Sunday, October 12
In The NEWS
China hits US ships with retaliatory port fees.
Beginning Tuesday, US-owned, operated, and affiliated vessels will be required to pay a docking fee in China. The Chinese Ministry of Transportation declared the move Friday in response to a similar US port fee on Chinese ships, also set to take effect next week. The Trump administration announced the fee earlier this year in an effort to curb China’s dominance in freight ship manufacturing and boost the US industry.
... and Trump to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods.
President Donald Trump cited new rare earth export controls announced Thursday by China’s commerce ministry as the reason for the new US tariffs, which are expected to begin by Nov. 1 and supersede existing duties. Trump also said he would place export controls on critical software. China leads global mining and processing of rare earth minerals, which are critical to advanced technologies, such as computer chips. US stock markets fell Friday (S&P 500 -2.7%, Dow -1.9%, Nasdaq -3.6%).
Tennessee explosives plant accident leaves several dead, missing.
As of this writing, 19 people are missing and feared dead after an explosion at a military munitions plant in rural Tennessee Friday. Emergency crews initially couldn’t enter due to ongoing detonations, but the site is now secure and officials say there is no further risk. The cause remains unknown, and the investigation could take days, according to the local sheriff.
Trump administration begins laying off federal workers.
The White House said yesterday that it began mass firings as part of its ongoing effort to reduce the federal workforce. The departments of Homeland Security, Education, and Energy are among the impacted agencies; it remains unclear how many employees were affected. A federal employees union has asked a federal judge to halt the firings, alleging they are intended to punish workers and pressure Democratic lawmakers during the ongoing government shutdown.
Peru ousts president, swears in new one amid crime surge.
Peruvian lawmakers voted 122–8 early Friday to remove President Dina Boluarte from office. Boluarte, an independent who leans conservative, faced mounting accusations of corruption and failure to curb rising crime; her approval rating has hovered between 2% and 4%. Congress Chief José Jeri, a conservative, will serve as president until Peru's April general elections.
Savannah Bananas' new baseball league grows.
Two new teams—the Loco Beach Coconuts and Indianapolis Clowns—will join the Banana Ball Championship league for its inaugural 2026 season. They’ll compete with the Savannah Bananas, Party Animals, Texas Tailgaters, and Firefighters in a 75-stadium, 45-state schedule, expected to attract roughly 3.2 million fans. Read about Banana Ball’s history and gameplay here.
No Doubt announces Sphere residency.
The 1990s American rock band No Doubt will reunite for a six-night residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere in May. The announcement comes after the quartet reunited for the first time in nearly a decade to perform both weekends of Coachella 2024. The residency will make No Doubt the first female-fronted act to headline the $2.3B high-tech venue since it opened in 2023. See how the Sphere was built here (w/video).
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
The Pathetic Democrats
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What I find fascinating about politics in 2025 is that the Democrats are BITCHING that Trump is doing the same thing to them that they were doing to him and don't like it.
The southerners have an expression that fits the situation perfectly:
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND...
The Democrats tried their damnest to keep Trump from winning the election with LAW SUITS, BAD PRESS, CONGRESSIONAL ATTACKS... and still do not realize that the GENERAL PUBLIC elected Trump anyway.
GO FIGURE???
What has Trump done in the first 6-9 months of his term?
- Closed the border to illegals
- Removed illegals from US
- Removed waste from government
- Passed one big, beautiful bill
- Ended several global wars
- Improved the military
- Lowered taxes
- Negotiated Favorable trade agreements/tariffs
- Lowered inflation
- Improved the economy
How many of those celebrities who claimed they were going to leave the US actually left the US???
A few did but not all that said they were going to...
I mention this because, the is exactly the main behavior pattern of the Democrats. They make all these horrific claims about what will happen or what they will do, and then NOTHING HAPPENS OR IS DONE...
What I have learned about the Democrats and the MAINTSTREAM MEDIA that supports them, is that:
- They do not tell the truth
- They distort the truth against political opponents
- They accuse their political opponents of what they are actually doing
- They have no plans other than to block Trump
Bear in mind that this author is not a member of any political party. This author votes for the candidate who will best serve the citizens of USA. This author wants:
- Small Govt
- Large Military
- Low taxes
- Healthy economy
- Stronge VA
- No GOVT supported DEI
- Job opportunities
- Robust Education
- Affordable Healthcare
- ANTI-SOCIALISM
Prime Numbers Show Unexpected Patterns of Fractal Chaos
Prime numbers are sometimes called math’s “atoms” because they can be divided by only themselves and 1. For two millennia, mathematicians have wondered if the prime numbers are truly random, or if some unknown pattern underlies their ordering. Recently number theorists have proposed several surprising conjectures on prime patterns—in particular, probabilistic patterns that show up in large groups of the mathematical atoms.
The patterns in the primes trace back to an 1859 hypothesis involving the legendary Riemann zeta function. Mathematician Bernhard Riemann derived a function that counts the number of primes up to a number x. It includes three main ingredients: a smooth estimate, a set of corrective terms coming from the Riemann zeta function, and a small error term.
Saturday, October 11
Wonderings 8
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I am a man... or, by default a male as opposed to a female... although, I could transition to female, if I was so inclined... which presupposes that simply being a male is not locked in stone but a function of technology, not just birth.
Returning to the statement, I am a man...
But, what kind of man are you?
- Fat or thin
- Tall or short
- Smart or dumb
- Kind of hateful
- Silly or serious
- Black or white
- White or Asian
- Asian or Hispanic
- Hispanic or other
- Educated or not educated
- Religious or non-religious
- Black hair or other
- Blue eyes or other
- Vegetarian or other
And the list goes on and on and on... just wondering about the type of man (or woman) you are...
Nothing, it seems, when one is pondering, is without shades of variation which makes it extremely difficult to actually use ONE WORD or even two or three words to describe who one is.
It is these variations that make Human Beings and the Human Race somewhat unique although what other race do we have to compare ourselves too?
The answer to that question is NONE.
There is no other race of which we know about, however, we have intellectually speculated that there, LOGICALLY, must be other races in this vast universe.
Why would a universe this large be created for just one race of people, who, will never visit one end to the other end during the existence of time... or spacetime as it is called.
Yet, the universe must follow the laws of ENTROPY, so we know one day it will end...
But will spacetime cease to exist as well? If, that is the case, then what is the point of understanding or wanting to know WHO AM I?
Regardless, I am a man will never be understood in its totality of enlightenment... which is why our wonderings will always continue, as we pursue complete understanding of WHO AM I and WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?
US-China beef escalates—again
Leon Neal, Pool /Getty Images
After weeks of diffusing trade tensions, the US and China have resumed throwing punches. Yesterday, President Trump announced a 100% additional tariff on Chinese goods and export restrictions on “all critical software” on Nov. 1—a response to China going gloves off by imposing unprecedentedly strict export controls on rare earth metals this week.
He also said there’s “no reason” for him to meet China’s leader Xi Jinping two weeks ahead of their planned tete-a-tete.
Why is Trump so mad?Under regulations announced Thursday, China will require foreign companies producing goods containing Chinese rare earths to get approval from Chinese authorities to export them.
Trump said that China is exploiting its “monopoly” power on rare earths, a group of 17 metals integral to tech like missiles, smartphone chips, and EV batteries.
Tough before talks: This move came despite the US and China agreeing in June on the outline of a deal that included loosening rare earths export restrictions. By throttling the supply of vital tech used by American companies, including US military contractors, experts say China is trying to get leverage in trade negotiations with Trump. China also took other muscle-flexing actions this week, like opening an antitrust probe of American chipmaker Qualcomm’s recent acquisition of Israeli semiconductor firm Autotalks.
China’s trump card
Rare earths aren’t actually…rare, since many countries, including the US, have deposits. But China controls around 60% of rare earths mining—a process that comes with heavy environmental costs—and over 90% of processing, according to the International Energy Agency.
It’s not just a problem for the US: Foreign companies that export products containing Chinese rare earths are caught in the crossfire. Germany said it’s working with the EU to boost rare earths production in Europe.
As the stock market flashed red…investors piled into safe haven assets like US government bonds and gold, as well as shares of US-based rare earths producers, sending their stocks surging.—SK
Rare earths aren’t actually…rare, since many countries, including the US, have deposits. But China controls around 60% of rare earths mining—a process that comes with heavy environmental costs—and over 90% of processing, according to the International Energy Agency.
It’s not just a problem for the US: Foreign companies that export products containing Chinese rare earths are caught in the crossfire. Germany said it’s working with the EU to boost rare earths production in Europe.
As the stock market flashed red…investors piled into safe haven assets like US government bonds and gold, as well as shares of US-based rare earths producers, sending their stocks surging.—SK
At A Glance
Bookkeeping
> 92%: US GDP growth in the first half of 2025 attributed to information-processing equipment and software, according to a Harvard economist.
> 44.8 oz: The amount of 21-karat gold on the world's most valuable gold dress— worth over $1M—approximately the weight of a dachshund.
Browse
> Unveiling the Roman Colosseum's once-secret corridor.
> Reddit users share their favorite non-tech hobbies.
> More and more people want to smell like dessert.
> Goats and sheep are hired to prep the ski slopes.
> Robot steals the show at Paris Fashion Week.
Listen
> Is there such a thing as too much empathy?
> Fortunes fold when sweepstakes company goes under.
Watch
> Building luxury doomsday bunkers for billionaires.
> How much information can a human head hold?
> Day in the life of a 102-year-old French yogi.
Long Read
> Why young people in China are paying to look and feel employed.
> Trials and tribulations of a Revolutionary War reenactor.
> A road trip through America’s swamps reveals how the wetlands embody resilience, beauty, and forgotten stories.
Most Clicked This Week: What it costs to grow old in your home. (w/interactive)
Historybook: Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills 230,000 people (1138); Eleanor Roosevelt born (1884); "Saturday Night Live" premieres (1975); Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes first American woman to perform a spacewalk (1984); ... and Alexei Leonov, first person to ever perform a spacewalk, dies (2019).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> The Las Vegas Aces look to win WNBA championship tonight (8 pm ET, ESPN) after being up 3-0 in WNBA Finals against the Phoenix Mercury (More)
> Turning Point USA to host "All-American" Super Bowl halftime show amid NFL's decision to select Bad Bunny to perform at halftime of Super Bowl LX (More) | Judge dismisses Drake's defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" diss track (More)
> NBA to play two preseason games in China this weekend for first time in six years (More) | Erik Spoelstra tapped to succeed Steve Kerr as head coach of Team USA men's basketball (More)
Science & Technology
> Intel unveils new computer processor, Panther Lake, in bid to reestablish reputation as leading chipmaker; Panther Lake to be manufactured at new $20B Arizona facility and debut in laptops next year (More)
> Astronomers detect lowest-mass dark matter object yet via tiny distortion caused by its gravity; object's mass is a million times that of our sun (More) | What is dark matter? (1440 Topics)
> Behavioral scientists find some dogs show addictive-like behaviors toward toys, mirroring human addictions to gambling, gaming, and smartphones; research team to publish follow-up study examining how addictive traits differ by breed (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.1%) as the US government shutdown continues (More)
> The US directly purchases Argentine pesos and agrees to offer $20B in financing as part of rescue effort to stabilize Argentina's economy (More) | Read a history of Argentina's economy (More)
> IRS announces new federal tax brackets for 2026 to adjust for inflation (More) | At least 22 states are experiencing a recession or close to it, new analysis finds (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Israeli government approves ceasefire deal with Hamas; 200 US troops will monitor the exchange of hostages and prisoners, expected within days (More) | White House denies striking a boat carrying Colombian citizens last week (More)
> Texas' highest criminal court halts the execution of Robert Roberson, convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome (More) | See background on the controversial diagnosis (More)
> French appeals court increases the prison term for a man convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot (More) | See previous write-up (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
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