At A Glance

Study finds fewer Americans are reading for pleasure.

Father-son morticians give tattoos a second life.

A tool tracking real-time bird migrations.

"Dawson's Creek" cast to reunite for the first time in two decades.

Artist turns junk mail into marble-like sculptures.

British restaurant to offer upscale water menu.

... and the best water, according to water sommeliers.

Da Vinci’s flying machine recreated from 500-year-old drawing.

Clickbait: Indiana mascot returns after 50 years.

Historybook: Nat Turner leads rebellion of enslaved people (1831); "Mona Lisa" stolen from The Louvre Museum, is recovered two years later (1911); Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain born (1936); Hawaii becomes 50th US state (1959); Usain Bolt born (1986).

The Red Lentil Curry Recipe I've been making EVERY WEEK!

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Nexstar, the media giant with 200 owned or partner TV stations, purchases rival Tegna in $6.2B deal; newly combined company's stations will cover 80% of TV households in the US (More)

> Dr. Phil's media company sued by their distribution partner for alleged fraud and breach of contract over 10-year, $500M deal (More)

> "Stranger Things" creators Matt and Ross Duffer will depart Netflix in April 2026 after signing four-year deal with Paramount for exclusive rights to their upcoming projects (More) | How Netflix became the dominant streaming service (1440 Topics)


Science & Technology
> Tech giant Nvidia reportedly developing China‑bound AI chip that is more powerful than the H20, which the Trump administration approved last week for sale on Chinese markets (More) | See previous write-up (More)

> James Webb Telescope discovers previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus, bringing the planet's moon count to 29; the moon's relatively tiny 6-mile diameter rendered it invisible to less advanced telescopes (More) | The $10B telescope's tech and earlier discoveries (1440 Topics)

> Megalibrary of nanoparticles helps researchers quickly find abundant, cheap alternative to iridium, a rare metal critical to clean hydrogen energy production; could accelerate discovery of commercially viable materials for various applications (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.6%, Dow +0.0%, Nasdaq -1.5%) (More) | Wyoming becomes first state to issue a stablecoin—cryptocurrencies tied to the value of a traditional currency (More) | How stablecoins remove volatility (More)

> Trump administration expands 50% steel and aluminum tariffs to include more than 400 additional products, including items such as car parts, fire extinguishers, and specialty chemicals (More) | Tariff pros and cons (1440 Topics)

> Databricks reportedly raising funding round that values the data analytics company at over $100B; would make Databricks the fourth private company to surpass the $100B mark, following SpaceX, ByteDance, and OpenAI (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> President Donald Trump rules out sending US troops to Ukraine to provide security guarantees to the country, will consider providing air support (More)

> Transportation Security Administration pilots biometric "eGates," aiming to skip podium where an agent verifies a passenger's identity before the security screening; system is being tested in DC, Georgia, and Washington airports (More)

> Food and Drug Administration issues recall for Great Value frozen shrimp products, sold at Walmart, after containers arriving at four US ports from Indonesia test positive for cesium-137, a radioactive isotope (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Discipline & Determination

 

Oftentimes, we get ourselves into debt because we have no other choice at that particular point in time and rather than pay off that debt over a period of time, we continue to increase the debt.

What causes that debt to increase is our LACK OF DISCIPLINE...

That may sound rather silly, but it is true.

One of the reasons why Americans are OBESE is lack of discipline when they eat, especially at places that offer all you can eat for one flat fee.

Along with discipline comes DETERMINATON...

Being determined helps support one's discipline and most Americans don't feel determination unless they are determined to go somewhere for a vacation, or go into debt for their children to have a great Christmas or birthday.

Before my 40th birthday, my family doctor told me that if I stopped smoking at 40, I could regain most of the damage that smoking had done to my body.

So, I did exactly that - quit on my 40th birthday.

DISCIPLINE & DETERMINATION

Both of these behaviors have been used over and over again throughout my career and to achieve the goals that I needed to achieve in order to become successful.

When I was laid off due to whatever reasons, I used discipline and determination, to work part-time jobs that were below my level of education and experience to pay the bills until the right job came along.  I never felt ashamed or embarrassed by what I had to do.

DISCIPLINE & DETERMINATION

Somewhat Political

 

The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over

A drone photo shows sustainable energy being generated in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
July 17, 2025.   Yin Tianjie/Xinhua via Getty Images

Ma, a renowned expert in Chinese technology and founder of the media company Tech Buzz China, took her team on the road to get a firsthand look at the country’s AI advancements. She told Fortune that while she isn’t an energy expert, she attended enough meetings and talked to enough insiders to come away with a conclusion that should send chills down the spine of Silicon Valley: In China, building enough power for data centers is no longer up for debate.

“This is a stark contrast to the U.S., where AI growth is increasingly tied to debates over data center power consumption and grid limitations,” she wrote on X.

The stakes are difficult to overstate. Data center building is the foundation of AI advancement, and spending on new centers now displaces consumer spending in terms of impact to U.S. GDP. That’s concerning since consumer spending is generally two-thirds of the pie. McKinsey projects that between 2025 and 2030, companies worldwide will need to invest $6.7 trillion into new data center capacity to keep up with AI’s strain.

READ MORE...

Jefferson Airplane -Somebody to love , White rabbit (live at Woodstock)

Top Hat

 

VINCE

 

Kona, Hawaii

 

The Amber May Show

 

Dinesh D'Souza

 

Cabin with Pond

 

Bongino Report

 

Diamond & Silk

 

Storm Clouds

 

Russell Brand

 

TimcastIRL

 

Morning Coffee

 

The Big THINK

 

Big Think’s print debut

Headlines

Nexstar, Tegna




Nexstar buys Tegna, creating local TV juggernaut. The biggest player in local US TV stations is getting even bigger after it agreed to purchase rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, the companies announced yesterday. The deal would give Nexstar control of 265 stations across 44 states and Washington, DC, which CEO Perry Sook argued is necessary to compete with the tech giants. But critics worry the consolidation will stifle competition and commandeer local programming, and it’s likely to spark regulatory scrutiny. The deal has to be approved by the FCC, whose chair, Brendan Carr, has signaled an openness to relax existing limits on how much broadcasters can own.

Home Depot is raising some prices due to tariffs. After previously saying it didn’t plan to hike prices as a result of tariffs, the home-improvement giant said things have changed, and it will now impose “modest price movement in some categories.” CFO Richard McPhail told the Wall Street Journal that tariffs on certain imported goods are “significantly higher” today than they were during the last quarter. Home Depot gets slightly less than half of its products from suppliers outside the US and has said it’s trying to ensure it doesn’t get more than 10% of its inventory from any single country. Shares were up ~3% yesterday.

The Air Canada strike is over. Flights resumed last night after the airline reached a deal with the union representing its flight attendants to end a three-day work stoppage that had grounded Canada’s flag carrier. Nearly 3,000 flights were canceled after more than 10,500 flight attendants walked off the job last week following months of unsuccessful contract negotiations, arguing they were not compensated fairly. The two sides did not divulge the details of their agreement, but Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said the company’s offer attempted to satisfy the union’s demands over unpaid work. It’s likely to take a few days before the airline’s operations return to normal.—AE

READ MORE...

Robert Reich

Office Hours: What the hell do they tell themselves?
How do Trump's Republican enablers in Congress, the Cabinet, and the White House justify their roles in dismantling American democracy?






Friends,

I’ve been wondering what Trump’s Republican enablers and lapdogs in Congress, in his Cabinet, and in his White House tell themselves to justify their roles in helping Trump dismantle American democracy. Have they no consciences?

Recall that the consciences of just two Republicans, Brad Raffensperger and Mike Pence, spared America a coup d’état after the 2020 election.

Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, refused Trump’s demand to steal “exactly 11,780 votes” so that Trump could carry Georgia. And Pence, in the face of the violent occupation of Congress, refused Trump’s direct order to reject the electoral count.

READ MORE...

At A Glance

Dig for gems at the world's only public diamond mine.

Snag a reservation at Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce's steakhouse.

Florida wildlife officials need help finding a rare rainbow snake.

... and a special moment between seahorses caught on camera.

Las Vegas nightclub tricked by a Justin Bieber impersonator.

Ranking the most popular dog breeds in every state.

From Iowa to Fiji, 100 travel destinations for movie lovers.

The controversial rise of grandma showers.

Clickbait: See the Milky Way during this weekend's black moon.

Historybook: First around-the-world telegram sent (1911); "Valley of the Dolls" author Jacqueline Susann is born (1918); Actress Amy Adams born (1974); NASA launches Viking 1 probe toward Mars (1975); Comedian Jerry Lewis dies (2017).

HEALTHY EATING ON A BUDGET | 10 grocery shopping tips to save money

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> MSNBC to change name to MSNOW, which stands for "My Source for News, Opinion, and the World," as part of Comcast's spinoff from NBCUniversal (More)

> Texas and Penn State lead all schools with three players apiece selected to college football's AP Preseason All-America team, with the regular season set to begin Saturday (More)

> Final defendant in Matthew Perry's October 2023 drug overdose case, the "Ketamine Queen," pleads guilty to five federal charges, including ketamine distribution (More)


Science & Technology
> Tennessee Valley Authority enters a deal with Google and nuclear startup Kairos Power to purchase electricity from a small modular reactor slated for 2030, marking the first US utility offtake agreement with an advanced nuclear plant (More)

> Surgery-free alternative to LASIK that uses electricity instead of lasers to reshape the cornea proves effective on rabbit eyeballs; initial results suggest the method could be a promising technique for correcting human vision (More)

> Largest-ever space antenna, spanning 39 feet, deployed to detect changes within fractions of an inch on Earth's surface, such as shifting ice sheets and subtle movements caused by earthquakes, landslides, and volcanoes (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close near flatline (S&P 500 -0.0%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +0.0%) as investors await annual policy speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the central bank's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, summit Friday (More) | How the Fed works (1440 Topics)

> OpenAI employees, current and former, look to sell $6B worth of shares to an investor group in a deal that values the AI company at $500B (More) | Japanese tech giant SoftBank to invest $2B in Intel (More)

> GoodRx shares jump 37.3% after online pharmacy announces it will begin selling Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy (More) | Novo Nordisk shares rise 3.7% following US approval of Wegovy to treat MASH liver disease (More) | Why semaglutides like Ozempic could transform the economy (1440 Topics)


Politics & World Affairs
> President Donald Trump says the US will help provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, encourages territory swaps; see other takeaways from Trump's meeting with leaders of Ukraine and Europe (More)

> Cable news channel Newsmax agrees to pay $67M to settle defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over 2020 election claims (More) | President Donald Trump announces he will sign an executive order to end mail-in ballots (More)

> Texas declares the end of its measles outbreak, which has sickened 762 people since January, state data reveals; last confirmed case was reported July 1 (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Best Time to Live

 

My father received a master's degree in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, joined the Navy during WWII as an aviation officer and at the end of the war, went to work for the Federal Government in the Department of Agriculture.

His job was strictly 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with an hour off for lunch, which if my math is correct works out to 7 hours of work each day for just five days a week or 35 hours, always having the weekends off and earning twenty days of vacation a year.

Half of the year, he was either flying around the US or flying around the globe for his job but seldom did he work more than 35 hours a week and seldom did he work during the weekends.

While he was working for the Federal Government, he say in the Navy Reserves, going to training one weekend a month and two weeks a years that was no counted as part of his twenty days of vacation.

At age 55, he was promoted to a Navy Captain and at age 62 he retired after a 40-year career earning the same amount of money retired as he earned working because he received a government pension along with his Navy pension (26 years).  After he retired, the Government stopped offering retirement benefits to their employees.

Some would say that my dad was born at the right time because of how he benefitted financially from the system that was latter disallowed.  However, I would disagree with them, because the cancer cures that we have available now, were not available back then.

It is not just the cancer cures, but the computers, laptops, smart phones, the internet, and AI.

So, one might say my generation was the best time to live but that would not be true either because of all the advancement that are yet to happen or be discovered.

Perhaps, one might say that the BABY BOOMERS was the last generation to experience life before technology turned the world upside down.

Somewhat Political

 

Using sound to remember quantum information 30 times longer

While conventional computers store information in the form of bits, fundamental pieces of logic that take a value of either 0 or 1, quantum computers are based on qubits. These can have a state that is simultaneously both 0 and 1. This odd property, a quirk of quantum physics known as superposition, lies at the heart of quantum computing's promise to ultimately solve problems that are intractable for classical computers.


Many existing quantum computers are based on superconducting electronic systems in which electrons flow without resistance at extremely low temperatures. In these systems, the quantum mechanical nature of electrons flowing through carefully designed resonators creates superconducting qubits.

READ MORE...