Fixing Things

 

 

Choices

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Sean "Diddy" Combs arrested in New York by federal prosecutors after grand jury indictment (More) | Longtime BBC presenter Huw Edwards avoids jail time after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children (More) | Former MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe pleads guilty to securities fraud charges (More)

> Shaboozey’s "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" tops Billboard Hot 100 for 10th consecutive week as well as the Hot Country Songs chart for the 14th week (More)

> Independent hearing on Manchester City's alleged finance breaches begin; the soccer club is alleged to have breached 115 Premier League financial regulations between 2009 and 2018 (More)


Science & Technology
> Researchers produce first-ever map of brain changes occurring during pregnancy; effects include a long-lasting decrease in gray matter and a temporary increase in white matter (More) | Gray versus white brain matter, explained (More)

> US health regulators approve sleep apnea detection feature on new Apple watches, the company's latest step into health; the decision follows approval for hearing aid function on AirPods Pro 2 (More)

> Engineers develop cheap, biocompatible fabric-like filter to remove microplastics and lead from drinking water (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq -0.5%); Dow closes at an all-time high (More) | Intel shares rise nearly 8% in after-hours trading on plans to turn foundry business into subsidiary; unit offers semiconductor manufacturing services to customers (More) | Oracle shares close up 5%; chairman Larry Ellison becomes world's second-richest person (More)

> Boeing freezes hiring, considers temporary furloughs to cut costs as more than 33,000 union workers strike for fourth day (More) | See previous write-up (More) | Amazon orders workers to return to office five days a week in 2025 (More)

> AI startup World Labs raises $230M from backers including Andreessen Horowitz and Nvidia's venture capital arm; aims to build AI models that interact with 3D world (More) | See other US AI startups that have raised $100M or more this year (More)

Politics & World Affairs
> Two former chiefs of the New York City Fire Department charged for allegedly soliciting, accepting bribes to expedite fire safety approvals of large building projects; unclear if case is related to corruption investigation around Mayor Eric Adams' (D) administration (More)

> Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation begins hearing two weeks of testimony from former employees of OceanGate as part of probe into Titan submersible, which imploded in June 2023 and killed five people (More, w/photo)

> Death toll from flooding in central Europe rises to 18 after Storm Boris brings unusually heavy rainfall to Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia (More) | See photos (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Retirement

 

For many people in the USA, retirement is a nightmare and many of these people have made the claim that they cannot live just on Social Security and therefore must continue working.

What's wrong with that statement or claim?

• Well, for one, maybe they also have a lot of debt that needs to be serviced each month.
• Well, for two, maybe they did not have a plan to saving money to supplement Social Security.
• Well, for three, maybe they are living in an area of the USA that has a high cost of living.
• Well, for four, maybe these individuals/couples want to continue living high on the hog lifestyle.

The average SS claim is about $1,500/month.  If it is a couple that is retired and both drawing SS, then that would be $3,000/month.

My wife and I retired together in 2015 and our monthly expenses were only $3.500/month which has gone up to $4,500/month in 2024...  mainly because of the Biden-Harris administration whose policies have cause extraordinary INFLATION.

So, if you retired with SS of $3,000 and your expenses are $5,000 then you need to withdraw $2,000/month from savings...  that is to say if you put money into savings.

If you retired at 67 and you live for 20 years, that would be 87 and you would need $480,000 in savings to cover those two decades.

If you have little to no savings, then you are SOL and will need to continue working.

Also, it is going to be more expensive to live in Chicago or NYC than it is to live in Atlanta or Knoxville.

My wife and I live just as comfortably retired as we did when we were both working...  and it is because we:

• have no debt
• saved money
• live simply
• live in a low-cost area

What is also interesting her is that my wife and I have given up NOTHING to live as we do retired.

Somewhat Political

Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

Two of the key barriers to producing power from nuclear fusion have been overcome, in what scientists say is a major advance towards producing near-limitless clean energy.


A team at US energy firm General Atomics achieved a “sweet spot” for operating the next-generation power source within a donut-shaped tokamak reactor.


Nuclear fusion replicates the same natural processes found within the Sun in order to produce vast amounts of energy, however harnessing the superhot plasma within the reactor in order for it to work in a meaningful way has proved elusive.             READ MORE...

Tommy James and Joan Jett - "Crimson and Clover"

A Truthful Observation... Or is it?

 

I have some limited experience with LINKEDIN, FACEBOOK, TWITTER/X and I can tell you from that experience, it is very easy to get caught up inside the pages of social media platforms.

It is easy to respond to the idiotic posts that other people make.  Some people like what you write, others do not.  But who cares?  No one knows each other.

You don't have any idea if you are really taking to the person whose photo is posted on the profile.  Many female profiles are actually males posing as females trying to get your attention.

It is easy to get mesmerized and lost, spending an entire day, accomplishing nothing other than posting your pitiful thoughts and comments.

It is really easy to see how naive children and adults can get lured into online predators.

These social media platforms CLAIM to be in search of the truth and swear that truth is all that is being posted.  In my experience, maybe and this is a slim maybe, there is 20% truth being posted on these social media accounts.  80% of it is FALSE or misleading.

AMERICANS love it... making us gullible, stupid, and ignorant because we believe what we read and are not smart enough to research it out, to see if there is any truth to what we read.

DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS are guilty of posting misinformation and/or disinformation on a regular basis in the hopes of swaying public opinion.

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TO BELIEVE OR DISBELIEF...

Unfortunately, this is the world in which we live.

WOKE Teachers

White Dudes for Kamala

 

Owning Guns

 

Democracy

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> "Shōgun" breaks records at 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy; "Hacks" wins best comedy (More) | See other highlights from the night (More)

> Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa has no plans to retire after concussion in Thursday night's game against the Buffalo Bills; this was Tagovailoa's third concussion in two years (More) | Texas jumps Georgia to lead college football's AP poll for first time in 16 years (More) | How college football rankings work (More)

> "The Life of Chuck" wins top prize at 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (More) | "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" leads domestic box office again, hauling in $51.6M in its second weekend (More)


Science & Technology
> Stranded Starliner astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore give first news conference from the International Space Station; pair will return aboard a SpaceX craft in February (More) | See previous write-up (More)

> New approach helps prevent distortions in AI-generated images like extra limbs and distorted facial symmetry (More) | How does generative AI work? (More, w/video)

> Poor performance under pressure, or "choking," linked to a drop in activity from the neurons helping to prepare the body for movement (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher Friday (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.7%, Nasdaq +0.7%) with Nasdaq closing out its best week of the year (More)

> DirecTV and Disney reach deal to end 13-day blackout that had blocked ESPN, ABC, and other Disney-owned TV networks for DirecTV's 11 million customers (More)

> Air Canada and pilots union reach tentative agreement to avoid strike this week; $1.5B deal will increase compensation by 46% over four years, with union members set to vote in the coming weeks (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Venezuela detains six foreigners, including three US citizens, accusing them of CIA plot to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and others; the US denies allegations (More)

> Houthi missile reaches Israel from Yemen for first time, wounding nine people in country's center, per Israeli officials (More) | See war updates (More)

> Eight migrants die in English Channel crossing from France to England; boat carried people from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, and Iran (More) | Flooding in Central and Eastern Europe kills at least eight people after heaviest rain in decades (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Tax the WEALTHY

 

This is the battle cry of the DEMOCRATS because they claim that the wealthy are not paying their fair share of taxes.

THE DEMOCRATS ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.

However, the reason why the wealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes is that they have their money SHELTERED AWAY FROM TAXES IN OFF-SHORE BANK ACCOUNTS WHERE THEIR MONEY CANNOT BE TAXED.

THEREFORE... the Democrats cannot increase taxes on the wealthy except on the small amount of money that they make available to be taxed.  Consequently, even if their taxes were raised, they would still PAY LESS than the average American...  making the comment about taxing the wealthy RATHER STUPID!!!

When taxes are raised the Middle Class is the group that typically has to bear the brunt of extra taxes.

THE DEMOCRATS DON'T SHARE THAT REALITY WITH YOU.

If the Democrats want to increase the CORPORATE TAX, the can and will but the only problem there is that those increases will be passed along to the consumer in higher prices.

This is how CAPITALISM WORKS...

The Democrats need capitalism to pay for their SOCIALISTIC PROGRAMS...  which puts them right square between a rock and a hard place.

A little inflation is necessary to create economic growth...  basic economics 101...  anytime you try to rebalance the scales in favor of supply or demand, it must be done simultaneously...  I am not sure that the Democrats understand or want to understand this basic concept.

Somewhat Political

 

Galaxy with Impossible Light Signature

This region of space, viewed first iconically by Hubble and later by JWST, shows an animation that switches between the two. Both images still have fundamental limitations, as they were acquired from within our inner Solar System, where the presence of zodiacal light influences the noise floor of our instruments and cannot easily be removed. The extra presence of point-like red objects in JWST images, also known as “little red dots,” has finally been explained, but other puzzles still remain.






Since its launch in December of 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted record-setting objects all across the Universe, including at the greatest distances ever seen.

Many distant galaxies are energetic and show signatures of emission lines from specific atoms and molecules, particularly hydrogen. However, the Lyman-α line has never been seen earlier than 550 million years after the Big Bang.

Until now. With the discovery and spectroscopic follow-up on galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1-LA, we now have strong evidence for that emission line from a galaxy just 326 million years after the Big Bang. The question is: how?              READ MORE...

Soweto Blues-Miriam Makeba( GRACELAND CONCERT WITH PAUL SIMON )

Assassination Attempts

 

My main source of news is FOX News primarily because they censor and editorialize less than the other networks, so that I am actually getting access to 95%+ of the REAL NEWS.

I was a fan of CNN and CBS but I learned back in 2016 that they only present the news that they feel their viewership NEEDS TO KNOW.  That is not news...  that is censorship...  I want to hear the news, good, bad, or indifferent and then I WILL DECIDE what I want to believe and what I don't want to believe.

Just for shits and giggles, I recently watched ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC and got the chilly feeling that the news moderators were BLAMING TRUMP for the assassination attempts on his life.  Their foundation for this belief was Trump's behaviors and words.

While that made totally good sense to them, it made me think HOW STUPID these moderators were.  For example...

• Many people did not like Biden closing down the XL pipeline on his first day in office, but no one tried to kill him for it.
• Many people did not like the Biden withdrawal out of Afghanistan, but no one tried to kill him for it.
• Many people did not like Biden's open border policy even after members of their families were killed by illegals, but no one tried to kill him for it.

Are these moderators thinking that Trump's worse are worse than that?

Then we have the Kennedy assassination...

Then we have the attempted assassination on Reagan...

Did these two people bring it on themselves?

These other networks are losing viewers because all they can think about is WHAT CAN WE BLAME ON TRUMP TODAY THAT MIGHT KEEP HIM FROM WINNING IN NOVEMBER...

I don't think this is a good image for networks to have.

Dating

 

Blocking

 

Swifty

 

MAGA 1960

 

Don't Try to Figure This One Out

 

Our FUTURE

 

How many people, do you think, look into the future:

• 6 months
• 1 year
• 18 months
• 3 years
• 5 years
• 20 years

What do you think our future might look like?

1. Electric Vehicles
2. Possible Terrorist Activities in the USA
3. Increase in IRS Taxes
4. Increase of USA Racism
5. Increase of USA Crime and Violence
6. Increase of Illegal Drugs in USA
7. Increase in Higher Prices
8. Decline of Gasoline Usage
9. A Green Energy Economy
10. A Slow Growing Economy
11. Humanoid Robots Replacing Jobs
12. Increased Illegal Immigration
13. Increased Terrorist Activities
14. Escalating Global Aggression
15. Spreading of Global Islam
16. Decline of Christianity
17. Decline of USA Military
18. Increased WWIII Risk

Life in the USA is not just about life in the USA; it is about Global Life much of which influences life in the USA.  

For example:

• Russia/Ukraine war
• Hamas/Israel war
• Illegal Immigration changing USA Culture
• Increase in Global Hatred of USA
• China's possible invasion of Taiwan
• Iran becoming a nuclear power
• North Korea becoming a nuclear power

Americans like to DRINK BEER, HAVE SEX, SMOKE MARIJUANA, TAILGATE, and work only when they need/want to work.  Americans like to HUNT, CAMP, FISH, and enjoy the weekends with family and friends.  Americans like to have DINNER PARTIES, BRIDGE PARTIES, and FOOTBALL PARTIES with family and friends.

AMERICANS like the American lifestyle and do not believe ANYTHING will ever happen to alter, change, or destroy that LIFESTYLE.

Why do they think that?

AMERICAN ARROGANCE...

Americans do not know how people in Europe and in the Middle East have survived countless wars in their countries.  Those people know what living during wars is really like.

American just know 9/11 and twenty-three years later, they have forgotten all about it.

American are concerned now about all the crime and violence that has resulted from ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION but there is still NO PUSH from Americans to CHANGE ANYTHING....

Our future will be here soon enough, and it will be too late for Americans to BITCH...

Somewhat Political

 

Quantum Theory Redefining Reality

As one of the original architects of quantum theory, perhaps our most successful scientific idea, you would think that Niels Bohr would have been interested in the nature of reality. The subjects of his studies were atoms, electrons, photons – the things we think of as the fundamental ingredients of the universe.

But for Bohr, reality was actually none of his business. “It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is,” he said in an often-repeated quote from the early days of quantum theory. “Physics concerns what we can say about nature.”

Though this distinction may sound pedantic, it can’t be dismissed when it comes to quantum physics. The picture this theory paints of the subatomic world is perplexing: particles can seemingly exist in two places at once, time stands still and there is no such thing as empty space. Can that really be what reality is like?           READ MORE...

Crosby Stills and Nash - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes - Live 2012

RACISM in America

 

In 1947, I was born white as a result of a sexual union between white parents and in 2024, at 76 years of age, I AM STILL WHITE.

Not only am I a white male but I am a WHITE VIETNAM ERA VETERAN, who was willing to protect Americans so that the BLACKS could call me a WHITE SUPREMACIST RACIST.

The more the BLACKS push against the WHITES because they were mistreated during slavery, the more I am going to PUSH BACK against the blacks and their petty jealousies.

I am not responsible for what my father did, nor am I responsible for what my grandfather, my great grandfather, or my great-great grandfather did...  I am only responsible for what I do, did, or have done.

What bothers me is that whites are racist when we do something blacks don't like but when blacks do exactly what they claim whites did or did not do, they ARE NOT RACISTS.

That double standard will continue to DIVIDE BLACKS AND WHITES and the more they push the more a majority of us will push back.

If you want to be black fine with me but I see myself as an AMERICAN...  it is only the BLACKS that see me as WHITE.

In The NEWS

Death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Yagi exceeds 250 people.

More than 800 people have been injured, while at least 82 people remain missing. The typhoon, considered the strongest storm to strike the Asian continent this year, made landfall last weekend on Vietnam's northeastern coast. It triggered flash floods and landslides, sweeping away dozens of homes and blocking access to fresh water and sanitation. See photos from the aftermath here.



China raises retirement ages for first time since 1950s.

The world's second-largest economy approved a plan Friday to raise its retirement ages over the next 15 years. China's retirement ages are among the world's lowest (see data on men; see data on women). The retirement age for men will gradually rise to 63 from 60 by 2040. Women in white-collar jobs will retire by 58 instead of 55, while women in blue-collar jobs will retire by 55 instead of 50. The legislation comes amid China's falling birth rates and an aging workforce.



World Health Organization approves use of mpox vaccine.

The WHO's authorization is the first for a vaccine to combat mpox; the two-dose vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic A/S has been cleared for adults aged 18 and above. Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was declared a global health emergency last month following the spread of an especially virulent strain of the virus in Africa. Over 20,000 cases and at least 500 deaths have been recorded across 14 countries in Africa so far this year. See an mpox overview here.



United Airlines to offer free in-flight Wi-Fi with Starlink.

United will begin testing free Wi-Fi in early 2025 under a deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX and its Starlink satellite internet provider. United will introduce the perk across its roughly 1,000 aircraft over the next few years. SpaceX has over 6,000 Starlink satellites orbiting Earth, providing users worldwide with high-speed internet. Separately, Brazil's top court restored nationwide access to X after the Musk-owned social media platform paid a $3.3M fine to resolve a legal dispute.



"Karate Kid" actor Chad McQueen dies at age 63.

McQueen starred as "Dutch," a member of Johnny Lawrence's gang, in the 1984 and 1986 "Karate Kid" movies. He died while at his Palm Desert, California, ranch. He was the only son of actor and race car driver Steve McQueen, who died at age 50 in 1980. The younger McQueen is survived by his wife and three children, one of whom is also an actor known for starring in the TV series "The Vampire Diaries."

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS