Bookkeeping
> 41,951.4 square feet: Size of the largest-ever temporary bamboo structure altar, built to hold celebrations for Hong Kong's Kam Tin Heung Jiao Festival.
> 2,397: How many golden retrievers gathered in a Buenos Aires park, breaking the unofficial world record for the largest gathering of golden retrievers.

Browse
> Meet Tommy Tucker, the dress-wearing squirrel who sold war bonds.
> This year's most scathing book reviews.
> NASA discovers a lemon-shaped planet.
> The uninhabited Scottish isle powering Olympic curling.

Listen
> How Vitamin C tarnished a two-time Nobel Prize winner's legacy.

Watch
> Think twice before gifting a gift card.
> Inside Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular.
> How uniforms came to define the American worker.

Long Read
> The extreme ways wild animals snooze. (w/interactive)
> A scientific case for praying, even if you're an atheist.
> Three reasons old people are happier.

Most Clicked This Week: How different sleeping positions impact your health. (w/video)

Historybook: Louisiana Purchase finalized (1803); Sacagawea dies (1812); "It’s a Wonderful Life" released (1946); Astronomer Carl Sagan dies (1996); Space Force becomes sixth US armed forces branch (2019).

Why meal prep (almost) never works

Quick Clip

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> College Football Playoff begins tonight, with Alabama versus Oklahoma at 8 pm ET (More) | YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul to fight two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua at 8 pm ET on Netflix (More)

> Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and their two children are among those killed in a North Carolina business jet plane crash (More)

> Tennessee governor pardons Jelly Roll, whose convictions include robbery and drug felonies; country star says pardon will make it easier for him to travel internationally for concerts and Christian missionary work (More)


Science & Technology
> Federal regulators unanimously agree to let data centers siphon energy directly from power plants—a decision celebrated by several technology companies but criticized by some consumer advocates (More)

> Experimental drug successfully fights toxic peptides that appear to drive several of the earliest brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease in a mouse model, suggesting a new strategy to prevent—significantly delay—the disease (More)

> Researchers create first scientifically validated personality test framework for AI chatbots, supporting the notion that models display human-like traits and that these traits can be manipulated with prompting (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq +1.4%) (More) | Consumer price index rose 2.7% year over year in November, down from 3% rise in September—the last month of available data (More)

> TikTok signs deal to sell US entity to joint US venture controlled by investor group including Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX; agreement to close Jan. 22 (More)

> Trump Media to merge with Alphabet-backed fusion energy company TAE Technologies in an over $6B all-stock deal (More) | Explore the Trump family business empire (More) | Hogan Lovells to merge with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, creating fifth-largest global law firm by revenue at $3.6B (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces proposed rules to cut Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals providing gender-related medical care to minors (More) | President Donald Trump orders the Justice Department to fast-track reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III substance (More)

> Pope Leo XIV appoints little-known Bishop Ronald Hicks from his Illinois hometown to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan in leading the New York diocese, the US' second-largest by population after Los Angeles (More)

> Kennedy Center board, including members selected by President Donald Trump, votes to rename the center the "Trump-Kennedy Center" (More) | White House installs plaques in the complex mocking former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Hindsight

 

My career lasted for 45 years which is a rather long time, although, there are many people who work 55 years or more.  If you start work after college or the military say at 25 and work 55 years, you are 80 years old.  Bear in mind that many people in Congress are in their 80s, so it is not unreasonable.

I, personally, was glad to leave as I had terrible bosses and supervisors with which I worked, changed jobs often because I refused to KISS ASS that many people, especially those in my family, think was WRONG of me to refuse to do.  I did not.

Despite the changing of jobs and no retirement income from employers, my wife and I managed to save a considerable amount of money that now supplements Social Security income and provides us with a reasonable lifestyle.

When I say reasonable. I mean not wealthy nor poor but living a life where we do most anything we want...  but the key here is WANT as we do not want much...  just what we need and a little more.

Retirement is a wonderful but strange time in one's life as it indicates the end of one's life as most live only 20 years after retirement.  However, living to about 87 is true for most of us, regardless of whether we are working or not.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have joined the military after high school and stayed in for 20 years.  At 38, I would have military retirement and using my skills, would have worked another 20 years, taking me to 58.  At that time I could either decide to continue working at the same place or a different place until 67 when I could draw Social Security.

If I played my cards right, I would have military retirement, a company retirement (or 401k) PLUS Social Security and savings.  If I was just a little clever, I would have gotten at BA/MA while in the military and taught at a community college until 67 because they have retirement programs.

Three sources of incomes plus savings, estimating my retirement income at $4,500 to $5,000/month plus whatever my wife's retirement might be.

HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS BEST...

Somewhat Political

 

A New Discovery at Easter Island Could Rewrite History As We Know It

Michael Dunning//Getty Images

Today, humans inhabit—or have, at the very least, explored—pretty much every corner of the planet. But that immense proliferation of Home sapiens across the globe was a slow process. With the first humans leaving Africa between 60 to 90 thousand years ago, the species slowly spread across the Earth over many millennia. And one of the last places these ancient humans made their way to was the southeastern Pacific island of Rapa Nui, known more broadly as Easter Island.


Located 2,360 miles off the coast of Chile—which annexed the country back in 1888—Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated places in the world. Its native people, who are also named the Rapa Nui, first arrived on the island’s shores between 1150 and 1280 CE, and lived in isolation until the arrival of Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen in 1722.

READ MORE...

Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman (Black & White Night 30)

Duck

 

VINCE

 

Curved Road

 

Lara Trump

 

Alex Jones

 

Sarah Westall

 

Traveling

 

Amber May Show

 

Bongino Report

 

Diamond & Silk

 

Candle

 

Dinesh D'Souza

 

Russell Brand

 

TimcastIRL

 

Back Street

 

Brookings Brief

Can sanctions change the course of conflict?

The Big Think

The boomer-doomer divide within OpenAI, explained by Karen Hao

Sunlight

 

Headlines

David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images



Suspected Brown University shooter found dead, authorities say. Following a manhunt that began after a masked gunman killed two students and wounded others in a university lecture hall on Saturday, police said yesterday they had found the body of the suspected shooter in a New Hampshire storage facility. He was also the suspect in the murder of an MIT professor in his home on Monday. Providence’s chief of police identified the suspect as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown student, and said he had died by suicide.

Trump eases restrictions on cannabis. In a move that might make yesterday an even bigger day to commemorate than 4/20 in some circles, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to reclassify marijuana from the most restrictive Schedule I substance category to Schedule III. While that won’t legalize weed or make it available for recreational use, as some states have, it will make it easier to use it in medical research. The change is also a financial boon to the cannabis industry and will likely significantly reduce taxes for cannabis companies. It could also open the door for them to access banks and investments that they couldn’t before due to compliance concerns. Additionally, the order calls for more research into CBD, which could now, in some cases, be covered by Medicare.

TikTok signed agreements to create a new US joint venture. The company said yesterday that it had signed the deals, moving forward with a plan to avoid the app being banned in the US. The agreements are with Oracle, Silver Lake Management, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. When the deal closes, which is expected to happen next month, it will create a company separate from TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, that will be majority-owned by the American investors. The new company will be responsible for protecting data, moderating content, and the algorithm’s security in the US, according to a memo to TikTok employees viewed by news outlets.—AR

READ MORE...

Robert Reich

After almost a year of Trump II: What’s it REALLY all about?
The fundamental choice is democracy, the rule of law, social justice, and equal political rights VERSUS white male Christian nationalism




Friends,

Today, after almost a year of Trump’s second regime, I want to talk about the challenge Trump and his regime pose to America’s moral purpose. The best way into the subject is, I think, to ask a few questions about what’s been happening, and then offer an answer to all of them.

Questions:

— Why does Trump’s latest National Security Strategy, released this month, make no distinction between despotism and democracy?

— Why is Trump abandoning Europe and siding with Putin over Ukraine?

— Why is Trump also solicitous of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince MBS, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, and Benjamin Netanyahu?

READ MORE...

At A Glance

World's tallest teen scores first collegiate field goal.

Physicist cracks problem chronicled in "The Big Bang Theory."

Golfer Rory McIlroy named BBC's Sports Personality of the Year.

... and reviewing this year's wild sports stories.

Rome opens subway station near Colosseum displaying artifacts.

What happens when AI takes over a vending machine?

See the largest collection of snow globes.

...and the world's tallest buildings.

Clickbait: This year's most annoying songs.

... and want to see something cool? Surprise me.

Historybook: First edition of "The American Crisis" published by Thomas Paine (1776); French entertainer Édith Piaf born (1915); First National Hockey League game played (1917); President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Christmas message is first radio broadcast from space (1958); President Bill Clinton is impeached (1998).

The $5 "Golden Crown" (Whole Roasted Cauliflower) #viralfood #shorts #yt...