Billionaires That Belong to BRICS

(L to R) Brazil’s President Michel Temer, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a group photo during the BRICS 

Summit on September 4, 2017.    Wu Hong | Afp | Getty Images




Millionaire population in the BRICS countries will see a substantial surge over the next decade contributing to the largest increase in wealth across any group of nations, according to a recent report by Henley & Partners.

Millionaire count in the BRICS countries — which together hold $45 trillion in investable wealth — is forecast to rise by 85% over the next 10 years, the investment migration consultancy noted in its report published in partnership with global intelligence firm New World Wealth.


The BRICS bloc, which is composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates this year, with Saudi Arabia also set to join the bloc.

Currently, there are 1.6 million individuals with investable assets of more than a million in the group.     READ MORE...

Rude Democrat

 

Biggest Tree on Earth

 

Oxytocin Influences Animal Behavior

Oxytocin (OXT) is a hormone that is known for its effects on psychological well-being and emotional bonding in animals. Interestingly, research has shown that this natural chemical in the brain plays a crucial role in other cognitive processes as well, including learning and memory. 

Now, scientists may have discovered exactly how OXT influences memory in animals by studying "OXT neurons" that contain OXT receptors and function differently based on the availability of the chemical in the brain.  READ MORE...

Bear

 

Illegal Immigrants

There are many people, including people like Elon Musk, the billionaire that believe, the illegal immigration was designed by Democrats in the hopes that these immigrants will need government help for the rest of their lives and vote democratic...

Personally, I don't give a shit if that happens or not, because what concerns me is:

• no immunizations
• no skills
• no education
• no English
• illegal drugs
• they will create slums
• will drain US resources
• may be criminals
• robots will take over jobs

I think that this spring and summer, we will begin to see some of these problems begin to manifest themselves, specifically in some of our larger cities where these illegals will congregate because of perceived jobs.

Right now, local governments are giving them food, shelter, and clothing but no jobs.  What's going to happen when these local governments run out of money and have to increase taxes to pay for these illegals?

What I fear more than anything else is that there will be Americans who do not want the illegal immigrants here and will not treat them kindly.

What I also fear is that the illegal immigrants, most of who are Hispanics will begin to push the blacks farther and farther down the socio-economic ladder and the blacks will retaliate, seeing Hispanics as a greater threat than whites.

What I worry about is because of all these illegal immigrants, our quality of life will start to decrease because taxes will not be able to keep pace increase demand.  We will begin to look like poor countries in Europe.

This will be exacerbated by humanoid robots taking our jobs...

Skateboard Granny

About Consciousness

The Philosophical Hard Problem
Some say consciousness is mysterious. But there are two ways to think about this. One is that consciousness is mysterious in the way that the idea of a soul that survives death is, and the other is in the way that the mechanism of evolutionary inheritance was before DNA was discovered.


Today, the mystery of consciousness is often discussed in terms of a special quality—the way it feels to be consciousness. This phenomenal feeling is to be what makes red seem red, and fear feel fearful. Unconscious states come with no such feelings. Philosopher Thomas Nagel refers to these feelings as “qualia," and David Chalmers, another philosopher, has argued that qualia constitute the “hard problem” of consciousness.     READ MORE...

Lucky Man

 

Sunshine of Your Love

 

Extinct Human Ancestor Walked Upright

Anthropologist D. Carl Johanson … has discovered a skull fragment, shin and thigh bones of a 3-million-year-old man in Ethiopia…. The bones belonged to an ape man (hominid) of the genus Australopithecus.… “We have absolute, concrete evidence that our ancestors walked on two legs over 3 million years ago,” the 30-year-old scientist told a news conference.

Update
Exactly when upright walking emerged in the evolutionary history of humans remains hotly debated. Fossil analyses suggest that several hominid species ambled around on two legs about 5 million to 7 million years ago. An upper leg bone of the oldest known, 7-million-year-old Sahelanthropus tchadensis, bears signs of upright walking including an inner projection near the hip joint, scientists reported in 2022 (SN: 9/24/22). But not all paleoanthropologists are convinced those features prove a two-legged gait. And some scientists think the bone belonged to an ape that may have walked upright at times.     SOURCE:  Science News

Deer

 

Colonoscopy

 I am having a colonoscopy today - my last one was three years ago and the one before that was either 3 or 5 years, I cannot remember.  Last time, the doctor indicated that my results were so good that he did not think I needed another one for either 5-10 years out.  I disagreed with him and requested that I have one every 3 years because of my history of cancer.  He agreed.

While many people have no desire to have a colonoscopy, I don't mind even though the preparation that one has to go through is unpleasant.  If I have colon cancer or something else, I want to make sure that I find it as soon as possible so that it can be treated.

I am not the kind of person that thinks he can treat cancer with herbs and remedies from nature, sometimes referred to as natural medicines.  I suppose that natural medicines might work, if you incorporate them into your lifestyle at an early age, like the Chinese, Japanese, Native Americans, and other do, but AMERICANS on the whole do not want to live like that.

So far, I have been lucky with my two cancers and have managed to stay alive for over 15 years since first diagnosed.  Some cancers are treated and go away.  My cancers will never go away, so I will have to endure treatments for the rest of my life.

At 76 years of age, I doubt that will be too much longer but one never knows.  I would like to live another twenty years and outlive my mother who died just before her 96 birthday.

So, I encourage you to eat healthy and exercise and do not put off being checked out by the doctor.  Death does not care if you have been macho...

Balance

Spark Plug of Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion is what powers stars, the most common source of energy in the universe. And yet, we can’t easily recreate it here on Earth because we cannot compress hydrogen in the same way that gravity does in the core of stars. To bypass that requirement, the inertial fusion approach uses lasers to compress a pellet of fuel so much that it ignites.

The NIF uses an indirect method. Their system has some of the most powerful lasers in the world hitting a container called a hohlraum, getting converted to x-rays. It’s the x-rays that then compress the pellet of fuel and release energy. The method presented in new research from scientists at the University of Rochester approached fusion by directly slamming the pellet of fuel with lasers.  READ MORE...

Wrong Question Asked

 

Car Chase Scene in Bullitt

 

Iran Soon Can Send Nuclear Bomb to Israel

Iran is drawing closer to possible conflict as it simulates attacks on an Israeli base and signals that it could create a nuclear weapon if officials ordered it..

"Iranian braggadocio about their nuclear program is reaching new and unprecedented levels," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

"Iran’s former atomic energy chief is essentially hinting that Tehran has all the pieces of a nuclear weapon in place but disassembled," Taleblu said. "This commentary should be raising red flags for anyone who thought diversion of fissile material was the only thing that needed to be prevented and accounted for with international monitoring."  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Eating Healthy

 In 1987, when I was 40 years old, I gave up smoking cigarettes (cold turkey) after smoking 1-2 packs each day for over 20 years.

It was not an easy task because I had tried twice before and failed.

I addition to cigarettes, I gave up red meat, fried foods, and sugars.  It was not that easy because I really loved a cheeseburger and French fries. However, after several years, I would allow myself a cheeseburger and fries once or twice a year, and each time I ate one, it did not taste that good.

I switched from beef to turkey burgers and while the taste was not all that great, after several years I learned to enjoy the taste.  I also switched to eating chicken, turkey, all sorts of veges and a variety of different kinds of beans.  To this day, I do not like eggplant or Brussel sprouts.

My consumption of soft drinks is limited to caffeine-free diet Pepsi, Root Beer, and Dr. Pepper.  My coffee intact is also caffeine free and it watered down.  My water comes from flavored SAM's water.

Rice and Noodles are also part of my diet but I do not consume great amounts.  As far as the rice is concerned, I use Basmati and only cook 1/4 of dried rice to support my meals.  My extra thin spaghetti noodles are bundled no bigger than the diameter of a quarter.

Salads are seldom incorporated in my diet but when they are, I usually eat a chef salad or a grilled chicken salad.

I count my calories and attempt to eat between 1600 and 1800 a day.  If and when I exceed 2000, I usually eat light the next day, so the average of two days falls in between 1600 and 1800.   Over the last year, my weight has decreased from 260 to 215.

When I break my diet, and outside of a hamburger or a pizza, I will eat lasagna, spaghetti, a slice of apple pie, or a piece of strawberry cheesecake, or a cake doughnut.  I also like captain's crackers and lemon Oreos.

My total cholesterol level both good and bad is 70... so, I must be doing something right.

Relaxing Area

 

Einstein's Discoveries Lead to Gravitational Laser

Einstein’s work was crucial for the current understanding of gravitational waves and the development of stimulated radiation that culminated in the invention of lasers. Dr Jing Liu, from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, has combined the two into an intriguing proposal: it is possible to create the gravitational equivalent of a laser.

Let’s start with the basics. The word laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser is made of light all with roughly the same frequency (or, in other words, it is monochrome) and it is coherent, so it can be focused to a tight spot or can be used to create ultrashort pulses. By stimulating a quantum mechanical energy transition, it is possible to get light out all with the same frequency.

Natural lasers exist and they are called masers – with the "m" standing for microwaves. These astrophysical masers come from a bunch of sources, including comets, stellar atmosphere, and even the aurorae of Jupiter. So if light can make a laser, could gravity as well?   READ MORE...

The Blues Brothers

 

In The NEWS

Nike to lay off 1,500 employees amid restructuring.
The job cuts amount to roughly 2% of the sneaker company's total workforce and will occur in two phases between now and the end of May. The reductions are part of a broader restructuring plan that Nike hopes will help it save at least $2B over the next three years so it can invest in its growth areas, which include women's shoes and the Jordan line.


Bookkeeping
> This year's Super Bowl brought 882 private jets to Las Vegas airports.

> Usher's music sees a nearly 550% boost in Spotify streams after the Super Bowl.

Browse
> The world's smallest armadillos: pink fairies.

> Hubble telescope views a massive star forming.

> The top 100 pizza spots in the US in 2024, according to Yelp.

> Breaking down Iowa star Caitlin Clark's top moments using art.

> AI imagines new dog breeds to represent America's states.

> Man finds 70-year-old love letter in a toolbox.

Listen
> The economics of ATMs and why you have to pay a surcharge.

Watch
> The science of microwave ovens and what to avoid cooking in them.

> How a drying, toxic US lake could turn into the "Saudi Arabia of lithium."

> The family who has created neon signs for Hollywood (and hoards them).

> A mother cat feeds her kittens.

Long Read
> Prison inmates craft string instruments from wrecked migrant boats.

> How a financial advice columnist got scammed out of $50K.

> Explaining cholesterol and heart disease. (w/visuals)


Most Read of the Week: The gory origins of Valentine's Day.

Historybook: Football player and actor Jim Brown born (1936); Vanguard 2 launched as first weather satellite (1959); Michael Jordan born (1963); Volkswagen Beetle passes Ford Model T to become world’s bestselling car (1972); Golf great Mickey Wright dies (2020).

SOURCE:  1440 News

In God We Trust

Until I graduated from high school, my parents forced me to attend Sunday School and Church every Sunday, unless I was sick or there was simply too much snow to drive...

That forced behavior did not push me towards the church and religious beliefs but against it.  If religion, faith, and beliefs were so important, why did I have to be forced to go?

My biggest issue with religion and God is the fact that THE BIBLE is full of all sorts of contradictions, the least of which is the timeline for the Universe and creation....  The bible says that creation is only 6,000 years old in Genesis.

That is simply not true or accurate which undermines having trust in God.

On the other side of the coin, there is a greater probability of a creator than there is of not being a creator...  therefore, the creator may or may not actually be God.  Instead, the creator could be just an advanced form of extraterrestrial that had visited earth. 

This theory is supported in global mythologies and the stories they have shared about visitors coming down to earth from the heavens.

Even our own native Americans have cave drawings of travelers coming down to earth from the heavens.

Were these travelers the same God that was referenced in the Bible?

And if so, does that enable us to have trust in this God since the truth was never shared with us?

Somewhat Political

 

NASA Found a Super Earth

A NASA telescope orbiting our planet has spotted an intriguing super-Earth — a world some 30 to 70 percent bigger than Earth.

This rocky planet is in another solar system 137 light-years away, which in the vastness of space is considered relatively close (a light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles). The exoplanet, called TOI-715 b, is about 1.5 times the size of Earth. And, crucially, this world orbits inside the habitable, or "Goldilocks," zone.

"That’s the distance from the star that could give the planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface," NASA explained on its website. "Several other factors would have to line up, of course, for surface water to be present, especially having a suitable atmosphere."

TOI-715 b orbits quite close to its star (each orbit lasts just 19 days) — but scientists don't think its a hellish, scorching world, like some other exoplanets. That's because its star is a "red dwarf," which is both cooler and smaller than our medium-sized star, the sun.   READ MORE...

Green River

 

Piano Playing

 

Reparations

The United States of America has wrong treated Native Americans, Japanese Americans, African Americans, and Middle Class Americans with their tax burdens...

In addition to Americans, the United States of America has wrongly treated Europeans, Muslims, Africans, and South Americans with their globalization policies, bribes, payoffs, and black operations by the CIA...

Consequently, the United States of America is pretty much hated by the rest of the world as well as the black people that live inside the borders of the USA...

To compensate our Native Americans, we gave them the ability to build, operate, and profit from gambling.

In order to compensate the black Americans, I propose that we give them the right to build, operate, and profit from gambling.

I am opposed to using tax dollars to benefit the blacks, especially because I was not responsible for slavery nor am I responsible for what my ancestors may or may not have done.  I am only responsible for what I do or don't do.

GIVE THE BLACKS GAMBLING CASINOS...