Tuesday, January 28
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> American Madison Keys upsets top seed Aryna Sabalenka to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open (More) | World No. 1 Jannik Sinner beats Alexander Zverev to win his second straight Aussie Open title (More)
> DJ Unk, rapper best known for "Walk It Out" and "2 Step," dies at age 43 (More) | Rocker Marilyn Manson won't be charged with sexual assault following four-year investigation (More)
> Spotify signs multiyear deal with Universal Music Group to provide direct licenses for Spotify to stream UMG artists (More)
Science & Technology
> Researchers discover new way the microbiome of expecting mothers impacts their offspring's health; gut produces metabolites that help program stem cells during fetal development (More)
> Astronauts' eyesight weakens during long stays in microgravity environments, study finds; effect is temporary upon return to Earth but may have implications for eventual trips to Mars (More)
> Engineers develop 3D-printed ultralight material roughly five times stronger than titanium; process uses machine learning to produce strength-enhancing micro- and nanostructures (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets drop Friday (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq -0.5%), but all three indexes post second straight week of gains (More) | Bank of Japan raises interest rates to highest level in 17 years (More)
> Sales of previously owned homes in the US fall to lowest level in nearly three decades; roughly 4.1 million such homes were sold last year, the lowest since 1995 (More)
> Trump administration reportedly negotiating TikTok deal that would give Oracle and a group of US investors control of the platform, with ByteDance retaining a minority stake (More) | Banks to sell up to $13B in debt from 2022 loan to Elon Musk to purchase Twitter (now X) (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Senate confirms Army veteran, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary in 51-50 vote; Vice President JD Vance casts tiebreaking vote, three Republicans vote no (More) | Confirmation tracker (More) | More than a dozen inspectors general fired across major federal agencies (More)
> Hamas frees four female Israeli soldiers, Israel releases 200 Palestinian prisoners in second swap under negotiated ceasefire (More) | See updates on the war (More)
> Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments over whether a religious charter school in Oklahoma can receive public funding (More) | CIA releases assessment finding COVID-19 more likely to have originated from a Chinese lab; conclusion made with "low confidence" (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Winter
We are now well into winter in most places and East TN is no exception... We have already had our first snow that stayed on the ground a few days and in a couple of days, we will jump up into the 50s and 60s for a couple of weeks before returning back down to the 30s and 40s.
East TN is great place to live because of the weather and it being mild during the winter months which last Jan-Feb-Mar. Not all of March is cold as it starts warming up half way through the month. And just when you think warm weather is back, April comes in being colder than normal.
We are protected by the Cumberland Plateau to our west and the Smoky Mountains to our east.
So, now that we are in our last few days our January, it is easy to smell warm weather coming in about 6 weeks, but if the 50s/60s hold true for two weeks, then we only have 30 more days of winter which is fine with me.
Other places are warmer and other places are colder most of the time which is why I like East TN as it is right in the middle and we get all four seasons but mainly spring, summer, and fall.
MIT Sets World Record
Researchers at MIT have developed two new control techniques that have enabled them to achieve a world-record single-qubit fidelity of 99.998 percent using a superconducting qubit called fluxonium.
This breakthrough marks a significant step towards the realization of practical quantum computing. Qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, are highly susceptible to noise and control imperfections.
“This introduces errors into the quantum operations and ultimately limits the complexity and duration of a quantum algorithm,” said the researchers.
To overcome this challenge, the MIT team focused on improving qubit performance by mitigating counter-rotating errors that arise during fast quantum operations.
“Getting rid of these errors was a fun challenge for us,” said David Rower, PhD ’24, a recent physics postdoc at MIT. READ MORE...
Monday, January 27
Propaganda
From a young age, I remember my parents trying to teach me civility when communicating with others, especially those who were older than me, primarily out of respect.
Back then, our communications were mainly verbal face to face, or via a letter, post card or on the telephone. Today, we use cell phones, text messages, video chats, emails, and social media posts, along with short vid clips of one thing or another.
Most of the time our communications is NOT FACE TO FACE, it is written anonymously and we do not have any idea if we are talking with a male, female, adult, child, or some kind of programmed bot.
The communications we deal with today is rude, insulting, filled with profanities and is the farthest from civility that one can imagine. Instead of communicating with words, we communicate with memes. These memes are designed by use or are secured off the internet.
Most of the time, I would suspect about 95-99% of the time these memes are inaccurate, misleading, slanderous, and intentional lies, specifically designed to inappropriately influence the minds of people.
It is a war of who has the best propaganda with truth and honesty being completely irrelevant.
Goodby to Solar Panels
Windmills have been the emblem of the Netherlands since ancient times, a tradition that has not been lost to this day. Far from it, the country has become one of the leading wind energy nations in Europe. That said, it is not surprising that this new, smaller, more efficient and quieter wind turbine designed for domestic use comes from there. So, why do you need solar panel at home? You can have a silent wind turbine like this one.
The Netherlands reinvents windmills: an ultra-efficient silent wind turbine
It may be difficult, especially for younger generations, to think of the Netherlands as a heavy industrial powerhouse highly dependent on fossil fuels. However, until the 1970s, pollution due to large numbers of cars and emissions from natural gas and coal-fired power plants fueled a thriving chemical industry.
Air pollution, land scarcity due to its high population density and rising sea levels that threatened to flood its cities led to a sustained effort to decarbonize its economy and diversify its energy sources and industries. Today, the Netherlands is an emblem of innovation in sustainable technologies and policies.
For this transition, one of the key technologies was wind energy, in which today they are one of the main leaders, developing important innovations in this field. The most recent of these innovations is the LIAM F1 UWT, a small and quiet wind turbine for urban use with the capacity to generate between 300 and 2500 kWh, approximately half of the average household consumption. READ MORE...
Sunday, January 26
In The NEWS
Hamas to free four Israeli female soldiers today.
Their release is part of a ceasefire deal struck between Hamas and Israel. In exchange, Israel will free at least 200 imprisoned Palestinians. The swap will be the second such exchange after Hamas released three civilian hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners last week. Israel will free 30 Palestinians in custody for every civilian hostage Hamas frees and 50 Palestinians in custody for every female Israeli soldier Hamas frees.
Storm Éowyn leaves one-third of Ireland without power.
Storm Éowyn (pronounced "Ay-oh-win") unleashed record-breaking winds of up to 114 mph across Ireland and the UK Friday, causing widespread disruption with over 725,000 homes in Ireland losing power. The wind speed beat a national record of 113 mph set in 1945. The storm is partly erupting from the same weather pattern that brought historic snowfall along the US Gulf Coast.
New giant pandas debut at Smithsonian National Zoo. (w/photos)
Male Bao Li (pronounced "BOW-lee") and female Qing Bao (pronounced "ching-BOW") made their official public debut at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3 years old, arrived in the US in October as part of a 52-year-old conservation partnership with China. View a live panda cam daily from 7 am to 7 pm ET here.
Trump, Vance address annual pro-life March for Life rally.
President Donald Trump delivered a remote address, while Vice President JD Vance spoke in person to the tens of thousands of people who attended the 52nd annual March for Life in Washington, DC, yesterday. The event is the country's largest pro-life demonstration. Trump's remarks came a day after he pardoned nearly two dozen activists convicted of blocking access to reproductive health clinics.
Judge bars Oath Keepers from entering Washington, DC.
A federal judge yesterday banned the antigovernment Oath Keepers militia group from entering Washington, DC, and the US Capitol without court approval. The group includes Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was released from prison this week and met with lawmakers after Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Governments - People - Commerce
There are only a few types of governments which are:
- Democracy
- Socialism
- Oligarchs
- Dictatorship
- Communism
Each one of these governments must get involved in both domestic and international commerce to build their economies and societies over which they rule.
- Governments/military/law enforcement
- People
- Business/Commerce/Capitalism
I put people in the middle intentionally because that is exactly where they are in real life - caught between the other two giants that regulate and control their lives.
Socialism tries to give a little something back to the people, but it is oftentimes too little too late and when they do, they commerce suffers.
This has been the way it is for thousands of years and will no doubt continue to be this way. Currently, the world is experiencing a new phenomenon which is the upsurge of global billionaires.
These billionaires are becoming wealthy because of all the people worldwide who are force to buy their products and/or services in order to survive. There is also a new class of billionaires that is coming from entertainment and professional athletics.
These billionaires could solve all the world's problems if they would simply share their wealth with the rest of the world, which they refused to do for a variety of personal reasons. One day they may see differently but right now they are not about to share any more than they absolutely have to by law.
Life Traced Back to a Single Ancestor
The origins of life on Earth have long fascinated scientists, particularly the nature of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). LUCA, the root of the evolutionary tree from which Bacteria and Archaea diverged, represents a key node in life’s history.
This ancient organism’s characteristics, age, and ecological role offer critical insights into the early evolution of life on Earth.
LUCA is estimated to have existed approximately 4.2 billion years ago. Researchers from the University of Bristol and international collaborators employed innovative methods to trace its timeline.
LUCA is estimated to have existed approximately 4.2 billion years ago. Researchers from the University of Bristol and international collaborators employed innovative methods to trace its timeline.
They used divergence time analysis of pre-LUCA gene duplicates, combined with microbial fossils and isotope records, to establish LUCA’s position in evolutionary history.
These findings challenge prior assumptions that life could not survive the Late Heavy Bombardment, a period of intense asteroid impacts occurring between 3.7 and 3.9 billion years ago. READ MORE...
These findings challenge prior assumptions that life could not survive the Late Heavy Bombardment, a period of intense asteroid impacts occurring between 3.7 and 3.9 billion years ago. READ MORE...
Saturday, January 25
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture> NFL playoffs continue Sunday with the Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship (3 pm ET, Fox) and the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship (6:30 pm ET, CBS) (More) | Grammy-winning singer SZA to join Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl halftime show (More)
> Song recorded for Tina Turner's iconic "Private Dancer" album, which was previously presumed lost, is rediscovered and will be released on the 40th anniversary edition of the album (More)
> American Madison Keys upsets No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek to advance to her first Australian Open final; No. 19 seed Keys will take on No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the final (More)
Science & Technology
> Carmaker Subaru fixes software bug that allowed hackers to unlock and start millions of vehicles via the company's internet network; security flaw also exposed a year's worth of location history (More)
> Study reveals how mushroom coral—a free-standing type of coral, not attached to rocks—actively moves toward light; discovery reveals previously unknown mechanics of the organism (More)
> Personalized mini-organs allow researchers to more rapidly test and develop drugs for rare diseases; specimens are grown from patients' blood cells into functional tissue (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.9%, Nasdaq +0.2%); S&P 500 nabs new record as President Donald Trump calls for lower interest rates and oil prices in Davos remarks (More) | Nikola shares close down nearly 28% on report of EV maker's potential sale (More)
> Purdue Pharma and Sackler family, behind the maker of OxyContin, reach $7.4B settlement with 15 states over opioid crisis (More) | UnitedHealthcare names company veteran Tim Noel as CEO after fatal shooting of Brian Thompson (More)
> CNN lays off around 6% of its workforce, or about 200 jobs, as it shifts to digital and prepares to launch a streaming service (More) | Adidas plans to cut up to 500 jobs at its German headquarters (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Pete Hegseth's bid for defense secretary heads to full Senate vote today (More) | CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed by Senate (More) | Judge temporarily halts executive order to end birthright citizenship (More)
> Italy's top court upholds Amanda Knox's slander conviction for falsely accusing innocent man of murdering her roommate in 2007 (More) | UK teen sentenced to 52 years in prison for fatally stabbing three girls at a dance class last year (More)
> Thailand begins recognizing same-sex marriages, becoming third place in Asia to do so after Taiwan and Nepal (More) | See where same-sex unions are legal (More)
SOURCE: 1440
TIT for TAT
Many people subscribe to the philosophy of: WHATEVER YOU DO UNTO ME THEN I AM HONOR BOUND TO DO THE SAME UNTO YOU.
In the Bible it is called: AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.
Others refer to it as: WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER.
Of course, when that actually happens the person who started it usually regrets what they started but it is too late. The reason why they regret it, is that the revenge is usually worse than what was given originally. It is done that way to make sure the party receiving the revenge does not take a notion to do it again.
The problem with that logic is that it is illogical because the party who gets the revenge, not only pays back but pay back twice as hard.
Now we have a cycle of revenge that never has an end.
WELCOME TO AMERICAN POLITICS CIRCA 1950 TO 2025...
Splitting Electrons Impact Future of Quantum Computing
Electrons, once thought to be indivisible, may display behaviors suggesting they can split into two halves under quantum interference. Groundbreaking research explores how nanoelectronic circuits, governed by quantum mechanics, allow electrons to choose pathways and interfere with themselves, creating effects akin to the mysterious Majorana fermion.
Quantum Physics Meets Nano-Scale Electronics
Scientists have long understood electrons as indivisible, fundamental particles. However, groundbreaking research reveals that a peculiar feature of quantum mechanics can create states that mimic the behavior of half an electron. These so-called “split-electrons” could be pivotal in advancing quantum computing.
The discovery, recently published in Physical Review Letters, was led by Professor Andrew Mitchell from University College Dublin’s School of Physics and Dr. Sudeshna Sen from the Indian Institute of Technology in Dhanbad. Both are theoretical physicists specializing in the quantum properties of nanoscale electronic circuits. READ MORE...
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