Existence and Purpose

 

Can you prove that mankind exists?

Descartes, the philosopher said, "I think, therefore I am."

The movie The Matrix speculated that our life was a simulation, and that our real bodies were in some kind of pod, draining us of our energy to keep the simulation up and running.

Religious people believe that we were created by God to serve Him - so that His will in heaven would be carried out on earth.

Other cultures believe that we are continually reincarnated into another life here on earth after we die.

HOWEVER, none of these examples above, actually PROVE OUR EXISTENCE.

Yet,

• We feel pain
• We think and plan
• We draw conclusions
• We problem solve
• We feel emotions
• We feel sickness
• We can be damaged
• We ultimately die

NONE OF US are born as equals in the sense that we are all different.

Tall - Short - Thin - Fat - Smart - Dumb - Athletic, etc.

• Science cannot make us equal
• Education cannot make us equal
• Faith cannot make us equal

AND...  the question remains:  How do we prove that we exist?

Let's go one step further...

1. Who/What created the universe?
2. How did something from nothing happen?
3. Why is the universe still expanding and INTO WHAT is it expanding?

What is it about PROOF that is so elusive, I keep asking myself.  Do I really need proof, I wonder.  If I had proof what would I do with it, I ask as if proof creates reality and reality creates TRUTH.  

Proof of existence is one question but then if that was ever to be answered, then we would want to know what our purpose is here and why we live only 80-100 years...   when death is for an eternity.

I would speculate that most of us, at least 99%, don't give a damn about our existence or our purpose - they just want to live their lives as best as they can, given the circumstances of their environment and their parents.

Philosophy is just a class that some have to take in order to graduate from school and that is the depth of their understanding or desire to understand.  It does not really matter if we exist or not as long as we have a life to live.  How we lived that life never becomes an issue until very much later in life when there is nothing else for us to think about.

Cat Under Bed

 

Minerals Found on the Moon

A panoramic photo of the lunar surface captured by China’s Chang’e 5 as it landed on the Moon in 2020. Credit: China National Space Administration




China’s Chang’e 5 lander returned to Earth on 16 December 2020 with the first sample brought back from the Moon since 1976. Within the roughly 1.7 kg sample, researchers found a glass bead with a pit about 9 µm across, formed by the impact of a piece of fast-traveling space dust known as a micrometeorite. On the rim of the tiny crater they found two titanium-based minerals—trigonal and triclinic Ti2O—that had not been found on the Moon before and do not occur naturally on Earth. Those are now the seventh and eighth new minerals discovered on the Moon to date, as described in a recent Nature Astronomy paper by Xiaojia Zeng, Yanxue Wu, and colleagues.

Above Earth, the friction generated by meteors moving through the atmosphere slows them down and can burn them up, depending on their incoming size and speed. Above the Moon and other airless bodies, though, there is no atmospheric buffer between the debris of space and the rocky surface. The Moon is thus bombarded not only with the large meteors and asteroids that have given rise to its iconic cratered surface but also with tiny dust-sized meteors that travel at high speeds—as fast as 20 km/s, about 30 times as fast as an F-16 jet. Those micrometeorite impacts are crucial to the weathering of the lunar surface.     READ MORE...

China's Mega Project

 

Ted Cruz Mocks

 

Physics of Complex Fluids

The shearing of fluids—meaning the sliding of fluid layers over each other under shear forces—is an important concept in nature and in rheology, the science that studies the flow behavior of matter, including liquids and soft solids. 

Shear forces are lateral forces applied parallel to a material, inducing deformation or slippage between its layers.

Fluid shear experiments allow the characterization of important rheological properties such as viscosity (resistance to deformation or flow) and thixotropy (decrease in viscosity under the influence of shear), which are important in applications ranging from industrial processes to medicine. 

Studies on the shear behavior of viscoelastic fluids created by introducing polymers into Newtonian fluids have already been conducted in recent years.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Music by ABBA, Notorious BIG, and Green Day among 25 recordings added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry (More) | See complete Library of Congress registry list (More)

> Whitey Herzog, Baseball Hall of Famer and influential manager, dies at age 92 (More) | Carl Erskine, last surviving member of iconic Brooklyn Dodgers' "Boys of Summer," dies at age 97 (More)

> The 2024 Paris Olympics flame lit in Greece as 3,000-mile torch relay begins (More) | Team USA men's basketball roster headlined by LeBron James and Steph Curry (More)


Science & Technology
In partnership with hear.com

> NASA scraps current plans to return rocks collected by the Perseverance Mars rover to Earth, citing cost and complexity; agency to seek new proposals for the mission (More)

> Meta Oversight Board to review policies governing the spread of sexualized deepfake images on Facebook and Instagram following two high-profile incidents involving female celebrities (More)

> Researchers develop new pigment chemistry to produce a range of magentas for use in energy-efficient coatings; discovery was inspired by lunar minerals and similar pigment formulation used by ancient Egyptians (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq -0.1%) after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says inflation remains stubborn, reducing expectations for any imminent interest rate cuts (More)

> China's economy expands more than expected with 5.3% growth year-over-year in first quarter, driven by increased exports (More) | International Monetary Fund raises US economic forecast to 2.7% growth this year, outpacing Europe; anticipates global growth of 3.2% (More)

> Morgan Stanley beats first quarter earnings and revenue expectations, with profit up 14% year-over-year, sending stock up 3% on the news; all three divisions (wealth management, trading, and investment banking) saw a jump (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Bob Graham, former Democratic US senator and two-term Florida governor, dies at age 87; Graham chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee during and after the 2001 terrorist attacks and opposed the Iraq war (More)

> Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to testify about antisemitism today before House committee following December hearing with since-resigned University of Pennsylvania and Harvard presidents (More) | University of Southern California bars pro-Palestinian valedictorian from speaking at commencement, citing safety concerns (More)

> Oman flooding leaves at least 18 people dead with others missing (More) | Dubai International Airport—second busiest in the world—partially underwater as United Arab Emirates receives a year's worth of rainfall in a single day (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Changing America

 

It is easy, at my age, to live in the past especially since the past is so much better than the present.  However, if I had gotten cancer in the past, I would be dead by now because of the research that has been conducted on cancer research.

When I think of the past and what really impresses me about the past is not the cost of living or the quality of life but:

• we had a respect for American laws
• we had a respect for law enforcement
• we had a respect and trust in our legislatures
• democrats and republicans were willing to compromise
• we had a strong military presence
• we were leader of the world and respected by our enemies
• we had an outstanding educational system
• we had a strong set of values and morals 
• we had a strong work ethic
• we believed a little bit of profit was necessary
• males were males and females were females

All of that has been lost...  and that way of life is never coming back to America...   a new generation of Americans have been born, that believe that type of life was based upon WHITE SUPREMACY and that minorities would never be given a chance...  a new generation was born that believes in government handouts, social welfare, and socialism instead of capitalism.

While I am not a believer in their way of thinking, I do believe they have a right to take the country into the direction they believe is appropriate.  And who knows...  they may be right...  maybe the time is right for a STAR TREK type of UTOPIA.

America's enemies have based their HATRED on the old America that manipulated countries by force if necessary and by money when appropriate, trying to transform their culture into an American culture since it was perceived that American culture was the best in the world.

WE WERE WRONG...  But not many people are willing to admit that.  However, I doubt our enemies will believe this younger generation and it is they who will start manipulating us.

Our colleges and universities teach student HOW BAD AMERICA IS RIGHT NOW...  and, how out leaders need to be replaced and it is perceived that our enemies DO KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR US.

An example of this is the PRO-PALESTINIAN & ANTI ISRAEL movement that is moving through this country like a hurricane and tornado combined.  American Females want to be governed by SHARIA LAW, not fully understanding what they really means.

BUT...  like everything else...  CHANGE is necessary for growth...  and America needs to grow into something that is different from that which it is currently.

Relax

 

An "Intelligent" Liquid

Harvard researchers have created a versatile programmable metafluid that can change its properties, including viscosity and optical transparency, in response to pressure. This new class of fluid has potential applications in robotics, optical devices, and energy dissipation, showcasing a significant breakthrough in metamaterial technology. (Artist’s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.com

Scientists have developed a metafluid with programmable response.

Scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a programmable metafluid with tunable springiness, optical properties, viscosity and even the ability to transition between a Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid.

The first-of-its-kind metafluid uses a suspension of small, elastomer spheres — between 50 to 500 microns — that buckle under pressure, radically changing the characteristics of the fluid. The metafluid could be used in everything from hydraulic actuators to program robots, to intelligent shock absorbers that can dissipate energy depending on the intensity of the impact, to optical devices that can transition from clear to opaque.

The research is published in Nature.     READ MORE...

The Sun

 

The Smother's Brothers

 

Rare boson particle ‘triplets’

An extremely rare event in the world of particles has taken place during a Chinese-led study at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland.

And the event has scored yet another victory for the Standard Model – our current best theory to describe how the basic building blocks of the universe interact.

Sifting through experimental data collected between 2016 and 2018, researchers from Peking University and their colleagues from around the world spotted the simultaneous appearance of three force-carrying particles, known as bosons, which had never been seen together before.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
In partnership with Seed

> Indiana Fever take Iowa's Caitlin Clark with top pick in 2024 WNBA Draft; see complete list of draft picks (More) | NBA Play-In Tournament kicks off today; see full schedule (More)

> "The Gates" to premiere in January 2025 on CBS and will be first daytime network soap opera in over 30 years to primarily feature a Black family (More)

> Kenya's Hellen Obiri and Ethiopia's Sisay Lemma win women's and men's titles at 128th Boston Marathon (More)

Science & Technology
> Stanford University releases its annual artificial intelligence index report, finds AI systems now match or exceed human performance on a number of basic tasks (More) | OpenAI's GPT-4 cost $78M to train, Google's Gemini cost $191M; see full report (More)

> New RNA-based vaccine shown effective against all strains of a virus, may eliminate need for annual boosters against illnesses like the common flu (More) | The hunt for a universal vaccine (More, w/video)

> Astrophysicists resolve mystery of Pluto's heart-shaped structure, conclude it was created with a 400-mile-wide planetary object early in its history; study also suggests Pluto has no subsurface ocean (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -1.2%, Dow -0.7%, Nasdaq -1.8%) as Middle East tensions weigh on investor sentiment (More) | US retail sales rise 0.7% month-over-month in March, up from economist forecast of 0.3% and the second consecutive monthly rise (More)

> Goldman Sachs tops earnings and revenue expectations, reports 28% increase in first quarter profits of over $4B, or $11.58 per share—the highest earnings per share since the third quarter of 2021 (More)

> Salesforce shares fall 7% on reports of potential deal to buy data-management firm Informatica, valued at $10B (More) | Trump Media and Technology Group shares fall 18% as it eyes issuing more shares (More) | Live Nation shares fall in after-hours trading on report of possible Justice Department antitrust suit (More)



Politics & World Affairs
> Former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial in Manhattan begins; first day concludes with no jurors selected, more than 50 in the jury pool dismissed (More) | See our previous write-up (More)

> US Supreme Court allows Idaho law banning gender-affirming care for minors to broadly take effect—excluding plaintiffs who challenged the law—while appeals process plays out (More) | Supreme Court rejects hearing appeal over whether a Black Lives Matter demonstration leader can be sued for an injury to a police officer caused by a different protester (More)

> At least four people, including a bishop and a priest, wounded in a knife attack during a church service in Sydney, Australia; police arrest teenage suspect, treating attack as terrorism (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

The Right to Defend

 

If you are an American or if you in this country legally, then the umbrella of the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech), should apply to you.

In other words, if you want to organize a group of people for the sole purpose of yelling out to everyone:

DEATH TO AMERICA

Then you should have the right to do so.  However, my question is:  Why are you even here, participating in the freedoms and resources that exist here in America.

If you manage to kill all Americans, our freedoms DIE WITH US...

More importantly, you have not yet seen the anger of an AMERICAN once he or she feels like their family is being threatened, especially since we also have the Second Amendment (Freem to bear arms).

Let me suggest that you watch the movie RAMBO because something like that has a good possibility of happening.

EVERYONE...  EVERY COUNTRY...  has a right to defend themselves from aggression.  It does not matter if you country is in the EU, or in Africa or South America, or is part of Asia, or is Russia or China -  if another country acts in an aggressive manner towards you, then you have a righ to RETALIATE.

Case in point...  Hamas attacked Israel, so Israel can retaliate.  Hezbollah attacks Israel - Israel can retaliate.  OR...  If Israel attacks Syria and that pissed IRAN off - then Iran can retaliate as well...  providing that Iran understands that Israel will respond in kind.

When Iran sent missiles and drones to Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Jordan, and France helped to defend Israel.

CONSEQUENTLY:  DEATH TO AMERICA

It is very surprising that President Biden authorized the US military to become involved since Biden is a bit of a pussy when it comes to acting TOUGH.

What Iran and its proxies DON'T WANT is a war with America.  If that were to happen, then Russia would support Iran and quite possibly China as well as other middle eastern countries.

BUT, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Australia, and other countries would support Israel and the USA.

What we would have is WWIII and only a fool would want a global war to become nuclear.

With that said, whatever you believe or don't believe, all countries have a right to defend themselves and retaliate if applicable.  To think otherwise, is naive ignorance.

Panda & Chair

 

Synthetic Antiferromagnets

Researchers have discovered merons in synthetic antiferromagnets, advancing the field of spintronics toward more efficient, compact, and sustainable computing.

For the first time, teams from Germany and Japan have successfully identified collective topological spin formations known as merons within layered synthetic antiferromagnets.

Our everyday electronic devices, such as living room lights, washing machines, and televisions, operate thanks to electrical currents. Similarly, the functioning of computers is based on the manipulation of information by small charge carriers known as electrons. Spintronics, on the other hand, introduces a unique approach to this process.

Instead of the charge of electrons, the spintronic approach is to exploit their magnetic moment, in other words, their spin, to store and process information – aiming to make the computers of the future more compact, fast, and sustainable. 

One way of processing information based on this approach is to use the magnetic vortices called skyrmions or, alternatively, their still little understood and rarer cousins called ‘merons’.   READ MORE...

The Cream

 

Big Tree

 

New Era in Health & Space

Researchers are exploring the world’s most powerful laser, which is now functional in a research center in Romania. The equipment holds the potential to bring about significant advancements in various fields, including space exploration and health.

The French technology company Thales uses ideas that have won Nobel prizes to run the laser at the European Union’s Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) center, located close to Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

The equipment at ELI produces the shortest and strongest laser pulses the world has ever seen by amplifying, compressing, and extending an extremely brief laser pulse over time. This has helped researchers overcome a crucial limitation with lasers: boosting power while keeping the intensity safe.

The technology has already been used in corrective eye surgery, but it has also made it possible for researchers to keep increasing the power of lasers.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
In partnership with LMNT

> NBA regular season wraps with the play-in tournament set to begin tomorrow night; see playoff bracket (More) | WNBA Draft is tonight (7:30 pm ET, ESPN) with Iowa's Caitlin Clark widely projected to be the top pick (More)

> "Sunset Boulevard" is big winner with seven awards at the 2024 Olivier Awards, the British equivalent of the Tonys; "Operation Mincemeat" wins best new musical (More)

> Denver tops Boston College to win 10th NCAA men's hockey national championship (More) | NHL regular season wraps this week; see latest playoff picture (More)

Science & Technology
> SpaceX reaches milestone for reusable rockets, successfully launching satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on its 20th liftoff (More)

> Scientists discover cell structure in algae that naturally converts atmospheric nitrogen into useful chemicals; may one day allow crops to produce their own fertilizer from the air (More)

> New study challenges view of bonobos as a largely peaceful primate species, finds they can be more aggressive than chimpanzees; conflicts play out mostly through individual fights between males (More)


Business & Markets
> IRS says it received more than 100 million tax returns ahead of today's deadline to file returns or extensions for 2023 (More) | See the top 10 fraud cases from last year (More)

> Stocks fall Friday on slow start to earnings season (Dow -1.2%, S&P 500 -1.5%, Nasdaq -1.6%); S&P 500 closes worst week since October (More) | JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup all report a drop on income from net interest in first quarter (More)

> US Steel shareholders approve $14.9B sale to Japan's Nippon Steel at $55 per share, a roughly 33% premium over the stock's Friday price at close; deal for the second-largest US steelmaker still faces political opposition (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> A 40-year-old man stabs and kills seven people Saturday at the Westfield Bondi shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, injuring at least a dozen more; police attribute the cause to mental illness (More)

> Somali pirates release a Bangladeshi ship captured last month and its 23-person crew in exchange for a $5M ransom from ship owner KSRM Group (More) | More piracy attacks occurred in early 2024 than any other time in the last six years (More)

> Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) vetoes bill that would have banned transgender medical treatments for minors, including surgery and hormone replacement therapy (More) | See list of states that have enacted bans (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Gifts and Donations

 

If you are like me, then you watch television during the day or early evening.  Whether you watch programs from cable or a dish or via a ROKU, you probably are inundated with commercials.  

While these commercials are necessary to sell products that grow our economy, they also put the viewer inside an uncomfortable point of view, not really knowing what to do...  that is to say, how to spend your money.

For me, the commercials that stick in my mind are the ones that ask us to make donations.  We can donate our money to disabled veterans or children with cancer or animals that have been abandoned or treated cruelly.

It seems like to me that humans are more important than animals and that children are more important than veterans...  but for some, the decision is not that simple.  They struggle and anguish with their decision.

Additionally, the country is deeply embedded in a structural inflation process that does not seem to be lessening anytime soon.  We are struggling with our money just to keep our heads above water.  So, begging us to contribute is just another way to make Americans feel bad about themselves.

In addition to this, we are being asked to contribute to RUSSIAN JEWS who are starving.  So, forget the problems that we have in this country, let's give are hard earned money to someone outside of this country...  that makes a lot of sense.   And, if we do not then we are labeled as not very religious.

I understand that commercials are important, and I would also agree that charitable gifts and donations are important as well... but, no one takes into consideration the negative mental impact that this pressure has on the VIEWER - especially if that viewer is ELDERLY.

Cats

 

Evidence of Gravitons

A research team led by Chinese scientists has provided the first experimental evidence hinting at the existence of gravitons, theoretical particles believed to mediate the force of gravity, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

This discovery marks a significant step towards bridging the gap between quantum mechanics and general relativity, two pillars of modern physics that have remained largely incompatible.

The research, carried out by a collaboration between scientists from Nanjing University in eastern China, the United States, and Germany, involved placing a thin layer of semiconductor under extreme conditions. 

By cooling the semiconductor to near absolute zero and applying a magnetic field 100,000 times stronger than the Earth’s, the team managed to excite the semiconductor’s electrons to move in unison. This collective motion caused the electrons to spin in a manner consistent with predictions about gravitons, despite not confirming the particle’s direct existence.

“Our work has shown the first experimental substantiation of gravitons in condensed matter since the elusive particle was conceptualized in the 1930s,” Du Lingjie, the study’s lead author from Nanjing University, told state news agency Xinhua, as reported by SCMP.  READ MORE...

Nuclear Power

 

SpaceX Starship's Re-entry

 

Mountains Storing Clean Energy

Mountains—could soon store a whole lot of clean energy. These vertically blessed places are ideal spots for a well-established form of energy storage that is getting renewed attention: pumped storage hydropower.

As the country transitions to a clean power grid, researchers are searching for the best ways to store energy to use when winds slow down, clouds block the sun, and the grid needs a boost. 

Some experts are hoping to forge better batteries, like the well-loved lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars. But batteries are like cheetahs—they often run best for short distances. 

Pumped storage hydropower may be older technology but, like us endurance-running humans, can outlast their competition, often storing energy for eight to 12 hours at a time or more. 

Utility-scale batteries are often too expensive if they are built to store more than four hours of energy.  READ MORE...