Jumpin' Jack Flash

 

Smoke on the Water

 

Gigantic Ocean Discovered Beneath the Ocean

Imagine the vast expanse of the world’s oceans. Now, picture an underwater realm three times that size, not across the globe’s surface, but tucked away deep beneath it, at a depth of 700 kilometers. 

This isn’t the plot of a sci-fi novel but the startling discovery made by a team of scientists, unraveling the mysteries of our planet’s water origins.

Unveiling Earth’s Hidden Hydrosphere
The quest to pinpoint the origins of Earth’s water has led researchers to a monumental find—a colossal ocean ensconced within the Earth’s mantle, over 700 kilometers below the surface. 

This hidden ocean, concealed within a blue rock known as ringwoodite, challenges our understanding of where Earth’s water came from. The size of this subterranean sea is so vast that it triples the volume of all the planet’s surface oceans combined.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> "Cowboy Carter" becomes Beyoncé's eighth album to top the Billboard 200 chart; Beyoncé is also first Black woman to top country album chart (More)

> National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, an athletic governing body for mostly small colleges, bans transgender women from competing in women's sports (More)

> Actor Jonathan Majors avoids jail time following conviction of misdemeanor assault of his ex-girlfriend (More) | Country artist Morgan Wallen arrested in Nashville for allegedly throwing a chair off a six-story building (More)


Science & Technology
In partnership with Timeline

> Commerce Department awards US subsidiary of Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC $6.6B in grants, $5B in loans to build a third semiconductor production facility in Arizona (More)

> Lab-grown "mini-kidneys" successfully grafted into live mice; method will allow the study of polycystic kidney disease, which affects about 1 in 1,000 people (More) | What are organoids? (More, w/video)

> Engineers develop spring-like skeleton to act as muscle tissue scaffolding for biohybrid robots; approach can be used for a wide variety of robots regardless of shape or application (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close almost flat (S&P 500 -0.04%, Dow -0.03%, Nasdaq +0.03%) as investors await consumer price index report tomorrow (More)

> People traveling to see total solar eclipse in the US estimated to have spent up to $1.6B, including on housing, food, and gas, according to consulting group (More)

> 99 Cents Only files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, plans to close all 371 US stores this week, citing inflation as a contributing factor (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets date for Israel's ground invasion of Gaza's border city of Rafah but doesn't disclose date, says eliminating Hamas battalions in Rafah is essential (More) | US submits new plan seeking release of 40 hostages in exchange for six-week cease-fire in Gaza (More)

> Former President Donald Trump says abortion laws should be determined by US states, declines to endorse nationwide ban in video posted to Truth Social (More) | See overview of state abortion laws (More) | The Vatican reaffirms opposition to surrogacy, gender-affirming surgery, and gender theory in new document (More)

> Criminal trial begins for 27 people charged in worldwide money laundering case tied to the 2016 "Panama Papers"—a leaked trove of 11.5 million files that exposed how the world's wealthiest hide their assets (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Genders

 

I am not a religious person - don't attend Church - don't really pray each day but if I did, if would not be these long prayers or asking for an athletic or military victory, it is would the simple prayer we were told to pray by Jesus.  Not because it was requested by Jesus but because simplicity makes sense.

I do believe in a CREATOR (not the Biblical God) because it makes logical sense that our universe was created and not the result of the BIG BANG.  You cannot create something out of nothing unless you have the powers of a CREATOR.

With that said, you can see I am more spiritual than religious.  And I mention all of this because I strongly believe that we have only two genders:

• Males
• Females

However, there are males that want to be females and females that want to be males but they will always be their biological gender no matter what they cut off or add on.

I am also aware that there are babies born that have both male and female genitalia...  and that is a mystery as to why a Biblical God would allow this to happen.  My belief that a Biblical God would not allow this to happen if that Biblical God had the power to stop it from happening...  obviously, it cannot be stopped.

Therefore, it must natural for it to happen every once in a while.

BUT, aside from that anomaly, we only have males and females and there is a reason that our DNA only allows those two genders to be born.

There may be cultures in the universe that are different from us and give birth to babies that are neither male or female.  That seems self-defeating because there is no way to perpetuate the species unless birth happens in a different way.

Biological males should not compete in female sports and biological females should not compete in male sports.

If you need to address the EGOS of these transpeople then create a special third category for the TRANS where they compete with each other.

Everyone has a right to be who they want to be, but everybody does not have the right to compete in an athletic category that is different from their biological assignment.

Tympani

 

Six Flux Composite Fermions

A team of physicists at Purdue University has discovered a new particle, the six-flux composite fermion, expanding the understanding of the fractional quantum Hall effect beyond the known two-flux and four-flux states. This significant finding highlights the critical role of high-quality semiconductor materials and supports the advancement of quantum physics research.

If the fractional quantum Hall regime were a series of highways, these highways would have either two or four lanes. The flow of the two-flux or four-flux composite fermions, like automobiles in this two- to four-flux composite fermion traffic scenario, naturally explains the more than 90 fractional quantum Hall states that form in a large variety of host materials.

Physicists at Purdue University have recently discovered, though, that fractional quantum Hall regimes are not limited to two-flux or four-flux and have discovered the existence of a new type of emergent particle, which they are calling six-flux composite fermion. They have recently published their groundbreaking findings in Nature Communications.    READ MORE...

Gimme Shelter

 

You Don't Know How It Feels

 

Ancient Japanese Art

Inspired by Kintsugi, scientists at PPPL have developed a method to manage plasma in fusion reactors by utilizing magnetic field imperfections, enhancing stability and paving the way for more reliable and efficient fusion power. Credit: SciTechDaily.com




Scientists take advantage of imperfections in magnetic fields to enhance fusion plasma.

In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original.

That idea is inspiring a new approach to managing plasma, the super-hot state of matter, for use as a power source. Scientists are using the imperfections in magnetic fields that confine a reaction to improve and enhance the plasma in an approach outlined in a new paper in the journal Nature Communications.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
In partnership with OneKind

> Singer and rapper Jelly Roll wins video of the year at the 2024 Country Music Television awards; see full list of winners here (More)

> Oregon Powerball player wins nearly $1.33B jackpot, ending three-month run without a winner; jackpot, equal to $621M if taken in a lump sum, was the eighth largest in US history (More)

> Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg retires; the 35-year-old pitcher was the 2019 World Series MVP and former overall No. 1 draft pick but suffered multiple injuries and medical issues (More)


Science & Technology
> Engineers determine technical issue causing Voyager 1, launched in 1977, to return garbled communications beginning late last year, raising hope of a potential fix (More) | The space probe is the most distant human-made object from Earth, having entered interstellar space; see current location (More)

> University of Rochester discloses findings from probe into high-profile academic fraud scandal by physicist Ranga Dias, alleged to have faked room-temperature superconductivity results (More) | See case overview (More)

> Semaglutide, the key ingredient in new weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, has been shown to reduce symptoms and physical limitations in patients with a common type of heart failure (More) | How Ozempic works (More, w/video)


Business & Markets
> Markets rebound Friday, closing up (Dow +0.8%, S&P 500 +1.1%, Nasdaq +1.2%); Dow sees worst week in 2024 despite Friday's gains (More)

> Tesla reportedly suspends plans to build a low-cost entry-level sedan; decision comes amid slowing US electric vehicle market and competition from China (More) | CEO Elon Musk denies reports, also says company will unveil a robotaxi vehicle Aug. 8 (More)

> Retail giant Target launches paid membership program, including one- or two-day shipping, in bid to compete with Amazon Prime and Walmart+ (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Israel reduces its troop presence in the southern Gaza Strip, leaving one brigade reportedly to rest and resupply troops; the move comes at the six-month mark of the war and at the onset of renewed cease-fire talks with Hamas (More) | See updates on the war here (More)

> Los Angeles heist at a money storage facility believed to yield $30M over Easter weekend in one of the largest cash thefts in US history; FBI reportedly investigating the incident (More)

> Trump campaign raises $50.5M at Florida fundraiser over the weekend, surpassing $26M haul from a late March fundraiser held by the Biden campaign (More) | See current polls (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

You Don't Need College Debt

First of all, if you have natural athletic abilities, then attend the college that offers you the best scholarship.

Second, IF YOU MUST GO TO COLLEGE BE SMART ABOUT IT... especially if you don't have athletic abilities.

1. Go to a community college first - it's cheaper
2. Move to a state like TN where the community college is free
3. Work while you are attending the community college and attend classes at night
4. It is easier to be accepted into a big named college in your third year
5. Use the money you saved while working to pay for your last two years
6. If you need to work a part-time or full-time job
7. Graduate from college DEBT FREE

PERSONALLY...  I really think college is over-rated and many graduates never find jobs in their major nor do they use 80% of what they learned in college - they get jobs (not on their GPAs) based upon a perceived value to the company that can result in increased revenues, market shares, or new products.

JOINING THE MILITARY - is a viable option to college providing you do not join the Army or the Marines...  The best career is in the Air Force, Coast Guard, and then Navy.  If you are clever, the military will send you to school in:

• aircraft maintenance
• auto maintenance
• Computers/programming
• Cyber Security
• Electricity/Electronics
• Intelligence 
• Culinary 

After spending 20 years in the Air Force (18-38) you are eligible for a pension and full medical benefits and you have plent of time to work another twenty years (39-59) and be eligible to receive Social Security.

Your retirement income will include:

• a military pension with medical
• social security with Medicare
• whatever you have saved or invested

This is just what is possible if you were to go into the military...

BUT....  you could always think about managing a store like:

• restaurants
• Lowes
• WalMarts
• Target

However, you will have to pay your dues that is to say, start out at the bottom and work your way up.  These types of stores have high turnover because the work is hard, but if you can grin and bear it, in 5-10 years you are assistant manager, in 10-15 years you are manager, and in 15-20 years, you may end up having the chance to buy the franchise.

If you think I am kidding, I know a franchise owner of restaurant that started out as a bus boy and worked his way up.  Now, he owns three restaurants and hires managers.  All he does is visit them each day to make sure they are doing what he wants them to do.

Cat & Dog

 

World's Most Powerful Laser

"Ready? Signal sent!" In the control room of a research center in Romania, engineer Antonia Toma activates the world's most powerful laser, which promises revolutionary advances in everything from the health sector to space.


The laser at the center, near the Romanian capital Bucharest, is operated by French company Thales, using Nobel prize-winning inventions.

France's Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland of Canada won the 2018 Nobel Physics Prize for harnessing the power of lasers for advanced precision instruments in corrective eye surgery and in industry.

"The sharp beams of laser light have given us new opportunities for deepening our knowledge about the world and shaping it," said the Nobel Academy's citation.    READ MORE...

When I'm 64

 

Another Galaxy

 

Swiss Hydrogen-Powered Train

A hydrogen-powered train built by Swiss company Stadler has set a new Guinness World Record (GWR) after it traveled nonstop for 1,741 miles (2,803 km). 

The feat was achieved using a pilot hydrogen-powered passenger train car at a dedicated test ring in Colorado in the US.

When looking for sustainable transportation solutions, an electric vehicle (EV) comes to mind. While this technological development is great for reducing tail-pipe emissions, there is a need for sustainable mass transit options as well. 

More recently, automotive companies have also demonstrated the ability of electric buses. Still, trains can carry much larger batches of people at a time.  READ MORE...

Thirsty

 

Just Another Fish Tale

Not too many years ago, I was working in the marketplace in the typical 9:00-5:00 as they say.  I retired in 2015 so it has been almost a decade since I've worked.

I don't miss working because all my supervisors or those to whom I reported were FIRST CLASS ASSHOLES...  and I was the kind of person who could not keep my mouth shut, if I believed in something strongly.

My problem was that I believed in everything I did strongly, or I would not have been working there and my bosses never wanted to ROCK THE BOAT.

This concept was something I learned early in my career (my second job after college) when I reported to a Board of Directors who CONSIDERED THEMSELVES BIG FISH IN LITTLE PONDS.

Back then, you only had one of two choices:

• big fish in little ponds
• little fish in big ponds

Other ways of looking at this could be:

• don't rock the boat
• if it ain't broke don't fix it
• we've always done it this way
• it's above my pay grade

The sad part about this NO PROGRESS SCENARIO is that it only happens in the ranks of management (the so called white collar workers)

Rank and File employees (the so called blue collar workers), don't really give a shit about whose idea it was or if there is a better way to doing something.

Funny, but blue collar workers want to do a good job whereas white collar workers want to get promoted or receive a healthy bonus.  They also have no problems kissing the asses of those above them or making another manager look worse than they look.

SO NO...  I am not sad at all about being retired and I miss nothing that I left behind - not even the money.

Having more money means:

1. paying higher taxes
2. working longer hours
3. buying more toys you don't need
4. buying a bigger house you don't need
5. buying a more expensive car
6. flying first class
7. spending more on vacations
8. owning multiple homes
9. not spending time with family
10. drinking to much alcohol
11. acquiring more stress than needed
12. fear of failure - losing it all
13. watching over your shoulder
14. being solicited to make gifts
15. Never being satisfied with what you have

Cleaning Up

 

Unlimited Vacuum Energy of Space

Abstract
Considering the fundamental cutoff applied by the uncertainty relations’ limit on virtual particles’ frequency in the quantum vacuum, it is shown that the vacuum energy density is proportional to the inverse of the fourth power of the dimensional distance of the space under consideration and thus the corresponding vacuum energy automatically regularized to zero value for an infinitely large free space. This can be used in regularizing a number of unwanted infinities that happen in the Casimir effect, the cosmological constant problem, and so on without using already known mathematical (not so reasonable) techniques and tricks.

1. Introduction
In the standard quantum field theory, not only does the vacuum (zero-point) energy have an absolute infinite value, but also all the real excited states have such an irregular value; this is because these energies correspond to the zero-point energy of an infinite number of harmonic oscillators (). We usually get rid of this irregularity via simple technique of normal ordering by considering the energy difference relative to the vacuum state [1–6]; but, of course, there are some important situations where one deals directly with the absolute vacuum energy as in the cosmological constant problem [7] or in the regularization of the vacuum energy in the Casimir effect [8]. 

After a half century of knowing and “living” with the vacuum energy, there are only some mathematical techniques and approaches in regularizing its infinite value without paying enough conceptual attention to the “content” of the quantum vacuum “structure.” In this paper, considering the fundamental assumption that the vacuum energy originates from the “motion” of virtual particles in the quantum vacuum, it is shown that the free vacuum energy can be regularized based on the uncertainty relations’ limit on these particles’ frequency. Indeed, the free vacuum (or any infinitely large vacuum space) energy is automatically regularized to zero value without using any presupposition (e.g., normal ordering) usually used in getting rid of the infinity of the quantum vacuum energy (the vacuum catastrophe).  READ MORE...

Blind Faith

 

In The NEWS

Earthquake of 4.8 magnitude shakes New Jersey, New York City area.
The earthquake's epicenter hit near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Friday morning, about 45 miles away from New York City (see map). Tremors were felt across the East Coast, including in Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia. There have been no reports of significant damage or life-threatening casualties as of this writing.



South Carolina Gamecocks, Iowa Hawkeyes reach NCAA title game.
No. 1 South Carolina and No. 1 Iowa will face off in the NCAA women's championship game tomorrow (3 pm ET, ABC) after defeating No. 3 NC State and No. 3 Connecticut, respectively, last night. On the men's side, No. 1 Purdue takes on No. 11 NC State tonight (6 pm ET, TBS), followed by a face-off between No. 1 Connecticut and No. 4 Alabama (8:50 pm ET, TBS).



US employers add 303,000 jobs in March, exceeding expectations.
The nonfarm payroll growth is up from February's downwardly revised growth of 270,000 jobs and beats economists' estimates of 200,000. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8% as expected, down from 3.9% in February. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% month-over-month and 4.1% year-over-year. See all data here.



USC's Bronny James, son of LeBron James, declares for NBA draft.
The 19-year-old freshman basketball star also announced Friday he plans to retain his college eligibility and will enter the NCAA transfer portal. His announcement comes after playing one season for the University of Southern California, during which he suffered a cardiac arrest in July. The 6-foot-4 guard was found to have a congenital heart defect and was cleared to return in November.



New York to pay $17.5M for forced removal of hijabs for mug shots.
New York City agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in 2018 by two Muslim American women who said their rights were violated after police forced them to remove their hijabs, or head coverings, before taking their arrest photos. The police department changed its policy in 2020 to allow people to wear head coverings for religious reasons as long as their faces were clearly visible.



Criminal networks are infiltrating legal businesses, EU says in report.
The European Union's law enforcement agency, Europol, released a first-of-its-kind report, identifying 821 criminal networks and detailing how they are organized, how they operate, and what kinds of activities they engage in. According to the report (see here), 86% of the identified criminal networks rely on the legal economy to conceal their activities and launder their profits.



Apple to lay off 614 workers after nixing self-driving car project.
The job cuts affect employees from Apple's offices in California and mark the first major round of layoffs for the tech giant postpandemic. It is unclear what projects the employees were working on. The news comes after Apple canceled a decadelong initiative in February to develop autonomous electric vehicles, seeking to instead pivot to working on artificial intelligence.

SOURCE:  1440 News

New Drugs

 
Imbruvica, Calquence, and Brukinsa are three immunotherapy pills that I had been prescribed by my Oncologist to slow down the progression of my lymphoma.  Each of the pills averaged about $12-$15,000 per month and my copay was $1,000 per month.  However, I managed to get a grant from the Leukemia Foundation to pay for my out-of-pocket costs.

All in all, I took these pills over a three year period of time and at first the pills worked half way through the three years the Lymphoma started to grow aggressively and the pills no longer worked.

My Oncologist has now prescribed Venclexta which is in another family of immunotherapy drugs and is much more powerful which is what one hates to see happen.

There are several more types of treatments that can be used but eventually these options will point to a stem cell transplant if they continue not to work.  A stem cell transplant is not only expensive, but it is a very uncomfortable procedure to endure and requires staying in the hospital to 30-60 days.

Venclexta's price per month is about the same as the other pills I have been taking.

What is interesting here is that if Venclexta could be taken via an IV, there would no copayments.  For some reason, the copayments are assessed when one is taking pills.  Taking pills might be convenience but sometimes out-of-pocket expense are more inconvenient that having infusions.

My pills will be taken as follows:

• 20mg first week
• 50mg second week
• 100mg third week
• 200mg fourth week
• 400mg fifth week

I top out of 400mg and each new week, I have to visit with my Oncologist Monday/Tuesday to make sure my blood work is ok.  The first week, the FDA required that I stay in the hospital overnight.

Strangely too, my melanoma cancer which is far worse than lymphoma has shown minimal growth if any at all for over five years.

However, I will continue to take drugs for both of them for the rest of my life.

Venclexta has caused my anemia to worsen, my platelet count to worsen, and while my white blood count has skyrocketed, the Oncologist is hopeful that it will come back down to normal over the next several weeks.

Other side effects that are hard to live with right now is increased fatigue and melancholy and increase nausea.  I have pills for the nausea but there are no pills for fatigue.

Somewhat Political

 

Biden is Destroying America

By Victor Davis Hanson Fox News

11 ways Biden and his handlers are hell-bent on destroying America

The path to civilizational destruction should be very familiar by now

Published April 5, 2024 5:00am EDT

Why are those controlling President Biden using him to advance so much of a destructive agenda that it will likely end America as we know it?

If someone wished to destroy America, could he do anything more catastrophic than what we currently see and hear each day?

What would an existential enemy do that we have not already done to ourselves?

Here are 11 now familiar steps to civilizational destruction:
1. Wipe out a 2,000-mile border.
Allow 10 million foreign nationals to enter unlawfully. Have no audit of any; nullify all federal immigration laws. Let in toxic drugs that kill 100,000 Americans a year. Give free support to those millions who broke the law. Smear any objectors as racists and xenophobes.

2. Run up $35 trillion in national debt.
Keep adding $1 trillion to it each 100 days. Defame anyone wishing to cut wild spending as cruel and inhumane.

3. Appease or subsidize enemies like Iran and China.
Demonize allies like Israel. Allow terrorists to attack Americans without adequate response. See Islam as either similar or superior to Christianity. Make amends to leftist governments for supposedly past toxic American international behavior. Follow the lead of international agencies like the U.N., ICC and WHO to atone for past American neocolonial and imperialist behavior. Recede to second-tier international status, befitting American decline.   READ MORE...

Explained

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
In partnership with NativePath

> Kiss to sell entire music catalog and intellectual property rights to Swedish company Pophouse for over $300M (More) | Jay-Z's Made in America festival canceled for second straight year (More)

> Christopher Durang, Tony Award-winning playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist, dies at 75 (More)

> Oakland A's will temporarily relocate to Sacramento, California, after this season before final relocation to Las Vegas in 2028 (More)


Science & Technology
> NASA selects three companies to submit designs for moon buggies to be used by astronauts stationed at a lunar base planned as part of the Artemis mission (More) | Most precise measurement of universal expansion to date confirms current theory to within 1% (More)

> Amphibians emit high-pitched screams outside the frequency of human hearing to ward off predators, new study suggests (More)

> Genetic analysis of the sunflower family tree reveals flower symmetry evolved independently in different species of the plants (More) | What is convergent evolution? (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -1.2%, Dow -1.4%, Nasdaq -1.4%) as Federal Reserve official casts doubt on any interest rate cuts this year; oil prices continue climbing to highest levels since October (More) | US jobs report today expected to show 3.8% unemployment rate in March, down from 3.9% in February (More)

> Alphabet reportedly considering buying marketing software platform HubSpot, with a $35B market value, in what would be its largest purchase ever (More) | Google reportedly considering launching a paid subscription service for Google searches using AI (More)

> Disney Plus to crack down on password sharing in June, following example from Netflix, with plans to extend to all 150 million subscribers by September (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> President Joe Biden pushes for Gaza cease-fire during call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says US support is contingent on protecting civilians and aid workers (More) | Israel to open new border entrance in northern Gaza to expedite aid delivery (More) | World Central Kitchen calls for independent probe following Israeli strike that killed six aid workers and a translator (More)

> Judge orders US Border Patrol to provide indoor accommodations for thousands of migrant children who've not yet been formally processed; would classify them as "in Border Patrol custody" regardless of processing status (More)

> Nonpartisan group No Labels announces it will not run a third-party candidate in this year's presidential election following rejection from high-profile candidates (More) | See latest poll numbers (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News