Elusive Planet Nine

An artist's impression of what Planet Nine might look like at the edge of the solar system. (Image credit: Shutterstock)



The elusive Planet Nine, which is theorized to be lurking somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system, may not be a planet after all, a new study suggests. Instead, what we assumed to be a massive object could be evidence that gravity doesn't work like we thought it does. But the new theory doesn't sit well with everyone.


The Planet Nine hypothesis, first proposed in 2016, argues that the unusual orbits of objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, which seem to be being pulled away from the sun, can be explained by the presence of an undiscovered ninth planet up to 10 times more massive than Earth. Astronomers have been looking for Planet Nine ever since. However, despite searching almost half of the night sky, they have so far come up empty-handed.

In the new study, published Sept. 22 in The Astronomical Journal, researchers proposed another explanation for the gravitational anomalies observed in the outer solar system — that there aren't any anomalies. Instead, the team shows that the inconsistencies disappear completely when applying an alternative concept of gravity known as modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND).   READ MORE...

Soweto Blues

 

Religion

 

Solid State EV Batteries Go 932 Miles

Toyota has struck a deal with fellow Japanese company Idemitsu Kosan to mass produce ultra-high-range EVs with solid-state batteries.

It's the first major update on the company's plans to be the first to offer these next-gen batteries. Toyota says the new technology will eventually enable EVs to go 932 miles on a single charge and power up in just 10 minutes, due to the higher energy density.

Idemitsu Kosan, Japan's second-largest oil refiner, may seem like an unlikely partner for the EV space. But Toyota says Idemitsu has been working on developing the "elemental technologies" for the batteries since 2001, five years before Toyota began pursuing them in 2006.

Specifically, Idemitsu has been working on developing a new material to go in the batteries, a solid sulfide electrolyte. With the partnership, Toyota aims to combine Idemitsu's material expertise with its own production prowess to make solid-state batteries a reality for consumers."This collaboration focuses on sulfide solid electrolytes, which are seen as a promising material to achieve high capacity and output for BEVs [battery electric vehicles]," Toyota says. "Sulfide solid electrolytes are characterized by softness and adhesiveness to other materials, which is suitable for battery mass production."

Toyota laid out a three-phase plan toward a goal of commercializing solid-state batteries by 2027-2028. However, that doesn't mean solid-state EVs will be widely available at that time, as "full-scale mass production" will begin after. It also remains to be seen what markets Toyota would launch them in, and how much they would cost. They are likely to be more expensive, and remain that way for years, Reuters predicts.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Pet Peeve

I started watching FOX News about 8 years ago.  Before FOX, I was a faithful follower of CNN and CBS.  What happened was this:  my insurance company offers me a free gym membership at participating gyms.  

One of those gyms was about two miles from the house.  I would go there about 5/10:00 am and work out for about an hour on the treadmill, the stationary bike, the rowing machine, and a few strength building machines.

While walking on the treadmill (and there were 8 or so of them) I would watch whatever was playing on the four monitors mounted on the wall.  Most of the time, FOX News was on one or more of them.

What I discovered and quite by accident was that CNN and CBS did not air the same news that FOX News was broadcasting.  In fact, further investigation showed me that most news that was not favorable to the Democratic party was not being broadcasted.

NEEDLESS TO SAY THAT PISSED ME OFF...

I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat nor an Independent...   but I hate when any organization decides to keep me from knowing all the news.  That is censorship and violates my first amendment rights.  I want to be aware of all the news and then I will decide what I want to believe and what I do not.  And when I say what I want to believe, it is done based upon further research of the FACTS.

While FOX News was airing broadcasts about Hunter Biden, CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC had made the decision NOT TO AIR THIS NEWS...  instead, they wanted to fill all their air time with news that was against DONALD TRUMP.

I remember talking with my sister about Hunter Biden and she said she had not seen anything about him on the stations she was watching.

BUT THAT IS NOT MY PET PEEVE...

My Pet Peeve is this...

For the last week solid, FOX News has been spending 99% of its air time about what is happening in Israel with Hamas.  And while that is necessary to share, it should not be the only news they talk about.

They did the same thing with hurricane coverage in Florida and the coronation of the new King of England.

Granted I want to hear about that, but I also want to hear about other news as well...  and I know that there is other news about which to talk.

I have not checked out the other stations, but I would assume that they are doing to same thing, so that one station does not out-shine another.

When this happens on FOX News, I just watch for about 30 minutes and turn the damn TV off.

High Speed Train

 

An Ocean of Water Under An Ocean of Water

Ancient volcanic rocks were eroded and stored a sea's worth of water in Earth's crust as they became buried. (Image credit: James O'Neil via Getty Images)



Porous rock that formed during one of Earth's biggest volcanic eruptions absorbed so much water as it eroded that it created a huge reservoir over the eons, now buried deep in Earth's crust.

A massive water reservoir is hidden deep beneath the ocean floor off the coast of New Zealand — and it may explain why the region experiences slow-motion earthquakes, scientists have found.


A sea's worth of water became locked inside volcanic rocks that formed 120 million to 125 million years ago during the early Cretaceous, when a lava plume the size of the U.S. burst through Earth's crust and solidified into a vast plateau, researchers said in a statement. Thick layers of sediment have since blanketed these rocks and buried any trace of their explosive past 2 miles (3 kilometers) below the Pacific Ocean seabed.

The researchers mapped a fault line along the east coast of New Zealand's North Island and found that these ancient rocks were abnormally "wet," with water making up nearly half the volume of cores drilled up from the ocean floor.

"Normal ocean crust, once it gets to be about seven or 10 million years old, should contain much less water," study lead author Andrew Gase, a marine geophysicist and seismologist who conducted the research while at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), said in the statement.


Shallow seas that surrounded the ancient volcanic plateau may have eroded the rocks into a porous honeycomb, which sponged up water and stored it like an aquifer, according to the statement. This water-logged terrain slowly transformed over the eons, absorbing more water as the rocks were ground into clay and became buried.  READ MORE...

Made With Cows

 

Biden is Coming Apart

 

Fusion Energy - TOKAMAK

(Bloomberg) -- The executive in charge of the world’s biggest fusion-energy experiment is trying to rehire retired engineers, who possess knowledge that’s critical to advancing an unfinished reactor in southern France.

The 35-nation International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, is seeking to reboot the fusion project after its supply chains were disrupted by war and pandemic. Delays mean ITER’s efforts to harness the mechanics of the Sun’s clean energy on Earth could be overtaken by more nimble startups.

“What it takes to integrate a facility like ITER and design it from scratch has been lost,” said Pietro Barabaschi, ITER’s director general. “The knowledge is available somewhere but it is not consolidated. We have to get some retired people on board again.”

ITER revealed the knowledge gap Monday at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference in London, where hundreds of scientists and engineers are convening to assess the state of an industry drawing investment from billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. 

It’s likely to pile more pressure on the star-crossed government project, now facing competition from dozens of privately funded startups.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Where is President Biden?

The southern border of the USA is completely open for illegal immigrants to cross over into this country.  It is possible that mixed in with these illegal immigrants are criminals and terrorists.  If there are terrorists coming into this country, then they will patiently wait until later to begin their attacks.

Crime and Violence is increasing every day in our larger cities and the current administration is more concerned about green energy than saving lives.  What is strange is that most Americans will never be able to afford the EVs that they are being forced to buy.

Russia and China, and Iran and most of the countries in the Middle East HATE AMERICANS and want us defeated and subordinate to them and our President Joe Biden is more concerned with green energy than with our place in the world

BRICS and 14 other countries want to stop using the AMERICAN DOLLAR to conduct trade in order to hurt the American Economy and our President Joe Biden is more concerned about the rights of transsexuals.

The Democratic Party wants to completely silence the conservative voice and reprogram all of those who disagree with them.  With only one party, we will no longer have a Democracy.  Where is our President Joe Biden?  Isn't the President of the USA supposed to defend the Constitution and Democracy?

Outta Nowhere

 

Searching for the Multiverse

What lies beyond the edges of the observable universe? Is it possible that our universe is just one of many in a much larger multiverse?

Movies can’t get enough of exploring these questions. From Oscar winners like Everything Everywhere All at Once to superhero blockbusters like Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, science fiction stories are full of creative interactions between alternate realities. And depending on which cosmologist you ask, the concept of a multiverse is more than pure fantasy or a handy storytelling device.

Humanity’s ideas about alternate realities are ancient and varied—in 1848 Edgar Allan Poe even wrote a prose poem in which he fancied the existence of “a limitless succession of Universes.” But the multiverse concept really took off when modern scientific theories attempting to explain the properties of our universe predicted the existence of other universes where events take place outside our reality.

“Our understanding of reality is not complete, by far,” says Stanford University physicist Andrei Linde. “Reality exists independently of us.”

If they exist, those universes are separated from ours, unreachable and undetectable by any direct measurement (at least so far). And that makes some experts question whether the search for a multiverse can ever be truly scientific.

Will scientists ever know whether our universe is the only one? We break down the different theories about a possible multiverse—including other universes with their own laws of physics—and whether many versions of you could exist out there.

What is a multiverse?
The multiverse is a term that scientists use to describe the idea that beyond the observable universe, other universes may exist as well. Multiverses are predicted by several scientific theories that describe different possible scenarios—from regions of space in different planes than our universe, to separate bubble universes that are constantly springing into existence.  READ MORE...

Killed in Gaza

 

Same Message Different Decade

 

NASA Considering Budget Cuts

WASHINGTON — NASA is considering cutting the budget of two of its biggest space telescopes as it faces broader spending reductions for its astrophysics programs.

In an Oct. 13 presentation to the National Academies’ Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mark Clampin, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said he was studying unspecified cuts in the operating budgets of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope to preserve funding for other priorities in the division.

The potential cuts, he said, are driven by the expectation that his division will not receive the full request of nearly $1.56 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2024 because of legislation passed in June that caps non-defense discretionary spending for 2024 at 2023 levels, with only a 1% increase for 2025.

“We’re working with the expectation that FY24 budgets stay at the ’23 levels,” he said. “That means that we have decided to reduce the budget for missions in extended operations, and that is Chandra and Hubble.”

Clampin declined to say how much the budgets of those two observatories would be cut, or specific impacts on them because of the cuts. He indicated the proposed cuts are still being studied, noting that he was able to make a “positive adjustment” for Chandra just in the last week.

Chandra and Hubble are the two most expensive NASA astrophysics missions to operate after the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA requested $93.3 million for Hubble and $68.7 million for Chandra in its fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, in line with past years’ budgets. Combined, they represent a little more than 10% of the fiscal year 2024 budget request for NASA astrophysics.

They are also among the two oldest NASA missions, with Hubble launched in 1990 and Chandra in 1999. Clampin suggested that was a reason for reducing their budgets. “Chandra has a number of issues right now. It’s becoming increasing difficult to operate,” he said. Insulation on the spacecraft’s exterior is degrading, warming the spacecraft and making operations increasing difficult.

“While Hubble doesn’t have those issues,” he added, “it has been operating for a long time and it is a large piece of the astrophysics budget.”  READ MORE...

Getting Lunch

 

Israel at War

Unless you have been sleeping all day long for the last 7 days, you are aware that HAMAS in the GAZA strip invaded Israel.  A few days later, HEZBOLLAH in Lebanon fired rockets into Israel.

Iran is supplying Hamas and Hezbollah with money and arms to fight Israel and is also CONDEMING Israel for fighting back.

China is supporting Iran along with Russia and several other middle eastern countries.

The whole point is to COMPLETELY ELIMINATE the Israelis people off the face of this earth once and for all.

If you are Israel and are aware that your enemies feel like this, WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO SAVE YOURSELF AND YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS???

Israel has nuclear weapons and in my opinion, will use them if and when they find themselves backed up against the wall, completely out of all their other options...

Israel DOES NOT have the manpower to fight all their enemies and the USA will never enter into a war to fight on the side of Israel unless China declares war on Israel and turns this into World War III.

The odds of that happening are low...  I doubt if any of these larger more powerful countries want to get into another world war.

The USA dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan to save American lives and we did not have our backs up against the wall.

Israel Defense has the mentality of it is better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.

Alpha Male

 

Keeping Cash Money Around

Americans are concerned about a market crash or impending recession, according to a new Allianz Life Quarterly Market Perceptions Study — and 54% say they’re keeping more money than they should in cash because of recession concerns.


That could be costly. “While you might not feel like you’re losing money by holding it in cash, over the long term you will lose out,” says Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life. “Money kept in cash or in low interest bearing accounts isn’t keeping up with the rising cost of living,” says LaVigne. 

Plus, with some savings accounts paying 5% or more — see some of the best-paying savings accounts here — there’s no reason to have cash sitting in a low-paying vehicle.

How much should you have in cash?
You certainly need some money in cash in case of an emergency, pros say, and this MarketWatch Picks guide details how much. “At least 6 to 12 months of an emergency fund is adequate,” says certified financial planner Joe Favorito at Landmark Wealth Management. 

You might need less if you’re in a stable industry and not worried about job loss, or a two-income household where you could live on one income; you might need more if you’re in a single-income household or in an industry plagued by layoffs.

While it’s generally a good idea to have a liquid emergency fund as well as some cash on hand for other expenses, you don’t want to have a stash of cash tucked underneath your mattress. Especially not when many savings accounts are paying higher rates than they have in 15 or so years.

“Rates are high enough that with a little shopping around, people can often get more than a 5% return in a simple money market account and still have all the liquidity they need,” says certified financial planner Bobbi Rebell, founder of Financial Wellness Strategies.  READ MORE...

Support Hamas

 

The Supermarket

 

Voyager Probes in Space

When Voyager 1 launched in 1977, it began an indefinite journey into space, serving as an envoy for humankind. Today, it's the farthest manmade object from Earth, orbiting over 15 billion miles from the sun in interstellar space.

If you were out there, where everything we know is so far away and life itself is foreign, would you even be within the influence of our sun? From such a distance, could you actually see anything out there, or is it all eternal blackness?

A user on the forum Reddit asked that very question: If we were somehow able to stand next to Voyager 1 in space, would we be able to see it?
Yes, you can easily see Voyager 1 if you were traveling next to it

We asked Michael Zemcov, an experimental astrophysicist and professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, to explain it, so you don't have to dust off your calculator to do the math yourself.

"Oh, gosh, that's, so this is a really interesting question," Zemcov told Insider.

To start, he said even though both Voyager 1 and 2 are way out in space, beyond all major planets, it's still pretty bright.

He took us through the math for Voyager 1.

First, you must compare Voyager's distance to the distance between Earth and the sun. Then, you use that distance to calculate what the light intensity would be that far away from the sun.  READ MORE...

Just Golf

 

Going on Cruises

 My wife and I have gone on 12 Cruises to the following locations:

1. Mediterranean Cruise out of Barcelona Spain
2. Hawaiian Cruise out of Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Alaskan Cruise out of Vancouver, Canada
4. A Bermuda Cruise out of Baltimore, Maryland
5. Eight Caribbean Cruises out of either Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, Florida

We always get an inside cabin so that we can spend more money on excursions, although, after COVID we decided if we ever went again, we could get a balcony cabin in case the ship quarantined its passengers.

We spent a week on Symphony of the Seas when it was the largest cruise ship on record, knowing that a larger ship, Icon of the Seas, was in construction.  I mention this only because, we had our best time aboard this larger ship even on SEA DAYS.  We always awake early so we don't miss anything, so getting up early to get deck chairs where we wanted was not a big deal for us.

We always got our chairs in the shade and never around the pool or on the deck above the pool because there was very little shade up there.

After our first cruise which was a delayed wedding present, we quickly realized that you did not have to bring dress clothes for dinner even on those nights where it was announced the dress would be formal.  However, many still dressed up but there were also many that did not.  Nobody was refused in the main dining room.

We also realized that we only needed half the clothes that we had taken, allowing us to take one large suitcase or two smaller ones.   Instead of wearing different outfits for each evening dinner, we brought 3 outfits that we wore twice.  The first dinner was so casual that many people wore the short they were wearing when they boarded the ship that morning.

After going through the boarding process and before getting lunch, we always checked with main dining to confirm our dinner reservations.  Confirmation is a MUST DO, even though you have already selected a eating time, otherwise, you will wait 30 minutes or longer for an empty table.

We also always brought coffee cups and large drink cups from home, rather than use their glasses or coffee cups especially on SEA DAYS.  Drinks from the buffet are available free of charge all day long, so unless you are hooked on SODA, you don't need to pay extra for a beverage card.  Plus, you are able to bring aboard 1 liter per person of soft drinks whenever you stop at a port.  There is always some place in town that sells these large bottles to locals.

There is so much food available that it is easy to gain 10 or more pounds in a week.  We always followed the three-bite rule whenever we ate.  Get whatever you want but only eat three bites of it rather than the full serving.  You still get the flavor but not all the extra weight.  Walking around the deck after the dinner meal helps as well.  There is always an outside walking deck on every ship.

We love cruising and think that a cruise vacation is the best way to spend your money and see a lot of different countries.

Candy Octopus

 

Toyota and Hydrogen

The global automotive industry has made a massive turnaround in the past few years, with an onslaught of EVs from every brand, and some like Jaguar who plan to ditch combustion engines altogether. It's safe to say that with EVs on the rise and e-fuel production still in its infancy, the future of the internal combustion engine has never been more uncertain. 

However, Toyota is adamant on finding alternate paths to vehicular propulsion. Their first attempt was the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Toyota Mirai, which barely dented EV demand due to the problems associated with hydrogen tanks and the rarity of fuel stations.

However, Toyota hasn't given up on hydrogen. They learned from the Mirai's shortcomings and took an all-new approach with how they use hydrogen as a fuel, eventually coming up with the hydrogen combustion engine. Unlike a fuel cell which acts as a battery and drives an electric motor, the hydrogen combustion engine does exactly what the name suggests. 

Toyota took a regular Corolla engine, modified its internals, and used liquid hydrogen instead of gasoline as the fuel. The results? Carbon-free emissions and performance that's on par with a gasoline engine. However, it's an oversimplification compared to the merits that hydrogen brings over EVs, ten of which will follow.

ONE
With fossil fuels being a limited resource that's already depleting at a rapid rate, there's always the distant fear of what will happen once the oil reserves do run out. Synthetic fuels and e-fuels are clearly not widespread enough to help mitigate the problem. 

That's where hydrogen – being the most abundant element in the universe – comes in handy. The idea of hydrogen acting as a fuel that can not only power future ICE cars but also existing and older engines through a conversion, is truly exciting.  READ MORE...

America and Ancient Rome