe, a life-sized wild boar sculpture made of limestone was discovered. The wild boar sculpture found in Göbeklitepe was situated on a pedestal adorned with decorations believed to include an H-shaped symbol, a crescent, two snakes, and three human faces or masks.  READ MORE...

Air Show

 

Trampoline

 

Building an AI Military

While it is not moving ahead at an accelerated pace, the movement to have an AI military is in progress...

• Will it take 5 years - 2028?
• Will it take 10 years - 2033?

What will an AI military look like?

• Instead of having human bodies fight a ground war, the military will have robots, AI enhanced to fight the war.
• Instead of having human bodies on a naval ship, we will have robot sailors, AI enhanced.
• Instead of having human bodies fly a jet fighter, we will have robot pilots, AI enhanced.

What is interesting here in the sense of its inevitability is that this will happen...  it is not conjecture or speculation, it is a reality that will take place sooner than later.

Obviously, there will be human bodies still in the military in a variety of positions, but eventually they will be replaced as well.

Military Forecasting Experts all agree that our global militaries will be mostly Robots with AI enhancement by 2050.  This is only a little more than 25 years ahead.  

If you think about this logically, it makes sense to send robots with AI enhancements to fight wars rather than human beings.

With that in mind, it will encourage wars rather than discourage wars since very few human beings will ever be involved.

Can you imagine what it would be like if Vladimir Putin sent robots into Ukraine rather than human beings?  That would have changed Putin's aggression tremendously.  Actually, he would have been more aggressive than he has been.  

And then you would have Ukraine fighting the Russian Robots with their own robots.  It would be more costly but human lives would have been saved...  providing no fighter bombers with robot pilots drop their bombs on Ukraine...  then, human lives will be involved.

Is this the way we want to fight wars in the future?  Or do we want to find some way to stop wars altogether?

 

Tower of Cards

 

Space Force to Guard the Moon

Artist's illustration of NASA astronauts near the moon's south pole, a region thought to be rich in water ice, a key resource that could help humanity extend its footprint out into the solar system. (Image credit: NASA)




It's been reported that United States Space Force Commander Gen. Chance Saltzman surveyed the Force's members to develop a mission statement for America's newest military branch. Aside from the novelty of crowdsourcing soldiers as to their interpretation of their mission (which I like but could draw criticism from more constitutionalist folks), the result seems to be on target: "Secure our nation's interests in, from and to space."


However — and with all due respect to the general from this son of a sergeant — I believe his interpretation of at least a part of this statement may be incorrect and informed by a bias that is all too common in the sometimes overly conservative and hallowed halls of the Pentagon.

First, having a simple and concise statement is essential. Shorter is better. Having that statement be co-generated by those forming the first cadres of the Force is an excellent idea to encourage buy-in and ownership.

The term "secure" is also essential. Protecting U.S. national interests is the chief priority of all our military branches, from under the sea to above the sky and all places in between.


He interprets securing that national interest "from space" as the defense of systems and technologies such as communications, navigation and missile warning. In other words, protecting those elements of the defense infrastructure vital to what the military refers to as the "Joint Force" (i.e., all the branches that might be part of a combined military action or activity on Earth).

So far, this is all great stuff. However, what the good general is missing in his reading and interpretation, and perhaps, in what his soldiers are saying (although I bet not, given their probable age demographic), is anything referring to the outward-facing phase of developing space activities without reference to direct support of our on-the-planet military posture and capabilities. In other words, the Space Force's role in securing our national interests beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).   READ MORE...

Chinese Mega Project