No One Cares

There is a friend of mine that lives way, way up north; we have known each other since high school, which is almost 60 years.  We write each other every night for the most part, unless something prevents us from doing so; it is like having a daily conversation with someone...

Our conversations are about what we are doing or what we are planning to do or what we have done and invariably include the weather and a discussion on politics and what is happening to our wonderful countries.  Sometimes, we get so angry at what we are writing about that we have stop our comments for a few days to cool off as it makes us both upset.

BUT...  the really strange thing about all of this is that NO ONE ELSE SEEMS TO CARE...

• I talk to the person who cuts my hair and he has no idea what is going on in the USA with politics.
• I talk with my nurses about the same subject and get the same reaction - they are not aware.
• I talk to people while waiting in the check out line and get the same reaction.
• When my wife and I go to a restaurant, no one is talking politics.

My Impression of it all

1. They are aware that Trump has been indicted.
2. They are aware that Biden is under investigation.
3. They are aware of all the illegal immigration.
4. They are not concerned about China or Russia
5. They are not concerned that Iran and North Korea might soon have nuclear capabilities.
6. They have no concerns about our national debt.
7. They don't seem concerned about inflation.

It makes me wonder if my thoughts are wrong and if they are just so apathetic that they no longer give a damn.

Of course, part of me agrees with them because after 76 years of life, it makes no damn bit of difference what I think or how I vote - this country is going in a certain direction whether I like it or not.

In the NEWS

London's High Court yesterday ruled in favor of Prince Harry in a lawsuit accusing a British tabloid publisher of using illegal methods to report on the private lives of celebrities, athletes, and royalty, including phone hacking and high-level cover-ups.

Israeli military says it mistakenly killed three hostages in the Gaza Strip.
A representative for the Israel Defense Forces said troops found the three Israeli hostages during a ground operation in Gaza Friday, mistakenly identifying them as a threat and opening fire. At least 130 people remain hostage in Gaza after Hamas abducted more than 240 people during its cross-border attack Oct. 7. See latest war updates here.


Federal jury orders Rudy Giuliani to pay $148M to defamed election workers.
A judge in August found the former New York mayor liable for defamation for falsely claiming the two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, committed ballot fraud during the 2020 presidential election. In the second phase of the case, the eight-person jury was tasked with determining the monetary amount Giuliani had to pay for damages to Freeman and Moss.


General Motors to lay off 1,300 workers from two Michigan plants.
The layoffs, which will begin in January, are tied to the ending of the production of GM's Chevrolet Camaro and electric Chevrolet Bolt. GM is discontinuing the Camaro—first introduced in 1966—partly due to a decline in sales, while the Bolt is being discontinued partly to make room for next-generation electric vehicles.


Domestic cats hunt or scavenge roughly 2,000 different species, study finds.


"The American Dream" costs roughly $3.4M over a lifetime, analysis estimates.


The number of homeless people in America grew 12% in 2023 to 653,104 people, the highest level since the federal government began keeping records in 2007.

SOURCE:  1440 News

Buddhism

Three Universal Truths

• Everything in life is impermanent and always changing.
• Because nothing is permanent, a life based on possessing things or persons doesn't make you happy.
• There is no eternal, unchanging soul and "self" is just a collection of changing characteristics or attributes.

Four Schools of Buddhism

• Theravada - focuses on the teachings of Buddha
• Mahayana - focuses on the road to enlightenment
• Vajrayana - focuses on tantric practices
• Zen - focuses on meditation to achieve mindfulness

Buddhism concentrates its efforts on:  happiness, peace of mind, joy, mindfulness all of which changes as we grow older.

In North America, South America, and Central America Europe, China, Australia, and parts of the Middle East, we focus our attention on WEALTH and POSSESSIONS.  But, as we age, we change, and when we change those possessions don't mean much anymore...   however, we have wealth, so we buy more and are temporarily happy until we change again.

You may not like to hear this, but Native Americans are closer to the philosophy of Buddha than we are or than we will ever be.

When my wife and I downsized, we threw away 1/2 of what we had.  I had 20+ file boxes full of educational materials that I had acquired during my professional career that I was keeping because it was a part of who I was...  holding onto them meant something.  When we toss everything into the landfill, who I was did not change, because I only threw away the past.

• We don't live in the past.
• We don't live in the future...  at least not yet.
• We live in the present that constantly changes every second.

It is difficult for many of us not to want more and more because that is what we have been taught.  The only people that understand this are the poor people because they have been forced into that realty and have learned to accept their positions in life.  However, if they had an opportunity, they would want more rather than accept what they have.

There was a time in my life where I wanted more and because I wanted more, I made decisions that supported and influenced my thoughts.  I soon discovered that after a while, each one of those decisions never made me feel any better about myself than I had felt before.

Fortunately, retirement puts us all into a position whereby accepting the Buddhist philosophy is more acceptable.

More Than Just Physics

Researchers have highlighted the importance of contextualizing physics education to reflect real-world energy issues. In a recent paper, they discuss how educators are incorporating case studies on power plants to teach students about the broader impacts of energy decisions. Their work emphasizes the need for a holistic approach that considers scientific, ethical, ecological, and cultural factors, encouraging students to participate in informed community decision-making.

Reframing power in terms of social and cultural dynamics enables students to actively participate in their communities.
Large-scale energy generation endeavors are influenced equally by economic and political factors as they are by the availability of natural resources and raw materials. The output of power plants encompasses more than just electricity; it also results in diverse scientific, ethical, ecological, and cultural consequences. These impacts are felt at various levels, from local communities to regional areas, and extend up to state, national, and global dimensions.

Researchers from the University of Washington Bothell and Seattle Pacific University discussed the importance of contextualizing physics principles. In The Physics Teacher, a journal co-published by AIP Publishing and the American Association of Physics Teachers, they outlined how teachers implemented case studies to teach about energy and the realities of power plants.  READ MORE...

Oooopps

 

Signs of Life on MARS

A school science experiment is answering questions that are out of this world. While there had been concerns that any evidence of organic matter on Mars might be obscured by the planet's geology, new research suggests this might not be the case.

A group of budding young researchers has helped to demonstrate how evidence of life on Mars could be found.

Students from St Bernard's Convent High School in Westcliff-On-Sea, Essex, assisted scientists from the Natural History Museum and University College London in an experiment to see what evidence any potential ancient life may have left on the red planet.  READ MORE...

All My Loving

 

DOUBLE STANDARDS in our Justice System

When I was growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, I became aware of the fact that if your parents were financially well off, then the law was applied differently to the children of those financial well-off parents than it was to children of parents who were not financially well-off.

At the time, it did not bother me that much and I just rolled with the punches and took my punishment that the good little soldier I was and kept my mouth shut.

As I got old the double standard in the Justice system pissed me off more and more because that was not the way our legal system was designed to work.  JUSTICE WAS SUPPOSEDLY BLIND.

NOW...  I am 76 years old, a Vietnam Era Veteran, and retired after a working career of 45 years, and I get really mad as an American when I see this double standard.

This double standard in our LEGAL SYSTEM is obvious when DEMOCRATS break the law than when REPUBLICANS break the law.

Before this political division in the Justice System, there was an equally horrific difference in the application of the law between BLACKS and Whites, with the BLACK on the losing end of those unbalanced scales.

In My Humble Opinion, there will always be a difference in our JUSTICE SYSTEM because that is just the way Americans want to be...  

As a result of our American and WIN/LOSE mentality, most everything in our society will in some way embrace this attitude...

For example:  Biological males are competing in women's sports creating a new set of winners and losers which is a form of a non-double standard in a perverted way.

Made in USA

 In the 1970s/1980s, we were buying products where the label on the back said made in USA...  we later discovered that these products were made in USA, Japan...  a town was specially named USA in Japan so they could make that claim...  the public was fooled but not for long.

BUT HERE IS THE DILEMMA...

because American workers are paid more than workers from other parts of the world which also includes paying workers for holidays, vacations, and providing health insurance, the COST OF LABOR is substantially more in the United States than it is in third world countries.

SO...  because of that high COST OF LABOR, American companies decided to manufacture overseas where the labor costs are lower...  as a result, the companies are selling their products at a cheaper cost.

If we want to buy from those companies that manufacture in the United States, then we must get prepared to pay TWICE AS MUCH for that item.

The American consumer is currently bitching about the high cost of FOOD, UTILITIES, and GASOLINE and that they are living from paycheck to paycheck...  

How do you think this same consumer is going to feel if they can only purchase goods that are MADE IN THE UNITED STATES?

I just purchased a replacement female end of an extension cord from Lowes for about $5 and it was made in CHINA...  I would have paid $10-$12 for that some item, if it had been made in the United States...  I can say this honestly because there were some of those items on the shelf and I elected to buy the cheaper one which in my opinion was just as good.

I buy Japanese vehicles because they are manufactured better than vehicles made in the United States.

I've been in auto manufacturing plants in the United States and there is a hatred between management and labor that results in labor getting back at management by not caring that much about their job resulting in poor quality of an important item that goes into our American vehicles.

Most of the companies that manufacture parts for American vehicles are located in the SOUTH because labor costs are lower than in the north.

This is just the type of country that we have grown into becoming...  there is not right or wrong...  it is just the way it is nowadays.

Big Oil Not Worried About Climate Change

London  (CNN) —  Is this the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era? The world’s latest climate deal could be that milestone. But recent events show the oil and gas industry still has a very different vision of the future.

Following marathon talks, the COP28 climate summit in Dubai struck a deal Wednesday that makes the unprecedented call for “transitioning away from fossil fuels.”

Some countries, including the United States, welcomed the firmest-ever commitment to moving away from energy sources responsible for most planet-heating emissions, but critics were quick to point out that the agreement falls far short of requiring the world to “phase-out” oil, coal and gas, a position more than 100 nations had supported.  READ MORE...

Peace of Mind (Joy)

From the very first time we become consciously aware and can articulate our own thoughts, we are put into a situation where all influences push us to WANT MORE...  this idea of wanting more is nothing more than GREED.

As we grow older we want more expensive birthday and Christmas presents.  After high school we go to college because we can earn more with a college degree than with a high school diploma.  Our first job, we want a new car and if married a new house, but the house has got to be bigger than the one we grew up with.

While all of this is taking place, we are inundated with religious indoctrinations that our only course of salvation, redemption, and an afterlife is by accepting Jesus into our lives.

Then, when and if, we retire, we are constantly searching for things to do so that we don't bored, or become too lazy which is not good for either our physical or mental health.

All of a sudden, we find ourselves at 80 years of age; our children are out of the house and on their own, and our grandchildren are old enough not to want to spend that much time with the grandparents.   We might play a little golf; we might go out to dinner with friends; we might go on vacation, and we might invite friends over for a drink and conversation.

BUT...  we wonder about the purpose of life.  We wonder about our purpose in life.  We finally understand that religion does not provide us with any answers, and we begin to doubt if there is any truth in religion or ever was.  We struggle with our own identity because we just don't have any answers and life just seems to be more than what we have experienced so far.

IS THIS ALL THERE IS???

Unfortunately, society has created our anxiety and rather than listen to ourselves, we listened to society.

Some of us on the other hand, did not listen to society and went our own way and was criticized by those around us for not being more ambitious.  However, when we turned 80, there was no anxiety.  

We were comfortable with who we were/are and what we had become.   We were not pushed along by Greed and we accepted a simply lifestyle rather than one that was complex.

In so doing, we achieved HAPPINESS, PEACE OF MIND, and our life was full of JOY because we were alive and appreciated everything around us.  There are still disappointments and heartaches as that is just part of life.

We are content and at ease with ourselves and who we are...  needing very little...  life is what it is and not what you want or try to make of it.

Somewhat Political

 

E-Books and Corporate Surveillance

Three in ten Americans read digital books. Whether they’re accessing online textbooks or checking out the latest bestselling e-book from the public library, the majority of these readers are subject to both the greed of Big Publishing and the priorities of Big Tech. In fact, Amazon’s Kindle held 72% of the e-reader market in 2022. And if there’s one thing we know about Big Tech companies like Amazon, their real product isn’t the book. It’s the user data.  READ MORE...

Spiral

 

No Whites Allowed

 

Our Christmas Spirit

We are halfway through the month of December and if you are like me, you don't feel the Christmas Spirit at all, even though your Christmas Tree and outside decorations are up...

WHAT GIVES???

Has the Christmas Holiday lost its magic here in the good ole US of A?

Is there so much bullshit going on in the world that none of us feel like celebrating the holiday?

Have we lost our religious beliefs?

Many colleges and universities no longer call it the Christmas Holidays...  they call it something else, like Winter Break or something...  I am sure that grades K-12 don't refer to it as Christmas either.  So, in the minds of our students it is just a few days off from school and studies.

I remember when I was in college, all of our end of the semester exams took place when we got back from the holidays, so we had to take our books home and study, so it wasn't much of a holiday.

There are only 10 days left until Christmas Day...  and, for many of us, this means going to parties, getting shit-faced drunk, over-eating, displaying asinine behavior around our families, arguments at dinner, and opening presents...  for many of us, illegal drugs will also figure prominently into this holiday as well.

I think for many of us, we have shifted the focus away from religion for some reason.  I hesitate to try to label the problem because it varies with each person.  For me, I just don't believe the Bible or the sermons I heard in Church.  However, I do believe in a superior being and I believe that something or someone created the universe because something from nothing is just not possible or logical.

I remember being told by numerous ministers that Jesus said the following:  MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD...  now, what exactly does that mean?   I see the word WORLD and think EARTH so his kingdom is not of earth.  So, where is it?  

• Does his kingdom exist in our solar system?
• Does his kingdom exist in our Milky Way Galaxy?
• Does his kingdom exist in another Galaxy?
• Does his kingdom exist in another Dimension?

Ministers will tell you his kingdom is in Heaven, but no one knows where Heaven is location.  Nor do they know exactly where Hell is located either?

For me that's a BIG PROBLEM...

Chinese Rush for Intelligentized Warfare Alarms Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense has warned that China’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives have seen heavy integration with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), raising concerns of a possible AI arms race.

"The size, scope and sophistication of Chinese military modernization programs is breathtaking," James Anderson, who served as the deputy undersecretary of defense during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital. "The report makes clear that Beijing remains hellbent on developing a world-class military force, despite its recent economic slowdown."

The annual Pentagon report on the Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China argues in the preface that China remains "the" pacing challenge for the Department of Defense as Beijing seeks "national rejuvenation" by 2049 – the centenary anniversary for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Globetrotters

 

Better Off Today than in 2020?

 When I watch FOX News each morning, a reoccurring theme is how many to most Americans are worse off today than they were in 2020...  and, this is blamed on Biden because he shut down the XL Pipeline project, allowed illegal immigrants to pour through our borders, and put so much money into the economy that it caused inflation and layoffs...

Biden blames all his problems on Trump because if Trump had not done what he did then Biden would not have had to do what he did.  Somehow that logic does not make sense to me, but that is what his administration is saying.

Granted, food prices have gone up and come down a little and gas prices have gone up and come down a little.  When we go out to a restaurant for brunch or dinner, we are paying $20 more than we used to pay.

But, we are using the same amount of money today each month that we were using in 2020... so, from a financial standpoint, I do not feel any financial pain.  However, there are other people who have claimed that they are in a great deal of financial pain since Biden took office...  and, there are retired people who have stated they have had to get a part time job.

I am sure they are telling the truth, but you don't know the specifics of their lifestyle and there might have been areas that they could have cut back...

In other words, I know that prices have increased but that increase has cause no burdens on us and we are spending overall what we used to spend and we are saving overall what we used to save.

I am against the Democrats because I don't support the green energy movement and believe our economy would be better off if we drilled for all the oil we could find.

I am also against illegal immigration.

I am also against our high and increasing National Debt

So, my point is this....  we are worse off today than in 2020 but not everyone feels the pain...

Elephant

 

Supercomputer that Simulates Entire Human Brain

A neuromorphic supercomputer called DeepSouth will be capable of 228 trillion synaptic operations per second, which is on par with the estimated number of operations in the human brain

A supercomputer capable of simulating, at full scale, the synapses of a human brain is set to boot up in Australia next year, in the hopes of understanding how our brains process massive amounts of information while consuming relatively little power.  READ MORE...

Rome's Forbidden Art

 

Learning From One's Past

 It is said that we learn from our past...  and without clarification, one is not completely sure what that entails.

Do we look back 20 years, I am now learning this from my past...  or do we learn as we age?  

We are constantly living in the present, if you had not thought much about it and that present is always pushing us towards our future, so from one second to the next, we have created a past - present - and a future.

I pick up my coffee cup and spill it because I was not paying attention to picking up the cup.  That action began in my present but immediately went into my past, as my present moved into the future.

So, I learned instantly.

I did not wait 20 years, look back and ask myself what did I learn from spilling my cup of coffee twenty years ago.

We can look at history and conclude that the actions taken 200 years ago were wrong...  but can we actually apply that learning process to similar actions 200 years later, since much has changed?  Obviously, we will make different decisions because of different circumstances and learned almost right away, if that was the right thing to do or not.

In other words, I don't think we actually learn that much from the past at all whether it is our past or someone else's past.

Pulp Fiction

 

In the NEWS

The Israeli military has reportedly begun pumping seawater from the Mediterranean into a complex tunnel network underneath Gaza. The operation, likely to take weeks, is part of Israel's efforts to destroy the roughly 300-mile-long infrastructure used by Hamas to transport supplies and personnel (see overview). Some of the 140 remaining hostages from Hamas' Oct. 7 attack are believed to be held inside the tunnels. See more war updates here.


Sports Illustrated's parent company, The Arena Group, announced it has ousted CEO Ross Levinsohn, the latest in a string of firings allegedly related to the company's reported use of artificial intelligence to produce content on its website.

The news comes two weeks after tech and culture site Futurism reported the sports publication appeared to be publishing articles written by AI and using headshots from an AI marketplace—without disclosing it to their readers—with many of the articles filled with errors. After initially denying the report, The Arena Group said the articles were product reviews and licensed content from an external, third-party company. Listen to an interview with the journalist who broke the news here.


Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the video game industry's largest convention in North America, shutting down after 28 years (More)


Andre Braugher, Emmy-winning actor known for roles in “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” dies at 61 (More) | Bulelwa "Zahara" Mkutukana, iconic multiplatinum-selling South African singer-songwriter, dies at 36 of reported liver problems (More)


Researchers demonstrate a hybrid biocomputer, made with lab-grown brain tissue connected to conventional electronic circuitry; potential applications include use in future AI-powered robotics (More)


Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos-owned space flight company, to make its first launch since last September next week; uncrewed flight will carry scientific research payloads (More)


Harvard Corporation, the top governing body of Harvard, backs university President Claudine Gay following controversial congressional testimony on campus antisemitism (More) | See previous write-up (More)


New York Supreme Court orders state lawmakers to redraw New York's congressional map, finding the 2022 redistricting violated state law; analysts say decision may determine which party controls the US House after the 2024 election (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

A Cosmology Mystery

A recent study proposes that the “Hubble tension,” a discrepancy in measurements of the universe’s expansion rate, can be resolved using the alternative MOND theory of gravity. This theory suggests local matter density variations account for the observed discrepancies.

Study by the Universities of Bonn and St. Andrews proposes a new possible explanation for the Hubble tension.

The universe is expanding. How fast it does so is described by the so-called Hubble-Lemaitre constant. But there is a dispute about how big this constant actually is: Different measurement methods provide contradictory values. This so-called “Hubble tension” poses a puzzle for cosmologists. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and St. Andrews are now proposing a new solution: Using an alternative theory of gravity, the discrepancy in the measured values can be easily explained — the Hubble tension disappears. The study has now been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
Understanding the Universe’s Expansion

The expansion of the universe causes the galaxies to move away from each other. The speed at which they do this is proportional to the distance between them. For instance, if galaxy A is twice as far away from Earth as galaxy B, its distance from us also grows twice as fast. The US astronomer Edwin Hubble was one of the first to recognize this connection.  READ MORE...

Food Worth Printing

 

American Made Value Has Been Dead Since the !960s

In 1967, I purchased a specialty ordered 1967 Plymouth Barracuda convertible with a 383, 4-barrel carburetor, and four on the floor...  standard was a 273, 2-barrel carburetor, and automatic.  

I kept that car for over 30 years.  Had the engine rebuilt at 200,000 miles, repainted in the original candy apple red pigment, a new top that glass in the back instead of plastic.  I also replaced the seats and carpet.  

This cost me about $2,500 and I paid $3,500 for the car so I had $6,000 invested in it.  The car had over 350,000 miles on it when it was sold...  maybe closer to 400,000 but I cannot be sure about that.

Before I sold it, I would take her out on the interstate and blow her out somewhere around 100-120 mph on a straight away.   It felt good to be driving that kind of power.

Today's cars are not like the cars they manufactured in the 1960s.  Not sure why that is because of all the advanced technology but once you hit 100,000 miles on a car, it is time to look for a new one.  However, Toyota has a reputation of going 200,000 to 300,000 miles before it starts to have problems.

When you think about this longevity issue for a while, it begins to make sense.  The consumer market is only so big...  one would call it finite even with an increasing birthrate.  So, the only way to continue that you can increase revenues year after year, is to make products that don't last long and need to be replaced.

This is not just true with vehicles but with appliances, hand tools, electronic equipment although this last one is replaced primarily because technology has improved and not because its components have worn out.

My parents kitchen appliances, washer and dryer, lasted over 30 years and were replaced not because they were not working but because my parents wanted the newer technology.

Somewhat Political