Cuba to Join BRICS

Following the expansion announcement at its 2023 annual summit, all eyes have been set on who could eventually join the BRICS collective. Subsequently, with its global cooperations growing by the day, that list has started to take shape. Amid recent discussions with Russia, could Cuba be set to join & accept BRICS currency in 2024?

Indeed, those expansionary theories have coincided with the BRICS development of its local currencies. Although its embrace of de-dollarization and promotion of local currencies has been integrated, its work on its native assets continues. For the nations seeking to join the alliance within this calendar year, the development of that currency could play a crucial role.     READ MORE...

A Day in the Life

 

The Wind Cries Mary

 

Superconductivity

An international research team has made a pivotal discovery in high-temperature superconductivity by quantifying the pseudogap pairing in fermionic lithium atoms. This discovery not only deepens our understanding of quantum superfluidity but also holds promise for enhancing global energy efficiency through advancements in computing, storage, and sensor technologies. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

• Scientists have made a discovery that may help to unlock the microscopic mystery of high-temperature superconductivity
• The paper published in Nature could help address the world’s energy problems
• The new experimental observation quantifies the pseudogap pairing in a strongly attractive interacting cloud of fermionic lithium atoms

Breakthrough in High-Temperature Superconductivity
An international team of scientists has made a new discovery that may help to unlock the microscopic mystery of high-temperature superconductivity and address the world’s energy problems.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, Swinburne University of Technology’s Associate Professor Hui Hu collaborated with researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in a new experimental observation quantifying the pseudogap pairing in a strongly attractive interacting cloud of fermionic lithium atoms.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Low Cholesterol Levels

Last year my cholesterol level was 84 which included both good and bad cholesterol and this year my cholesterol level was 70, which also included both good and bad cholesterol.

I am sure my cholesterol levels prior to last year were equally as low but I never paid any attention to the results of my blood work unless my doctor brought it to my attention, which was never the case.

In 1987, at the age of 40, I accomplished the following goals/tasks:

• Quit smoking cigarettes
• Quit drinking alcohol
• Quit eating red met
• Quit eating fried foods
• Quit eating sweets and sugars

I also made sure:

• I exercised daily
• Got plenty of sleep
• Learned how to manage stress
• Ate a healthy diet

For the last 36 years, I have allowed myself to violate the agreement I made to myself by:

1. drinking 4-6 glasses of red wine each year
2. eating pizza once every quarter
3. having 1-2 cheeseburgers each year
4. eating strawberry preserves on English Muffin once or twice a month
5. not exercising on the weekends
6. having a slice of apple pie twice a year
7. had a ribeye steak 6 times in 36 years
8. eating a 6 times in 36 years

My ability to do this is based upon discipline and determination.

I eat the following foods:  fish, chicken, turkey, beans, all kinds of vegetables, turkey burgers, turkey hot dogs, soups, salads, sugar free deserts, eggs, turkey sausage, noodles, rice, coffee, tea, and SAMS flavored water.

I am 6 foot - 1 inch and weigh around 210-215 pounds after weight 260 for several years.

The key to losing weight is not exercise or specialized diets but monitoring how much you eat on a daily basis.  I try to eat 5 small meals a day that offer me no more daily calories than 2,000, really trying to focus of 1,600 to 1,800.

Why am I doing this?

I want to live as long as I can providing I am in good health.  My mother lived to almost 96 years old with her health failing when she was 94.  I would like to live longer than my mother.

I have gotten so used to eating what I do that when I eat a steak or hamburger now, they taste horrible and not just because of all the grease.    It is good that these foods no longer taste good because it helps me not to want them any longer.

Life is too short and I would rather live my life like this than live my life being OBESE and eating whatever is out there and not worrying about how much.

I have also lost my taste for alcohol, and I stopped smoking COLD TURKEY and never looked back.

Scary Things

 

Antimatter

It's extremely rare and usually exists for just 142 billionths of a second.

Positronium can generate huge amounts of energy. It can shed light on 'antimatter' which existed at the beginning of the Universe, and studying it could revolutionise physics, cancer treatment, and maybe even space travel.

But until now the elusive substance has been almost impossible to analyse because its atoms move around so much.

Now scientists have a workaround - freezing it with lasers.

"Physicists are in love with positronium," said Dr Ruggero Caravita, who led the research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), near Geneva. "It is the perfect atom to do experiments with antimatter."     READ MORE...

Revolution

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Richard Lewis, comedian and actor known for starring role on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," dies at 76 of a heart attack (More) | Michael Jones, WWE star better known by wrestling name "Virgil," dies at 61 (More)

> NFL scouting combine workouts kick off today from Indianapolis; see schedule and preview (More) | ... and latest NFL mock draft (More)

> Disney and Indian conglomerate Reliance will merge their media businesses in India, valuing the combined joint venture at $8.5B (More) | Donna Summer's estate sues Ye, formerly Kanye West, and Ty Dolla $ign for using an uncleared sample of Summer's "I Feel Love" on Ye's new album (More)


Science & Technology
> Researchers pinpoint key mutation, which potentially leads to the loss of tails in humans and primate relatives roughly 25 million years ago (More)

> Gene editing technique targeting the epigenome—compounds that help guide the human genome and tell it what to do—shown to help reduce cholesterol in mice for up to 11 months without drugs (More) | What is epigenetics? (More, w/video)

> New study suggests faint dwarf galaxies born shortly after the Big Bang were responsible for clearing away the universe's dense hydrogen fog, a key period known as reionization; long-running mystery was solved by data from the James Webb telescope (More)


Business & Markets - In partnership with Pernas Research
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq -0.6%) ahead of inflation data to be released tomorrow (More) | Bitcoin surpasses $63K for first time since November 2021 (More)

> Payments giant Stripe's valuation rises to $65B after inking deal with investors allowing current and former employees to cash out their shares (More) | Google hit with $2.3B antitrust lawsuit by Axel Springer, other European media companies over its advertising practices (More)

> China's Country Garden faces liquidation petition over nonpayment of $205M loan (More) | Amazon merchant aggregator Thrasio files for bankruptcy (More) | Bumble to lay off 350 workers, or roughly one-third of workforce (More)

From our partners: Missed NVIDIA’s legendary run and looking for the next breakout stock? Pernas Research, run by a former $3.5B fund manager, has a verified track record of picking winners for the last 7 years (beating the S&P by 13% annually), and their latest report predicts a major comeback from an undervalued legacy stock. Get their detailed analysis and winning picks; sign up here, free for a limited time.

SOURCE:  1440 News

The Global Elites

 

China's Aggressive & Insidious Behavior in the Pacific

Soldiers from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 69 Infantry Regiment , New York Army National Guard acting as an opposing force defend their positions during the final battle of Exercise Talisman Sabre at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia on July 19, 2017.U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Michael Tietjen



The US Army is conducting various training and exercises with international partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

US Army Pacific's commanding general said the land power network across the region is stronger than ever.

The increased partnership is the "greatest counterweight" to China's "aggressive, insidious" approaches, he added.


Facing challenges from China and the possibility of a future fight in the Pacific, the US Army is training closer than ever with its international allies and partners to harness the skills needed for land combat across the challenging and diverse region.

Those exercises, from biennial training in Australia to US Army Pacific's new Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotations in Alaska and Hawaii, and the "persistent state of partnering" with allies is "the greatest counterweight" against China's "aggressive, insidious" behavior, US Army Pacific's commanding general told Business Insider during an interview at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Sony's PlayStation division to lay off 900 employees, roughly 8% of its workforce after missing its sales target for the PS5 console (More) | Disney's film production president Sean Bailey steps down after 15 years (More)

> Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan headline 2024 Outlaw Music Festival Tour; see full list of performers and concert dates (More)

> Spotify generates $4.5B for independent labels and artists (More) | Sean "Diddy" Combs accused by male music producer of sexual assault, now the fifth such lawsuit against Combs (More)


Science & Technology
> OpenAI asks judge to dismiss key part of New York Times copyright infringement lawsuit, accusing the news organization of "hacking" ChatGPT to produce copyrighted results (More) | See case background (More)

> Hearing live music triggers more brain activity in regions responsible for processing emotions than recordings of the same song, MRI study suggests (More)

> Researchers find striped marlin communicate with each other by changing the shade of their stripes during high-speed hunting; discovery sheds light on the evolution of predatory group behaviors in fish (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq +0.4%) as investors await this week's inflation data (More)

> Macy's to close 150 underperforming namesake stores, or about 30% of its total stores, by 2026; company expects to add new locations of higher-end department store Bloomingdale’s and beauty chain Bluemercury (More)

> Apple cancels decadelong project to develop autonomous electric vehicle, pivots to artificial intelligence (More) | Financial Times launches new investment arm for media and technology companies, makes first investment in future-of-work startup Charter (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

The Pareto Principle

 This principle originally stated meant that 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our products...

Subsequently, it has been used to explain a variety of situations and circumstances such as:

• 80% of the wealth is held by 20% of the people
• Only 20% of our graduates will be successful
• 80% of the population can be easily manipulated
• 20% of our career will provide 80% of our net worth
• 20% of our employees will control 80% of our employees
• Only 20% of Americans will become wealthy
• 80% of all Americans will be followers not leaders

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Pareto Principle has been proven correct 80% of the time.  And it is for this reason that it is constantly being used by people in a management position.

What does that mean for the rest of us?

1. We will never be wealthy
2. We will always be followers
3. We will be easily manipulated
4. We will never be as successful as we want to be
5. We should accept our loser positions
6. We should pick our leaders well
7. We must see life as more than just wealth/power
8. We must understand that 20% will always be better
9. Government equity programs will not change anything

Once we understand what we are and what we will never become, we can accept our position and learn to find happiness with what we have.  Spending money to make it look like we are wealthy will simply get us farther and farther into debt.

Many of us turn to religion because religion teaches us that life after death will be better than our current life...  However, life after death will never be living like we are living now - at best it will be in spirit form without substance.  True, spirits will never get serious diseases or experience pain, but I am not sure what kind of relationships spirits will have with each other...

But, since I am in the 80%, I might be wrong.

Following Mom

 

China Hacking US Documents

More than 570 documents reported to be from a Chinese state-backed hacking group were posted online.


They mentioned targets in at least 20 countries and territories, The Washington Post reported.


Officials have issued repeated warnings about China's hacking operations.


A reported trove of leaked Chinese hacking documents may have given the world a glimpse of how widespread and effective China's hacking operations could be.


More than 570 files and documents were posted to the developer platform GitHub last week, The Washington Post reported. They appear to document hacking activity across multiple countries and come from iSoon, which the Post identified as a private security contractor with ties to China's Ministry of Public Security.  READ MORE...

FREE

 

Just Plain Talent

 

Illegal Immigrant Charged with Deputy's Death

A Guatemalan migrant who is accused of killing a police officer last year is now leading a lawsuit against the deceased deputy’s estate, another law enforcement officer and the county, alleging he was the victim.

Virgilio Aguilar Mendez, 19, was charged with aggravated manslaughter of an officer after a scuffle involving several law enforcement officers in May 2023 left one of them dead. Attorneys representing Aguilar Mendez filed a new federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday, seeking compensatory damages from the incident as they claim the officers violated their client's civil rights.  READ MORE...

Landing

 

In The NEWS

Science & Technology - In partnership with Knightscope

> Mistral AI releases large language model Mistral Large and chatbot Le Chat; company aims to compete with AI leaders OpenAI and Anthropic by focusing on efficiency and lower costs (More)

> Escaped gut bacteria that make it into the retina may in part cause blindness and eye diseases previously thought to be inherited (More)

> Engineers demonstrate 3D-printed titanium structure with strength-to-weight ratio 50% greater than advanced metal alloys used in aerospace applications (More)



Business & Markets

> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.1%); Amazon joins 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Walgreens (More)

> Lord Jacob Rothschild, British banker, financier, and philanthropist, dies at 87; Rothschild was known for leaving his family's banking dynasty in 1980 to build his own financial empire in London (More)

> Boeing safety procedures fell short due to lack of communication between management and employees, Federal Aviation Administration panel finds; review comes after 2018-19 crashes that killed 346 people (More)



Politics & World Affairs

> Michigan holds presidential primaries today; former President Donald Trump leads GOP race by double digits in recent polling (More) | Trump appeals $454M judgment in New York business fraud case (More) | Manhattan district attorney requests gag order on Trump in hush money trial (More)

> US House expected to deliver impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate as soon as this week; Democrats expected to seek to dismiss case (More) | Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel to step down March 8 (More)

> Hungary's parliament approves Sweden's bid to join NATO, clearing final hurdle for the country to become the 32nd member ofthe transatlantic military alliance (More) | Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was to be freed in prisoner swap between Moscow and the West before his death, according to reports (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Importance of 2024 Election

The 2024 Presidential election is an important one and not because of Biden and Trump, especially since neither of them should be running.  It is important because it will either change the course on which the USA is embarking or it will stay the course on which it is embarking.

If the stays the course:

1. illegal immigration will continue
2. our national debt will continue to increase
3. illegal drugs entering from Mexico will continue
4. crime and violence will continue
5. people will continue to leave CA and NYC
6. our education system will continue to decline
7. college graduate will continue not to find jobs
8. our country will continue to be severely divided
9. our enemies will see us as weak
10. our taxes will increase
11. our economy will continue to grow slowly
12. war on fossil fuel will continue

It is my opinion that neither Trump nor Biden should be candidates for the 2024 election...  and, it does not really matter who are our candidates if it were not Biden and Trump, because this election boils down to Democrat versus Republican.

The Democrats want to stay the course...

The Republicans want things to change...

The American people, regardless of their political knowledge should be awarded the PRESIDENT that they deserve...

Americans have forgotten what happened on NINE ELEVEN and I think it is time that we need to be reminded that the rest of the world HATES US...  Our allies tolerate us because of our money and all our nuclear weapons but they are not really our friends either.

All great empires FALL/DECLINE if you are a student of history and believe what you read...  The USA is considered a great empire and I think its time is getting very near.

 

Waves

 

Tax Evasion by Millionaires

A version of this article appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

The nation’s millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes, adding to growing government deficits and creating a “lack of fairness” in the tax system, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS, with billions of dollars in new funding from Congress, has launched a sweeping crackdown on wealthy individuals, partnerships and large companies. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the agency has launched several programs targeting taxpayers with the most complex returns to root out tax evasion and make sure every taxpayer contributes their fair share.     READ MORE...

The Sound of Silence

 

Dog and Child

 

Materialism Matters

A short disclaimer before we read further: I’m a materialist. Materialism is a branch of philosophy to which the sciences, particularly the physical and life sciences, owe a lot. Materialism posits that the material world — matter — exists, and everything in the Universe, including consciousness, is made from or is a product of matter. An objective reality exists and we can understand it. Without materialism, physics, chemistry, and biology as we know it wouldn’t exist.

Another branch of philosophy, idealism, is in direct contradiction to materialism. Idealism states that, instead of matter, the mind and consciousness are fundamental to reality; that they are immaterial and therefore independent of the material world.

A lot of scientists and researchers don’t necessarily have a conscious philosophy, or else don’t consider philosophy to be particularly relevant to their day-to-day work. But by not having a conscious philosophy, scientists – like anyone else – can unconsciously pick up other philosophies and outlooks in the society around them.   READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

WE, The People...

Giving everyone the feeling that this country revolves around them is a nice statement to make, but it has been a lie from the GETGO...

In other U.S. elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote. But the president and vice president are not elected directly by citizens. Instead, they are chosen by "electors" through a process called the Electoral College. The process of using electors comes from the Constitution.

So, when you think you are voting for the President, you are not really...  even though there is a lot of hoopla around presidential elections.

It is possible and has happened that the Electoral College does not elect the President who was elected by the popular vote.

If you did not pay attention to your civics lessons in high school, you do not know this.

Our founding fathers did not TRUST the general public as they are easily motivated and do not take the time to properly research political candidates.  The Founding Fathers knew that WE THE PEOPLE would never really work when it came to Presidential elections.

Look at what has happened in this country leading up to the 2020 election...  the Democrats created a FALSE NARRATIVE about Trump's collusion with Russia.  IT WAS A LIE...  but a majority of the people believed it to be true.

Our Founding Fathers knew that the general public was basically stupid and naive...  the Electoral College was designed to compensate for that ignorance.

WE THE PEOPLE were just words on paper to make the naive people believe that they really had a say so in the US government...

GUESS WHAT?   We have been fooled all these years and continue to be fooled.