Friday the 13th

Origin story. It's hard to know exactly when Friday the 13th became thought of as unlucky, but it likely comes from the Christian religion. For example, in the Bible, Judas—a person who is said to have betrayed Jesus—was the 13th guest at the Last Supper. Also in the Bible, many unfortunate things happened on Fridays.

Bad luck surrounding Friday the 13th is believed to come from Friday being the day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.


On their own, both the day and the number have been considered unlucky throughout history.


It is said never to begin trips by boat on Fridays, or the weekday of Christ's death, and some say never to begin any trip on the day. Winston Churchill despised traveling on Fridays, and if he did, he carried a lucky walking stick. The poet George Gordon Byron believed Fridays unlucky, but once chose to travel on a Friday anyway. He died soon after … on a Friday.

For me, Friday the 13th has always been just another day in the life, not particularly good and not particularly bad.  But what really amazes me most of all is the fact that so many people are superstitious.

The concept of superstition began as the Greek word deisidaimonia (δεισιδαιμνοία), which in the 4th century bce had the positive meaning 'scrupulous in religious matters'; but a century later it had acquired a more negative meaning, inching it closer to our modern understanding of superstition.


SUPERSTITION Definition -  excessively credulous belief in and reverence for supernatural beings. a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief

Now all of a sudden, we are looking at the supernatural...  ghosts, goblins, spirits, etc.  Who in their right mind would ever believe in the supernatural...?

On the other hand, isn't God perceived as some sort of supernatural being the created everything.   I mean, to create the world in which we live, that person has got to be some sort of a superhuman person, if in fact, God is human at all.  It is said that he made man in his image...  but that is not evidence that he himself is human.  How would such a human get such an ability?

When Jesus arose from the dead, he was in a spirit form...  which relates back to the supernatural and the definition of superstition.

IS ALL OF THIS A COINCIDENCE?

Owl

 

CERN's New Particle Collider

Preparations for a massive new particle smasher near Geneva are picking up speed. But the European-led project, which hopes to answer some of the biggest questions in physics, faces many obstacles, including competition from China.

In 2012 scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) achieved a key breakthrough when they detected the elusive Higgs boson, an elementary particle that gives mass to all the others. This followed decades of work using accelerators such as the famed Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle collider located north of Geneva.

Yet many fundamental questions about the universe remain unanswered: What constitutes dark matter? Why is our universe filled with matter and not antimatter? Or why do the masses of elementary particles differ so much?

The search for answers to these and other big physics questions requires another “leap to higher energies and intensities”, says CERN. The organisation wants to build a more powerful and precise successor to the LHC, which was conceived in the early 1980s and will complete its mission in 2040.

“We build these machines to explore the nature of the universe. It’s about going out into the unknown and exploring further,” says Mike Lamont, CERN’s director of accelerators and technology.

And so, following requests by the global physics community, plans for the so-called Future Circular Collider (FCC) have been taking shape over the past ten years.  READ MORE...

Modern Construction

 

Focus on Yourself

 

Humanoid Robots in Warehouses

Humanoid robots are on their way to warehouses as companies start to move beyond the disembodied arms, moving trays and other machines aimed at speeding up logistics operations.


Agility Robotics, Figure AI and Boston Dynamics are among companies designing robots more closely modeled on human beings for use in distribution centers. The new machines are being engineered with the ability to walk around warehouses, reach items high on shelves, crouch to put things down and pick up and move boxes, defying some of the physical limits on automation in the industrial world.

The robot developers say their devices will help warehouse operators mitigate labor shortfalls and eliminate the need to redesign warehouses to match the capabilities of machines.

Logistics operators have been adding automation to their warehouses for years to speed up the stacking and retrieving of goods and to take some of the most burdensome, repetitive tasks off workers. Many of the devices are designed to work in concert with employees by taking on tasks such as hauling heavy goods or bringing totes of items directly to workers.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Interesting Development

Our current demographics:

Whites            60%

Blacks             12%

Hispanics        19%

Asian                6%

Other                3%

Hispanics basically include all Spanish speaking peoples

The Blacks currently have it out for the whites as a result of slavery and consider all whites because of their 60% demographic to be WHITE SUPREMACISTS...

While many white argue against that generalize description, there are many others that want to bend over backwards to appease the black population in the USA...

I cannot say if that is right or wrong, justified or not justified because I personally had nothing to do with slavery and I resent being pulled into that kind of debate simply because I am white.

HOWEVER,

Blacks are now facing a more serious problem and that is all the brown people that are illegally crossing the border.

These brown people are taking over the towns and cities that the blacks used to control.  They are getting housing or being put up in hotels to get them off the streets.

Currently, Hispanics outnumber the blacks by only 6%...  but, as their numbers continue to increase, this percentage could increase to as high as a 10% discrepancy.

With these numbers the brown with overcome the blacks by sheer numbers...

If there are browns that enter illegally with ties to the Mexican Drug Cartel, they will begin to take control of drug sales away from the blacks.

Those browns who are not associated with the Cartels, are coming here to work and will be taking jobs away from the blacks because they will be willing to work for less money.

Also, all the so-called white supremacists will have no choice but to cater to the browns because of their numbers, further pissing off the blacks...

The Democrats opened the borders to gain extra votes from the Republicans and did not count on nor did they expect that this outcome would result.  White Supremacy will be saved by illegal browns entering the country...

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT???

 

Cats on Wall

 

FOUR-THOUSAND-Year-Old Mummy

The false door to Ptahshepses’s tomb was removed by a French archaeologist in the 19th century. Now, 160 years later, researchers have rediscovered it and found the mummy of its occupant. Image courtesy of © Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles UniversityThe false door to Ptahshepses’s tomb was removed by a French archaeologist in the 19th century. Now, 160 years later, researchers have rediscovered it and found the mummy of its occupant.




A team of Czech archaeologists have rediscovered a lost tomb that belonged to an ancient Egyptian official called Ptahshepses, who lived around 4,400 years ago (during the 24th and 25th centuries BCE). The discovery even contained the mummified remains of this significant individual.

According to a statement released by the Czech Institute of Egyptology on Facebook, the lost tomb was discovered in the zone between the pyramid fields of Abusir and Saqqara, Egypt.

"It was a difficult search lasting several years,” Miroslav Barta, head of research at Abusir, explained in the statement. “Detailed satellite imagery of the area and the study of old maps led to the rediscovery of the tomb of Ptahshepses in 2022.”

Around 160 years ago, a French scholar named Auguste Mariette found this site and partially “excavated” it. Mariette extracted Ptahshepses’s false door, a symbolic doorway the Egyptians believed the deceased could use to enter and exit the tomb, and a lintel originally placed above the cult chapel. However, the tomb disappeared under the sand and was lost until now.

The artifacts recovered by Mariette are currently on display at the British Museum. The door itself provides an extensive and unique account of Ptahshepses’s career. It explains how he was educated at the court of the last Giza ruler – Menkaure (Greek "Mykerinos") – and how he later married the daughter of pharaoh Userkaf. Userkaf himself was an important figure who founded the Fifth Dynasty of Sun Kings.

“This reference itself indicates that Ptahshepses is the first known official of non-royal descent in Egyptian history who was given the privilege of marrying a royal daughter,” the Institute explained.  READ MORE...

Image courtesy of © Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University

Truth Matters

 

Vietnam Combat Footage

 

World Demand of Crude Oil

The International Energy Agency predicted that peak oil demand would be reached by 2030 and hailed the decline of crude as a “welcome sight.”

OPEC leaders reacted harshly, accusing the agency of fear-mongering and risking the destabilization of the world economy.
Oil producers have been accused of dialing back their climate pledges in recent months following record annual profits.


It’s been a war of words and numbers between two major players in the energy industry – the International Energy Agency and OPEC – as they spar over the future of something crucial to crude producers’ survival: peak oil demand.


Peak oil demand refers to the point in time when the highest level of global crude demand is reached, which will be immediately followed by a permanent decline. This would theoretically decrease the need for investments in crude oil projects and make them less economical as other energy sources take over.

For oil producing countries and companies, it’s existential.

That’s why when the chief of the IEA, an intergovernmental organization that advocates for oil-consuming countries, predicted that peak oil demand would be reached by 2030 and hailed the decline of crude as a “welcome sight,” OPEC was furious.

“Such narratives only set the global energy system up to fail spectacularly,” OPEC Secretary-General Haitham al-Ghais said in a Sept. 14 statement. “It would lead to energy chaos on a potentially unprecedented scale, with dire consequences for economies and billions of people across the world.” He accused the agency of fearmongering and risking the destabilization of the global economy.

More broadly, the spat reflects the ongoing clash between climate change concerns and the need for energy security. That juxtaposition was on full display at ADIPEC – the annual gathering whose name stood for Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition Conference until this year, when it was quietly changed to Abu Dhabi International Progressive Energy Conference.  READ MORE...

Rain

 

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