Gasoline & EVs

 

My last gasoline fill-up of 13 gallons was $2.50/gallon which is obviously down from $3.66/gallon I was paying several weeks ago...  however, it is still up from the $1.60 I was paying four years ago.

I also know that the USA has enough petroleum crude oil under the ground to last us for over 50 years which includes selling our over production for foreign countries.

Right now, we are buying petroleum crude oil from other countries because we do not have enough domestic crude oil to fill our needs.

WHOSE FAULT IS THAT???

I also understand that the current administration wants to go GREEN and have electric vehicles but there are some fundamental problems with that INITIATIVE:

First - we do not have to power grid to accommodate our electric vehicles, since we are currently experiencing brown-outs in certain areas of the country.

And what happens when the power is out due to hurricanes or other bad weather?

What then?

Do people just park their EVs and not go to work?

Second - Electric Vehicles are expensive and the Middle Class and Poor Class simply cannot afford EVs.  

Are you going to force Americans to buy EVs with what little money they have?

Are you going to tell the car companies to hire ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to make our cars because they represent cheap labor?

Third - currently, it takes a long time to charge an EV and in addition to the time, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate a higher level of EVs even if the price were to come down and people started to buy them.

Fourth - the transition from gasoline to EVs if forced upon the American public would keep our weakened economy from growing as a sustainable rate in order to achieve full employment.  That weakened economy would make us vulnerable to our enemies...  to say the least.

Our current administration is not doing a very good job of PLANNING FOR OUR FUTURE...  outside of making a lot of free stuff available which is going to raise taxes.

Somewhat Political

 

China's Cargo Drone

An unmanned cargo aircraft developed by Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co. takes part in a maiden flight at an airport in Zigong, Sichuan province, China August 11, 2024. 

BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Engineers sent China's biggest-yet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soon-to-open 100-km (62-mile) route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country's expanding low-altitude economy.

Packing a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twin-engine cargo drone developed by state-funded Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co took off in southwestern Sichuan province on Sunday for its inaugural flight that lasted approximately 20 minutes, state media reported.     READ MORE...

SANTANA - Black Magic Woman / Oye Como Va

Abortion

 

Insurrection

 

The Band

 

Thinking

 

Updates

Slow Learners

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball sells for $4.4M at auction, a record price for a sports ball of any kind (More) | Fernando Valenzuela, Dodgers pitching legend, dies at age 63 (More)

> Actresses Julianne Moore and Rosario Dawson, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, and author James Patterson among at least 15,000 creatives signing on to statement warning against unauthorized use of their work to train generative AI (More)

> Director Roman Polanski won't face trial for alleged rape of a minor in 1973 after settling out of court (More) | Harvey Weinstein's retrial on an overturned 2020 rape conviction to be pushed back to 2025 (More)


Science & Technology
> Google's DeepMind deploys invisible watermark for AI-generated text; approach alters words used in a formulaic but indistinguishable way that can be decoded with a key (More) | How generative AI works (More, w/video)

> Researchers discover how ovarian cancer shuts down immune cells, promoting tumor growth; cancer cells effectively block the energy source T cells rely on to function (More) | What are T cells? (More)

> Archaeologists uncover the most extensive medieval urban sites discovered to date in Central Asia; cities of Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, located along the Silk Road, date back to 550 CE to 1050 CE (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.9%, Dow -1.0%, Nasdaq -1.6%) (More) | US existing home sales drop 1% month-over-month in September to the slowest annual pace since October 2010; median home price topping $404K is up 3% year-over-year (More)

> Tesla shares rise 12% in after-hours trading on better-than-expected profits (More) | Peloton shares close up 11% after hedge fund founder says stock is undervalued (More) | McDonald's shares close down 5% after CDC announces E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder burgers across 10 states; total of 49 cases reported, with one person dead and 10 hospitalized (More)

> Apple and Goldman Sachs ordered to pay over $89M in penalties and refunds after US regulator finds they misled Apple Card holders (More) | American Airlines to pay record $50M fine over treatment of passengers with disabilities (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> The Pentagon confirms reports of North Korean soldiers in Russia but says purpose is unclear; South Korea says 3,000 troops are there, part of a planned 10,000-person deployment, with Ukraine saying they are joining Russia's war in Kursk (More) | G-7 finalizes $50B loan to Ukraine, backed by Russian assets (More)

> Florida mother files wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI—a company allowing users to interface with AI chatbots—after her 14-year-old son, active on the site, dies by suicide (More)

> Mexican soldiers kill 19 suspected members of Sinaloa cartel in shootout in the northwestern state; attack comes months after arrest in the US of cartel cofounder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

About the WEALTHY

 

From time immemorial, societies HAVE ALWAYS been separated into the WEALTHY and the POOR...  It is only in the USA, that society has managed to develop into three categories:  Wealthy - Middle Class - Poor.

Once you understand that, then the rest of my comments will be easier to understand.

The American Government MUST COLLECT TAXES in order to pay for all the services they provide, such as:

• public education
• public transportation
• public parks and recreation
• public healthcare
• military and law enforcement
• retirement benefits
• unemployment insurance

Anything and everything that is made available to the public COMES FROM TAX DOLLARS.

The WEALTHY HIDE THEIR INCOME in TAX FREE offshore banks accounts typically in the Caymans in the Caribbean.

In short, WEALTHY PEOPLE DON'T PAY TAXES or the fair share of taxes.

Congress makes the tax laws and the WEALTHY give the people money for their re-elections to keep the tax laws from changing.

Neither the middle class nor the poor class has the ability to influence congress.  The only thing that these two classes can do is pay their taxes and/or refuse to pay their taxes and go to prison.

The more services that the government wants to provide the people so that the people will keep their party in power, the more taxes increase.  When the politicians say taxes will not increase on you, but they will on the wealthy, THEY ARE LYING.

Until you believe what I just wrote, the government will continue to give you programs, continue to raise your taxes, and continue to lie to you saying the wealthy will pay for it all.

THIS WILL SIMPLY NOT HAPPEN...

EVERTIME YOU PUT THESE ASSHOLES BACK INTO POWER, THE MORE FOOLISH AND STUPID AMERICANS LOOK BECAUSE THEY JUST CANNOT SEEM TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM...

YOU ARE GETTING EXACTLY WHAT YOU DESERVE...

Somewhat Political

 

China's Humanoid Robot Race

Robot Era, a rising name in the humanoid robot space, has captured the attention of tech enthusiasts again with a new stunt.

After showcasing its XBot-L humanoid strolling along the Great Wall of China a few months ago, the company has now released footage of two Star1 models racing through the Gobi Desert.

Racing humanoids in the Gobi Desert
The video (below), shot late last month, shows two Star1 humanoid robots racing through diverse terrain in the Gobi Desert. The robots are seen navigating rocky paths, grassy areas, and winding roads.

One of the robots runs “bare-footed,” while the other sports a pair of sneakers, which, as it turns out, played a significant role in the outcome of the race.     READ MORE...

Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing 1979 Live Video

A Female President

 

Is the US of A ready for a female president?

When Hillary Clinton was challenging Trump for the position of POTUS, she lost.

Just like Trump complained for 4 years of not really losing in 2020 to Joe Biden, Hillary has also complained for four years about unfairly losing to Donald Trump in 2016.

Aside from the bitching of both these candidates, the US of A is again faced with an opportunity to elect their first female president.

A very big step for the leader of the FREE WORLD.

Will Kamala Harris...

1. stop illegal immigration?
2. make the USA energy independent again?
3. reduce inflation?
4. stop crime and violence?
5. stop illegal drugs?
6. repair our divided country?
7. stand tall against our enemies?
8. grow our economy?
9. fix our deteriorating education system?
10. reduce or increase taxes?
11. reduce or increase our national debt?
12. build up or military and space force?
13. Prevent WWIII from taking place?

Will Trump be able to achieve these 13 items?

2024 is a crossroads, a turning point if you will for the future of the USA.

• Will she again take her rightful role of leader of the FREE WORLD?
• <or>
• Will she succumb to the influences of SOCIALISM and become no better than any other country in the world?
• Will she allow CHINA to become leader of the world?
• Will she allow nuclear proliferation again?
• Will she allow global wars of aggression to take place again?
• Will she allow illegal immigration to change the culture of the USA?
• Will she allow shrinkage of the middle class?
• Will she allow BILLIONAIRES to dictate policy and our future?
• Will she allow humanoid robots to take our jobs?

Tolerance

 

Chemo Day

 

Twice a month, I have infusions, one is for the continued suppression of my Melanoma and the second one is to boost my immune system because the infusion for my Melanoma has destroyed it.

Every four weeks I have an infusion of OPDIVO and the next day, I have an infusion for IVIG.  The former lasts 30 minutes, the latter lasts 2.5 hours.  The former I have a UT Medical Cancer Center, the latter I have at UT Medical Satellite facility in Morristown.

I have been having infusions over 15 years, and with my December 2024 infusion, I will have completed my 16th year.  I have had over 150 chemo infusions for my two cancers and over 60 infusions of IVIG to try and repair the damage my chemo infusions have caused.

At the age of 60, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's B Cell Lymphoma and I the age of 65 and as a result of my Lymphoma treatments, I was diagnosed with Melanoma.

My Melanoma diagnosis caused me to have a few surgeries as the cancer moved from my foot to my groin to my neck before finally being killed by radiation treatments.

My treatments now (Opdivo infusions for Melanoma - daily Venclexta pills for Lymphoma) are simply to keep my cancers from growing at all.  I will have these treatments for the rest of my life.

I typically awake at 6:00 am on Chemo Day, shower and arrive at UT Medical Cancer Center by 7:30 am for labs, doctor visit, and treatment.  If the flow of patients is smooth, I am on my way home by 10:00/10:30 am.

However, some mornings, like this one, I cannot sleep and was up at 3:30 am drinking decaf coffee with sugar free Cappuccino Mix and working on my two blogs.

On my IVIG days, like tomorrow, I will be up at 6:00 am and will finish at 10:30/11:00 am but trip home will take only 15 minutes as opposed to 40/45 minutes when traveling to Knoxville.

I consider myself to be lucky that I am still ABOVE GROUND.

Evidence

 

Loyalty

 

True Americans?

 

Private Jet

 

Gone

 

Watched

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Queen Latifah, Steven Spielberg, and Missy Elliott among 39 recipients of 2022 and 2023 US National Medals of Arts and Humanities; singer Selena and chef Anthony Bourdain received posthumous awards (More)

> Dick Pope, two-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, dies at age 77 (More) | Mimi Hines, veteran Broadway actress, singer, and comedian, dies at age 91 (More)

> One Direction's Liam Payne reportedly had "pink cocaine" in his system at the time of his Oct. 16 death (More) | What is pink cocaine? (More)


Science & Technology
> FAA approves regulations permitting electric vertical takeoff vehicles, or eVTOLs, opening the door for an emerging air taxi industry; marks the first new category of aircraft recognized since 1940 (More)

> Oriental hornets have the highest alcohol tolerance in the animal kingdom, new study suggests; insects can consume diets of up to 80% ethanol with no side effects (More)

> Study details how the geometric shapes on dogs' noses begin forming during fetal development; structures help retain moisture and odor chemicals (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq +0.2%) amid election uncertainty, questions over the Federal Reserve's plan to cut interest rates (More)

> HSBC to divide into four divisions, separating Asian and European markets; Europe's largest lender also names its first female CFO (More) | BlackRock releases two new exchange-traded funds capitalizing on AI boom, one on AI and tech stocks, the other on software and hardware used to power AI (More)

> Walmart to launch same-day prescription delivery program (More) | Denny's to shutter one-tenth of its diners—or 150 restaurants—and reduce operating hours (More) | Buybuy Baby to close all stores, move all operations online by end of year (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Over 20 countries gather at BRICS, Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit for emerging economies seen as counterweight to US-led G-7; participating countries—including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—account for over one-quarter of global economy (More)

> US Justice Department charges Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general and three others in plot to murder Iranian-American journalist (More) | Former NYC mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani (R) ordered to relinquish valuables including NYC apartment in Georgia election case (More)

> Israel says airstrike this month killed presumed successor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah; Hezbollah has not commented (More) | FBI investigates leak on Israel's preparations to retaliate against Iran (More) | See war updates (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

A Big Deal

Almost every day, I spend the afternoon on the couch thinking about what I want to write either on one of my posts or on one of my novels.

At 76 years of age, I have put myself into a position where I can do this without thinking about where my next dollar is going to come from.  For 46 years I worked (1968-2014) in a variety of jobs and by doing so, earned the right to receive Social Security.  Of course, I paid into the system as did my employers.

I also managed to save a fair amount of money so that I could withdraw $2,000/month to supplement my social security income, thereby living very similarly to the way I was living when working.

My wife and I did not spend our money foolishly on things we did not need but on things we needed in order for us to be comfortable.  That still enabled us to live a very exciting and enjoyable life participating in Caribbean Cruises, Flights to Europe and across the USA, along with visits to Hawaii and Alaska, as well as Myrtle Beach, SC.

We cannot spend a summer without going at least once to Myrtle Beach.  We stay in a condo facing the ocean, eat out every night and including the cost of driving there and back, spend less than $2,000 for 7 nights.

But today, as I sit here on this couch thinking of what I want to write, I look around my environment and am very pleased with what I see.

• We own our $400,000 home
• We have no debt of any kind
• We have no unnecessary space
• I maintain the yard in under an hour
• We are strategically located to
• the interstate
• a skilled hospital
• a gasoline station
• a grocery store
• restaurants
• shopping 
• entertainment

While our age is an issue and our health is not the best, we will still live another decade and a half, maybe more.  Retired for 25 years or more with money to cover it all...

That gives us peace of mind and happiness and gratitude for a life well lived, but not totally void of mistakes...  

However, when we look back upon what we have done, neither one of us would change anything that we have done...

And that's a BIG DEAL...

Somewhat Political

 

What the Euclid Space Telescope Sees

The Euclid Space Telescope has revealed the "first page" of the cosmic atlas it is building. The section of the map of the cosmos being built by Euclid was released on Monday (Oct. 15), and it features tens of millions of stars within the Milky Way and around 14 million distant galaxies beyond our own.


The vast cosmic mosaic was constructed from 260 Euclid observations collected between March 25 and April 8, 2024 and contains 208 gigapixels of data. The region charted is around 500 times as wide as the full moon appears in the sky over Earth.

Perhaps most astoundingly, the mosaic accounts for just 1% of the total survey Euclid will conduct over the next six years as it tracks the shapes, distances and movements of galaxies as far as 10 billion light-years away. Not only will this result in the largest 3D map of the cosmos ever created, but the vast scale of this map will help scientists investigate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, sometimes collectively known as the "dark universe."     READ MORE...

John Lennon - Imagine - 1971

State of TN - East TN

 

The state of Tennessee has a few big cities (although these cities will never compare to NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, etc.) which are Bristol, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Memphis.

In East TN, Bristol and Knoxville are considered to be larger than most others like Morristown, Greenville, or Strawberry Plains.

It is difficult to say if Chattanooga belongs to middle TN or east TN, but if you look at the map, it is at the southern end of middle TN.

Nashville is by far the largest city in TN but for a comparison, Atlanta has 0.14 million more people than Nashville.

What is so special about East TN?

• Moderate climate all year long
• cheaper to live
• lower taxes
• low crime rate
• minimal illegal immigrants
• minimal illegal drugs
• excellent law enforcement
• close to Cherokee casino
• close to NASCAR racetrack
• close to excellent UT Medical hospital
• close to University of Tennessee
• close to Oak Ridge National Labs
• close to Mcghee-Tyson airport
• close to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Dollywood
• Protected by Cumberland Plateau and Smoky Mountains
• TVA Parks and Recreation
• More rural than urban
• always receive southern hospitality
• Less traffic and congestion

Negatives:

• limited public transportation
• low wages
• no traffic nightmares
• no subway system
• no corrupt law enforcement
• no NYC-type rude people
• no professional sports (Nashville only)
• no off-Broadway plays
• no really expensive cuisines
• no hordes of taxis
• no homeless encampments

I have been living here since 1990, about 34 years (in two months) and while I have only lived in VA, NC, and KY as far as a comparison is concerned, I have visited numerous other cities and find this area to be preferred...  at least by me.

North Carolina (NC) is probably the closest to being like East TN, but NC is much more advanced in the sense that it has more industry and more people both of which dwindle the similarities.

An MBA is a dime a dozen skill in NC whereas in TN, especially East TN it is a very unique skill to have and in 1990, it was a very rare skill to possess.  Most of the MBAs ventured north for higher wages, leaving behind a gold mine for those who wanted to stay.

Even with less money, I had more than my counterparts who ventured North.  If these transplants relocated to the south, then they had the advantage financially, but I saw that as a high price to pay for FORTY YEARS OF HAPPINESS.