MY WRITING JOURNAL

Thursday, February 27

GOODBYE GENE

Eugene Allen Hackman (January 30, 1930 – c. February 26, 2025) was an American actor. In a career that spanned six decades, he received two Academy Awards, two British Academy Films Awards and four Golden Globes.

Hackman's two Academy Award wins were for Best Actor for his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in William Friedkin's action thriller The French Connection (1971) and for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a villainous Sheriff in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven (1992). He was Oscar-nominated for his roles as Buck Barrow in the crime drama Bonnie and Clyde (1967), a college professor in the drama I Never Sang for My Father (1970), and an FBI agent in the historical drama Mississippi Burning (1988).

Hackman gained further fame for his portrayal of Lex Luthor in Superman (1978) and its sequel Superman II (1980). He also acted in: The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Scarecrow (1973), The Conversation (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Under Fire (1983), Power (1986), Loose Cannons (1990), The Firm (1993), The Quick and the Dead (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Enemy of the State (1998), Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003). He retired from acting after starring in Welcome to Mooseport (2004).

With phenomenal character work, gorgeous visuals, and a compelling story, Lost Records is shaping up to be Don't Nod's greatest game to date.

By Jessica Cogswell on February 25, 2025 at 4:40PM PST

Diamond and Silk

"LET FREEDOM RING" J6 Sam Fischer, Captain Gabriel Garcia and Josiah Colt join Silk

Meet the world's super-billionaires.

What is the axolotl, Mexico’s most beloved amphibian?

Why "just enough" might be all you need.

The people who "see" foreign languages.

How "Clueless" revolutionized the high-school comedy.

Desert train robbers target Nikes worth millions.

Should we put a data center on the moon?

The Florida Man Games return.

Clickbait: The Fyre Festival is getting a sequel.

'I Don't Think We're
Going to Have a
Choice': Elon Musk
Predicts Universal
Income Will Eventually
Be 'High'—But Fears
People Will Feel 'Useless'

HEALTHY EATING HACKS » + printable guide

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón[a] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈfɾiða ˈkalo]; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954 was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.

Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist. She is also known for painting about her experience of chronic pain.

Born to a German father and a mestiza mother (of Purépecha [5] descent), Kahlo spent most of her childhood and adult life at La Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacán – now publicly accessible as the Frida Kahlo Museum.

Although she was disabled by polio as a child, Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until being injured in a bus accident at the age of 18, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art with the idea of becoming an artist.

¿Qué pasa?

Quick Clips

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy to step down at end of 2025 after leading the film production company behind "Star Wars" franchise since 2012 (More)

> Chris Jasper, Isley Brothers member and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, dies at age 73 (More) | Larry Dolan, longtime owner of the Cleveland Guardians, dies at 94 (More)

> More than 1,000 British musicians, including Kate Bush and Cat Stevens, release a silent album to protest proposed changes to UK law that may allow AI models to be trained on copyrighted material (More)

Science & Technology
> Death toll from unidentified illness in the Congo rises to at least 50 over the past month; outbreak began after three children fell sick after eating a bat (More) | What are zoonotic diseases? (1440 Topics)

> Second Intuitive Machines lunar launch window opens this evening; company made history last year with the first controlled landing of a device on the moon by a private company (More)

> Researchers develop self-destructing bacteria for potential use in tuberculosis vaccines; disease kills an estimated 1 million people each year globally (More)

Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.5%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq -1.4%) (More) | US consumer confidence index in February registers largest monthly drop since 2021 (More)

> Hims & Hers shares close down 22% a day after the telehealth company releases Q4 results, prompting concerns over its weight-loss drug business's impact on margins (More) | Tesla shares close down 8.4% after reporting its European sales fell 45% year over year in January; company falls below $1T market cap (More)

> Perplexity AI reportedly launching $50M venture fund to back early-stage AI startups (More) | Everything you need to know about venture capital (1440 Topics)

Politics & World Affairs
> The US, Ukraine agree on deal to jointly develop Ukrainian natural resources; agreement is reportedly step toward a ceasefire deal with Russia (More) | House passes budget bill in 217-215 vote, sets up reconciliation with Senate plan (More) | White House to take over access to press pool from White House Correspondents' Association (More)

> US Supreme Court orders new trial for Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, finding prosecutors in the original 1998 trial failed to correct false testimony (More)

> Vatican officials say Pope Francis remains in critical but stable condition following weekend respiratory crisis, has performed some duties from hospital (More) | See previous write-up (More)

SOURCE: 1440 NEWS

Education

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school

It's a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome - Paul Simon, May 19, 1973

For some reason, these lyrics have stuck with me for a lifetime, so far, and are just as relevant today as they were half a century ago.

Education...

What is it about education that makes it so important to us Americans and the rest of the world?

High School education has been seldom used since graduating...

College education has been more used simply because my degree was in English.

Graduate school education has been seldom used other than it opened employment doors for me...

Do you know the RULE OF 72?

Divide the interest rate into 72 and the answer approximates the number of years it takes for your money to double.

What does that mean?

Interest rate of 8% divided into 72 = 9

9 years for money to double

10,000 - start

20,000 - 9 years

40,000 - 18 years

80,000 - 27 years

160,000 - 36 years

320,000 - 45 years

18 years of age when you started

63 years of age, 45 years later

NOTE: you are right at early retirement age

This is the power of education, but this is not taught in high school for some reason.

WHY NOT?

I cannot answer that... you will need to contact your department of education.

Rule of 72 is not CRAP and yet it is not taught.

Somewhat Political

Scientists spot alien world

Scientists have mapped the atmosphere a planet outside of our solar system in 3D for the first ever time.

And they have found a world unlike anything we have ever seen: powerful winds that carry chemical elements in complicated, intricate patterns across the atmosphere. A vast jet stream reaches across half the planet, churning the atmosphere up as it crosses the side of the planet that it always facing its sun.

Scientists say that the new 3D understanding of the planet represents a major breakthrough for our understanding of the atmosphere and weather of alien worlds. But it also challenges our current understanding of weather, they say, because it is so unusual. READ MORE...

Free - All Right Now (Doing Their Thing, 1970) Official Live Video

Wednesday, February 26

SpaceX Starship Flight 8 launch: Live updates

SpaceX's Starship megarocket is the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, and the giant booster that will launch the moon lander for NASA's Artemis 3 mission that aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2027.

The next Starship launch by SpaceX will be Starship Flight 8 on Friday, Feb. 28. at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT).

It will be the second flight of a new version of the Ship and test new enhancements to the Super Heavy Booster while flying a similar profile to that of Flight 5 on Oct. 13, which saw the successful first landing and capture of the Super Heavy booster. It is also expected to include a relight of the Ship engines, test reentry gear for Ship in space and mark the first deployment of simulated Starlink satellites. READ MORE...

Dan Bongino

Shake-Up In The White House Press Room (Ep. 2431) - 02/26/2025

A Chemo Tip

I have been taking chemo treatments monthly (sometimes twice monthly) for 16 years; Jan 2025 started my 17th year.

One might say I have some experience.

Some of my treatment involved me taking what I call, WICKED CHEMO, and caused me to become very sick... so much so that my wife had to take me to the ER to get me to quit vomiting.

The trick that I learned was this:

Ask for two different nausea meds. My two are ZOFRAN and COMPOZINE. As soon as your chemo treatments are over and not more than four hours afterwards (the sooner the better) take a nausea pill.

The package will say for you to take the pills every four hours...

HOWEVER...

and this is the trick...

You can take them every two hours IF YOU ALTERNATE between the two pills.

Once I started taking nausea pills every two hours after the WICKED CHEMO, I never got sick (Vomiting) again and no more trips to the ER.

At A Glance

How to view this Friday's rare planetary alignment.

Shark-shy fish image wins Nature InFocus top photo award.

A deep dive into next week's famed Iditarod dog sled race.

Demystifying the left-right brain axis myth. (via YouTube)

Charting global fertility rates, which have declined by half since 1965.

The difference between $50 jeans and $500 jeans.

Explaining the proliferation of travel-moons, from babymoons to memoons.

The most iconic love triangles in (movie) history.

Clickbait: Why you're hot until you're not.

MORE POLITICAL CARTOONS

Elon Musk is Sherlock Holmes - Movie Trailer Parody featuring Donald Tru...

Italian Breakfast | Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Grace Cossington Smith - Artist

Grace Cossington Smith AO OBE (20 April 1892 – 20 December 1984) was an Australian artist and pioneer of modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. Examples of her work are held by every major gallery in Australia.

he was born Grace Smith, in Neutral Bay, Sydney, second of five children of London-born solicitor Ernest Smith and his wife Grace, née Fisher, who was the daughter of the rector of Cossington in Leicestershire.

The family moved to Thornleigh, New South Wales around 1890. Grace attended Abbotsleigh School for Girls in Wahroonga 1905–09 where Albert Collins and Alfred Coffey took art classes. From 1910 to 1911 she studied drawing with Antonio Dattilo Rubbo.

From 1912 to 1914 she and her sister lived in England, staying with an aunt at Winchester where she attended drawing classes as well as classes at Stettin in Germany, and was exposed to paintings by Watteau in Berlin.

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Thursday, February 27

Wednesday, February 26