In The NEWS

Cosmic Adventures
Explaining space tourism
The billion-dollar space tourism industry offers jaunts—whether for minutes or days—into zero-gravity conditions generally for recreation rather than scientific research (read history). Space tourists can buy a seat—often in the tens of millions of dollars per trip—from a small number of space travel agencies (Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and Axiom Space, to name the major players) and experience unparalleled views of the Earth.

Industry leaders offer two tour categories: fast orbital launches high enough above Earth’s atmosphere to maintain stable orbit, and suborbital. Suborbital trips offer tourists a few minutes of weightlessness from just above or below the Karman Line—the generally acknowledged boundary into space at around 62 miles above sea level.

As the International Space Station is expected to be retired by 2030, NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program is currently supporting efforts by Axiom Space, Blue Origin, and Starlab Space to launch orbital space stations that can house both astronauts and tourists.

... Read our full explainer on Space Tourism here.

Also, check out...
> The overview effect: How space travel changes you. (More)
> Remembering Pan Am's "First Moon Flights Club." (More)
> The startup selling tours of space via balloon. (More)



The Cubist Visionary
Pablo Picasso, 101
Pablo Picasso was an influential 20th-century Spanish artist recognized as one of the inventors of cubism. Picasso’s innovation, popularity, and massive body of work have made him the top-grossing artist worldwide. Five of his paintings have sold for more than $100M each.

Rather than using one perspective from a fixed position, cubists portrayed their subject matter from multiple angles at the same time. The name "cubism" was unintentionally coined by a critic who bemoaned that the style reduced everything to cubes.

Throughout his life, Picasso experimented with different tools and media, resulting in many styles and distinct phases across roughly 50,000 works. (See examples of his work.)

... Read our full deep dive on Picasso here.

Also, check out...
> How Picasso's new style challenged the establishment. (More)
> Why Picasso went on trial for the theft of the 'Mona Lisa.' (More)
> Learn to paint like Picasso. (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Career Hindsight

 

If I had it to do all over again, I would have stayed in the military after joining in 1969 for twenty years, retiring in 1989.  During those twenty years I would have re-enlisted predicated upon specific technical training or military intelligence.

Then in 1989, I would have looked for other employment in the area of my training, which would not have been a problem them and worked for another twenty years, retiring again in 2009 at the age of Sixty Three.

Early retirement for social security, if my military retirement was not enough.  During those second twenty years I would have saved as much as I could.

Another option, would be to stay in the military starting in 1966, right after high school, probably in the Air Force with a plan to stay there for twenty years and work towards getting an undergraduate then a graduate degree.  

Retire in 1986, and look for a position with a community college, either with one's technical training or college education.  Stay there thirty years, or until 2016, at the age of sixty eight.  

Then draw military retirement, community college retirement, as well as full social security benefits.  Being in the military for twenty years, I would still have access to military health benefits.

HINDSIGHT is a wonderful tool, and it is a shame that you cannot use that gift to benefit yourself.

Somewhat Political

 

Scientists discover rare planet at the edge of the Milky Way using space-time phenomenon predicted by Einstein

An artist's illustration of the Gaia space telescope, which first spotted the microlensing event in 2021.
(Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab; background: ESO/S. Brunier)

Using gravitational microlensing, scientists have discovered a rare, large planet at the edge of the Milky Way. The planet is only the third to be found on the outskirts of our galaxy's dense central bulge.  Astronomers have used a space-time phenomenon first predicted by Albert Einstein to discover a rare planet hiding at the edge of our galaxy.


The exoplanet, dubbed AT2021uey b, is a Jupiter-size gas giant located roughly 3,200 light-years from Earth. Orbiting a small, cool M dwarf star once every 4,170 days, the planet's location is remarkable — it is only the third planet in the entire history of space observation to be discovered so far away from our galaxy's dense center.

READ MORE...

"Young Man Blues" LIVE the Who cover at Isle of Wight

Matches

 

VINCE

 

 

The Shannon Joy Show

 

On Being Fired

 

The Alex Jones Show

 

Faithful

 

Russell Brand

 

Mountains

 

Lara Logan

 

Coral Snake

 

News Variable

 

Outdoor Cafe

 

TimcastIRL

 

Backyard Pool

 

Morning Brew

What the conflict in Iran means for gas prices this summer

Robert Reich

Sunday thought: A national reckoning
As we slide further into a dysfunctional police state





Friends,

The United States government is no longer able to protect us from real hazards, such as flash floods, because it’s shifting funds to fake hazards, such as a non-existent immigrant crime wave.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been stripped down so much it can barely respond to emergencies, yet it’s funding detention centers such as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades.

The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, responsible for some of the areas hardest hit by Friday’s flooding, is missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, and meteorologist.

The Weather Service’s nearby San Antonio office, which covers other areas hit by the floods, is missing a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer who are supposed to work with local emergency managers to plan for floods, including when and how to warn local residents and help them evacuate.

READ MORE...

At A Glance

Fifty plays and musicals exploring US history.

The top 10 medieval castles in Ireland.

Why water towers are built that way.

Snapshots from rural life in Cuba during the 1950s.

Why the Federal Reserve is independent.

The ambiguities of using emojis.

The physics of baseball pitches.

A look at the medieval origins of Tarot cards.

Mapping the world's ocean currents.

A defense of advertisements.

Below Minneapolis, a sea of sewage warms a closed-off cave.

The history of figuring out what the cosmos is made of.

The growing season in cities lasts 34 days longer than in rural areas.

What actually is Yoo-Hoo?

What made ancient Rome's Appian Way so great.

The 1-Hour Meal Prep That's Changing My Life

Quick Clip

 

UNIVERSAL GREED

We have a great country in many ways:  military, government, education, healthcare, leisure time, entertainment, sports, retirement, and freedoms that few other global countries enjoy.

We also have problems like wealth/poverty gap, corrupt politicians, criminals, greedy businesspeople and individuals, obesity, lazy citizens, uneducated and uninformed masses, fake news, and con artists trying to rip people off.

From 1960 until 2025, it seems to me that our problems have increased, and our positive qualities have decreased.

It is my opinion and probably my opinion only that the reason for this flip-flop is GREED.

Americans are pushed in high school to go to college for the sole purpose of using that degree to EARN MORE MONEY.  I was in high school from 1962-1966.

When I was in grad school 1979-1981, we were taught that engineers were being taught the BUILT IN OBSOLESCENCE CONCEPT which was design products so they only last 3-5 years so that REPEAT BUSINESS is force and companies will increase their revenues.

Computer technology grows so fast that new computers must be purchased every 3-5 years also.

Greed via money is at the heart of our problem as to why we are having these problems.  Let's make as much money as we can before we die.

NO ONE HAS EVER LOOKED AT THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF ADOPTING THAT PHILOSOPHY OUTSIDE OF THEMSELVES.

Unintended consequences are always a bitch...

Somewhat Political

 

JWST discovers how we’re able to see the Universe at all

One of JWST’s main science goals was to teach us how the Universe grew up to be the way it is today, and one important cosmic mystery to solve was how the Universe came to be transparent to starlight. 

Previous studies had shown that the most prominent early JWST galaxies, the big, bright, massive ones, were too rare and too few in number to create enough ultraviolet photons to be responsible.

But a new study, highlighting many gravitationally lensed early, low-mass, but rapidly star-forming galaxies, measured their abundance exquisitely. We’ve found, at last, the main culprit behind cosmic reionization.

READ MORE...

Led Zeppelin - Over the Hills and Far Away - 1975 Earl's Court

Ponderings

 

It is my opinion, shared with millions of others that the US of A is the greatest country in the world today...  has been for decades...  and will continue to be for decades.

This fact can be easily proven with just our BILL OF RIGHTS alone that contains the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, the least of which is the first and second amendments:

• Freedom of Speech
• The Right to Bear Arms

Can you imagine any other country where you have the right to BURN THE FLAG OF A COUNTRY without suffering any consequences???

• No arrest
• No fines
• No jail time

Does any of the following countries allow their citizens or visitors to do this?

• Russia
• China
• Mexico
• Canada
• Great Britain
• India
• North Korea
• Iran
• Countries in the European Union
• Countries in Africa or South America

It is this FREEDOM that does not exist in any other country, making the USA by far, the greatest country in the world.

It does not take a brain surgeon or a Harvard graduate to figure this out...