Enjoy!
Thursday, July 04, 2024
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Video)
Enjoy! Pleased to meet you! Hope you guessed my name! If you compare Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, the latter is the much better dancer!
Egypt Overhauls Cabinet Amid Economic Woes, Power Cuts, Foreign-Policy Challenges
Recommendable! When a former military officer and putschist runs a country!
China rehearses hitting US fighter jet bases, new satellite images show with Molly Gambhir
Recommendable and concerning!
Exposing Kamala Harris’ cringiest moments
In particular, watch the last few minutes of this video! You may also want to check out my Mistress Kamala Harris blog post.
Russia Regains "High Income" status Despite Western Sanctions since 2014 with Palki Sharma
Very recommendable and concerning! The West has imposed sanctions on Russia since its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Apparently, the Western sanctions have failed! Putin the Terrible is still in office!
Putin & Xi Fight for Influence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! Good question: What is the purpose of the SCO?
Russia will support Pakistan.
US Think Tank says China has 4 Spy Bases in Cuba with Palki Sharma
These are the kind of news you need to shore up patriotic sentiments on the 4th of July Holiday in the U.S. (Caution: satire)
They say history does not repeat, but it rhymes! From the long history of the former Soviet Union to communist China in recent times, like a change of guard when it comes to using Cuba as a spying location!
Guns and domestic abuse: Supreme Court upholds longstanding, lifesaving ban. Really!
Same old, worn out and tired narrative again about abused women!
What about abused men? You don't think they exist or it is a tiny minority? You are wrong! E.g. men don't make a fuss about it. They suffer quietly.
In this day and age of much advanced gender equality, this narrative is such an old hat! My feminist mother told me this story while breast feeding me in the 1960s (I am slightly exaggerating 😊).
"For decades, Jacquelyn Campbell has been a global leader in research and advocacy in the field of domestic and intimate partner violence. ...."
Maybe it is time for her to retire!
Jacquelyn Campbell
Indonesia's first battery plant opens in major step for Indonesia's EV ambitions developed by South Korean companies
Battery plants are mushrooming around the world?
"Indonesia's first battery plant opened its doors on Wednesday, marking a major milestone in the country's efforts to build a complete EV manufacturing ecosystem.
The plant in Karawang, West Java province, was developed by HLI Green Power, a joint venture between South Korean battery producer LG Energy Solution and carmaker Hyundai Motor that will also operate the facility."
Indonesia's President Joko Widodo inspects the country's first battery cell production plant for EVs in Karawang on July 3.
Xi Jinping backs Kazakhstan joining BRICS
BRICS expanding! Kazakhstan is the 14th largest country of the world! I believe, it is also fairly unexplored.
Comrades in arms
Ants may be the only animal that performs surgical amputations
Amazing stuff! Whether surgery or other treatment is performed depends on the location of the injury!
"In his 11 years studying ant behavior, biologist Erik Frank had never seen anything like it. He and his colleagues at the University of Würzburg brought Florida carpenter ants back to their lab in Germany to learn how they respond to injury. Most ant species treat the injured or severed limb of a comrade by coating it with an antimicrobial goo. But the reddish-brown carpenter ants took a different tack: They bit the remainder of the limb off, effectively amputating it. ...
With a pair of microscissors, the researchers also injured the ants’ legs lower down, at the tibia. This time, fellow insects did not amputate the appendages of their injured nestmates; instead, they simply licked the wound to remove bacteria with their tongues. Ninety percent of the isolated ants died, whereas 75% of those that returned to the nest survived. ...
The difference in the tactics employed by bystander ants may lie in the insects’ physiology. High-resolution microscopy revealed that the Florida carpenter ant’s femur has several muscles that impede circulation of hemolymph (the insect version of blood), stopping the bacteria from quickly entering the body. As a result, the ants may be more likely to amputate femur injuries because they have the time needed to perform this procedure ...
If, on the other hand, the wounds are on the lower leg (tibia), they never amputate. Instead, the ants put more effort into caring for the wounded in such cases ..."
The difference in the tactics employed by bystander ants may lie in the insects’ physiology. High-resolution microscopy revealed that the Florida carpenter ant’s femur has several muscles that impede circulation of hemolymph (the insect version of blood), stopping the bacteria from quickly entering the body. As a result, the ants may be more likely to amputate femur injuries because they have the time needed to perform this procedure ...
Surprising: Amputations are Only Performed on Injured Thighs
Researchers ... made another astonishing observation: The ants only proceed to amputation if the leg injuries are on the thigh (femur) – regardless of whether the wounds are sterile or infected with bacteria.
From the abstract:
"Open wounds pose a major infection and mortality risk in animals. To reduce these risks, many animal species apply antimicrobial compounds on their wounds. Ant societies use antimicrobial secretions from the metapleural gland to sterilize the nest and to care for injured individuals. This gland has been lost over evolutionary time in the genus Camponotus and a few other genera. Using behavioral and microbiological experiments to study how Camponotus floridanus handles infected wounds, we uncovered a new mechanism to fight infections in animals. When a worker was injured at the level of the femur, other ants amputated the injured limb by biting the base (trochanter) of the injured leg until it was cut off. However, when the injury was at the level of the tibia, other workers directed more wound care than when the injury was at the level of the femur, but they did not amputate the injured leg. Experimental amputation led to increased survival of ants with infected wounds when the injury was located at the femur but not when it was located at the tibia. Overall, this study does not only provide the first example of amputations as a means to treat infected individuals in a non-human animal, but also demonstrates that ants can adapt their type of treatment depending on the wounds’ location."
Amputations Save Lives – Even in Ants (original news release) In an emergency, ants bite off injured limbs of fellow ants to ensure their survival. Whether they take this radical step depends on the location of the wound.
Wound Dependent Leg Amputations to Combat Infections in an Ant Society (no public access)
Amputation when wounded: An ant bites off the leg of an injured conspecific. It then treats the wound by licking it.
Giant international nuclear fusion project ITER is in big trouble
Very bad news! If we can make nuclear fusion work as a reliable and affordable source of energy, then many other energy related issues go away!
"The giant fusion reactor known as ITER will not turn on until 2034, 9 years later than currently scheduled, according to a new timeline the international organization announced this week. "
Dreamlike pig-hunting scene from a cave in Indonesia is the world’s oldest figurative art over 50,000 years ago
Amazing stuff! New method pushes back the date by more than 6,000 years.
Why Indonesia?
"More than 50,000 years ago, people living in lush valleys on the island of Sulawesi climbed up to cramped limestone caves high above their dwelling places. There, they painted fantastical scenes inspired by their lives—half-human, half-animal figures hunting pigs in hues of purple and red. ...
The new dates also come 15,000 years before people painted animals on the walls of famous European caves. ...
By dating infinitesimal amounts of uranium in the mineral layer formed just above the pigment, the authors show the Leang Karampuang cave artwork is at least 51,200 years old, painted not long after people expanded east out of Africa into Asia and the island chains of Oceania. ..."
The new dates also come 15,000 years before people painted animals on the walls of famous European caves. ...
By dating infinitesimal amounts of uranium in the mineral layer formed just above the pigment, the authors show the Leang Karampuang cave artwork is at least 51,200 years old, painted not long after people expanded east out of Africa into Asia and the island chains of Oceania. ..."
From the abstract:
"Previous dating research indicated that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is host to some of the oldest known rock art. That work was based on solution uranium-series (U-series) analysis of calcite deposits overlying rock art in the limestone caves of Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi. Here we use a novel application of this approach—laser-ablation U-series imaging—to re-date some of the earliest cave art in this karst area and to determine the age of stylistically similar motifs at other Maros-Pangkep sites. This method provides enhanced spatial accuracy, resulting in older minimum ages for previously dated art. We show that a hunting scene from Leang Bulu’ Sipong, which was originally dated using the previous approach to a minimum of 43,900 thousand years ago (ka), has a minimum age of 50.2 ± 2.2 ka, and so is at least 4,040 years older than thought. Using the imaging approach, we also assign a minimum age of 53.5 ± 2.3 ka to a newly described cave art scene at Leang Karampuang. Painted at least 51,200 years ago, this narrative composition, which depicts human-like figures interacting with a pig, is now the earliest known surviving example of representational art, and visual storytelling, in the world. Our findings show that figurative portrayals of anthropomorphic figures and animals have a deeper origin in the history of modern human (Homo sapiens) image-making than recognized to date, as does their representation in composed scenes."
Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago (open access)
This cave painting in Indonesia dates back more than 50,000 years, making it the oldest known figurative art
Fig. 1: Map of the study area.
Fig. 3: Dated rock art panel at Leang Karampuang.
‘Mormon Land’: Did Joseph Smith practice polygamy? What the evidence shows and why it matters. Really!
How often has this question been repeated? How tiring!
And if he had 100 women? Were these women staying voluntarily with Joseph Smith?
Joseph Smith, top left, and some of his purported wives, clockwise from top middle: first wife Emma Hale Smith; Eliza R. Snow; Martha McBride (Knight Smith Kimball); Marinda Nancy Johnson (Hyde Smith); and Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs (Smith Young).
President Coolidge and the Vagonds
In August 1924 Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone visited President Coolidge in Plymouth Notch as part of a leisurely car trip throughout New England. The meeting was highly publicized because the president was campaigning for the 1924 election and the automotive entrepreneurs were touting the superiority of their products. Source
Wednesday, July 03, 2024
Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror
Enjoy! "If they wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change"
Ronald Reagan - Rendezvous With Destiny
Very recommendable! One of Reagan's most famous speeches! Wow, could he be an orator!
Mexico: Gang Turf War Kills 19, Bodies Found in Abandoned Truck
Is the Mexican President AMLO more or less senile and demented than his U.S. counterpart?
Nepal PM on his way out? Parties Strike Deal to oust Prachanda with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! A difficult situation in Nepal on the roof of the world!
Singapore's Goalkeeper Donates Thousands he got from Chinese Football Fans with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! What a story!
'Only two or three people know Yahya Sinwar's whereabouts,' say Hamas officials
One day, the Israeli intelligence services will track down this monster! He is like a dead man hiding somewhere! May he live in fear for the rest of his rotten life!
Johns Hopkins University: Crazy Legs is still hungry and will spend July 4th at Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island
Funny! It is a republished article from 2023. Of gourmets, gluttons, and gourmands!
"Some of the world’s top competitive eaters will spend July 4th at Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island. It's the perfect time to "ketchup" with JHU alum and legendary speed-eater Crazy Legs Conti in this award-winning story about how he is not ready to "hang up the esophagus," so to speak" (Source)
IEEE: The Battle for Better, Broader, More Inclusive AI. Really!
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) should be ashamed to publish such propaganda and demagoguery or ideological nonsense!
Bundestagsabgeordnete Melis Sekmen kehrt den Grünen den Rücken – und wechselt zur CDU
Das zu langsam sinkende Schiff der Grünen! Wann werden die behäbigen, romantisch philosophierenden Deutschen endlich der Grünen überdrüssig!
"... Das ist eine Backpfeife für Wirtschaftsminister Robert Habeck. Immerhin war Sekmen seit 2021 Obfrau der Grünen im Wirtschaftsausschuss. Außerdem arbeitete sie seit 2022 als Vorsitzende des Parlamentskreises „Gründungen und Start-ups“. ..."
16 year old will be youngest male US track & field Olympian ever. Really!
It used to be female gymnastic athletes from former socialist countries like Romania, who tended to become younger and younger with each Olympic Games. 😊
Remember "In 1976, at the age of 14, Nadia Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games [Montreal, Canada]." Source
What about child abuse?
"Track star Quincy Wilson will become the youngest male to compete for the United States in track and field at the Olympics in 2024.
The runner and his coach both publicly confirmed that he was added to the Team USA relay pool for the summer games in Paris following an impressive performance as the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Wilson broke the under-18 world record in the 400 meter that stood for 42 years, only to break the record again in the semifinal two days later. ..."
Giant Chips for Supercomputers
Should we not call these chips bricks? How to make this "chip" fit in my smartphone? 😊
"... the company has been squeezing as many processors as it can onto one giant wafer. The main advantage is in the interconnects—by wiring processors together on-chip, the wafer-scale chip bypasses many of the computational speed lossesthat come from many GPUs talking to each other, as well as losses from loading data to and from memory. ..."
Cerebras' second-generation Wafer-Scale Engine (WSE-2) is a massive chip tailored for AI applications
All-metal aromatic ring isolated for the first time
Amazing stuff! Who does not remember Kekule's famous dream of a ring shaped benzine molecule?
"A four-atom bismuth species is the first all-metal ring with aromatic bonding character to have been isolated in the lab. The structure was synthesised by researchers in Germany, who say that their findings raise important questions about the nature of aromaticity in materials composed of heavier elements. ..."
From the abstract:
"Aromaticity in organic molecules is well defined, but its role in metal-only rings remains controversial. Here we introduce a supramolecular stabilization approach of a cationic {Bi4} rhomboid within the symmetric charge sphere of two bowl-shaped dianionic calix pyrrolato indinates. Crystallographic and spectroscopic characterization, quantum chemical analysis and magnetically induced ring currents indicate σ-aromaticity in the formally tetracationic 16-valence electron [Bi4]4+ ring. Computational screening for other p-block elements identifies the planar rhomboid as the globally preferred structure for 16-valence electron four-atomic clusters. The aromatic [Bi4]4+ is isoelectronic to the [Al4]4−, a motif previously observed as antiaromatic in Li3[Al4]− in the gas phase. Thus, subtle factors such as charge isotropy seem to decide over aromaticity or antiaromaticity, advising for caution in debates based on the Hückel model—a concept valid for second-row elements but less deterministic for the heavier congeners."
Supramolecular trapping of a cationic all-metal σ-aromatic {Bi4} ring (open access)
The bismuth ring is the first of its kind to be isolated in the lab
Fig. 1: Examples of aromatic rings.
Continuous brain control of a bionic limb
Good news! Amazing stuff!
"A new prosthetic technology has made it possible for people with leg amputations to control their prosthetic limbs with their brains and walk with a smooth gait, per a study published yesterday in the journal Nature Medicine. ..."
"For the first time, a small group of patients with amputations below the knee were able to control the movements of their prosthetic legs through neural signals—rather than relying on programmed cycles for all or part of a motion—and resume walking with a natural gait. The achievement required a specialized amputation surgery combined with a non-invasive surface electrode connection to a robotic prosthetic lower leg. ..."
From the abstract:
"For centuries scientists and technologists have sought artificial leg replacements that fully capture the versatility of their intact biological counterparts. However, biological gait requires coordinated volitional and reflexive motor control by complex afferent and efferent neural interplay, making its neuroprosthetic emulation challenging after limb amputation. Here we hypothesize that continuous neural control of a bionic limb can restore biomimetic gait after below-knee amputation when residual muscle afferents are augmented. To test this hypothesis, we present a neuroprosthetic interface consisting of surgically connected, agonist–antagonist muscles including muscle-sensing electrodes. In a cohort of seven leg amputees, the interface is shown to augment residual muscle afferents by 18% of biologically intact values. Compared with a matched amputee cohort without the afferent augmentation, the maximum neuroprosthetic walking speed is increased by 41%, enabling equivalent peak speeds to persons without leg amputation. Further, this level of afferent augmentation enables biomimetic adaptation to various walking speeds and real-world environments, including slopes, stairs and obstructed pathways. Our results suggest that even a small augmentation of residual muscle afferents restores biomimetic gait under continuous neuromodulation in individuals with leg amputation."
The Best Bionic Leg Yet A surgical procedure and muscle-sensing electrodes allow neural control of a prosthetic limb
Fig. 1: Neuroprosthesis.
A neural interface allowed people with prosthetic limbs to move faster and more naturally
Image of the day
Israeli soldiers resting at an Alonit gas station on the night between October 7 and October 8 2023 (after the massacre?). Source
Anthony Fauci on why he never quit during Trump administration. Really!
One of the biggest mistakes by former President Trump was not to fire this then almost 80 year old charlatan/clown Anthony Fauci early on the Covid-19 pandemic!
This arrogant prick who denied the lab leak theory, because he funded some of the dubious research done at the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology!
I have blogged about this clown plenty of times since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic!
'About survival': Inside a Finnish shoot house, conscripts prepare for a Russian invasion
The Finnish people may not so easily forget that Stalin tried to invade Finland in November of 1939! The Fins successfully defended their country!
One of Putin the Terrible's biggest mistake to make Finland become a NATO in April of 2023 in the wake of the invasion of the Ukraine! Finland was famous since 1945 for its neutrality.
Argentina's parliament approves President Milei's austerity-heavy reform package
Good news! The gauchos are back! Peronism has hopefully become a footnote in history!
Tuesday, July 02, 2024
What happens in your body during a miscarriage? Really!
The title of this video is already a bad joke! Half of the population will never physically have the experience of a miscarriage!
Another example of horrible ideology and demagoguery! Women not persons get pregnant! Either the video does not mention women at all or it talks of persons a few times!
PM Modi Attacks Rahul Gandhi over "Violent Hindus" Row in parliament with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! I don't think I have ever watched a lively exchange in the Indian parliament before.
Why British Politicians are Obsessed with Photo-ops with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! Maybe take it as British humor? 😊
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Enjoy! Contains lot's of his famous dance moves! About the last two minutes of this video are dedicated to show many of his dance moves! No doubt that he was gifted from a very early age on! Maybe his fame was his killer!
Image of the day
German foreign minister Baerbock walks up these airport gangway stairs with her hands clasped over the belly around her smartphone and with high heel shoes! And it is wet outside! Credits
Number of actions the 46th President has taken against fossil fuels grows to 225, energy research group finds
Certainly, the administration of the lifelong, pathological and serial liar and senile, demented, and corrupt 46th President goes down in history as one of the most hostile to fossil fuels!
On day one in office, the 46th President stopped the Keystone Pipeline!
P.S. I was unable to find the underlying, cited report by Institute for Energy Resources. The article does not contain a link to it! A case of junk journalism!
"... The list hit 200 in March after growing by 25 from the previous September. The newest actions since March, many of which target oil and gas development in Alaska, include:
- Cutting oil and gas land auctions by 3,000 in New Mexico
- Passing a final methane rule regulating emissions on public land
- New EPA emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks
- Blocking 23 million acres of Alaska to oil and gas drilling
- Restricting new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres of Alaska
- Rejecting the Ambler Access Road, blocking mining development in Alaska
- Finalizing rules to create “conservation leases,” which block resource development
..."
Ziggy Marley's son has a bar mitzvah
Color me funky! 😊
Tom Browne - Funkin' for Jamaica "Jamaica funk, that's what it is"
"Last week, it was time for Abraham Marley, the grandson of reggae icon Bob Marley, to “get up, stand up” – the title of one of his granddad’s biggest hit songs – for his bar mitzvah. ...
Ziggy was raised in the Rastafarian faith of his father, and Rastafarianism is considered to be an Abrahamic religion, basing its belief system on the Torah. Abraham’s mother, Orly Agai Marley, is Israeli, of Iranian Jewish descent.
Support for Israel
Following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, Ziggy signed a letter supporting Israel released by the Creative Community for Peace, and on October 20, posted, “Free Gaza from Hamas.”
It's likely that if Bob, who died in 1981 from cancer at the age of 36, were alive today, he would have been proud to see his grandson taking his place as a member of the tribe. It was Bob who wrote, in “Redemption Song”: “How long shall they kill our prophets/While we stand aside and look? Ooh!/Some say it's just a part of it:/We've got to fulfill de book.”"
Ziggy Marley and his wife Orly
High level German intelligence official travels to Lebanon to meet with high level Hezbollah official for the second time this year
The article does not say how he was selected and why!
It appears that at this point that German media are not reporting about this trip except for ntv!
His CV states among other things: "2019-2021 Ambassador in Bagdad (Iraq) "
"German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) Deputy Director Ole Diehl met with Hezbollah's second-in-command, Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, on Saturday evening, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news organization Al Akhkbar reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The meeting in Beirut was the second time the two officials met, as in January, the two met to discuss the Iranian proxy's attacks on the Jewish state. ..."
Dr. Ole Diehl is Vice President of the Bundesnachrichtendienst since 2022.
Could AI help US intelligence end decades-long aversion to unclassified data?
Does this not sound eerily similar to past remarks made about the KGB of the former Soviet Union? The KGB did not trust Western media reporting, because they thought the media must be government controlled and disseminate false or misleading information. Irony of history!
Skynode S: Auterion autonomy kit lets attack drones fly through jamming
The drones arms race is already in full swing!
"... Ukraine losing thousands of drones a week to electronic warfare. ...
But now Auterion, a US-Swiss firm that works for the US, Britain, Holland and Ukraine, with production lines in Texas and Kyiv, says they’ve solved a big part of that problem. The company’s Skynode S upgrade kit, announced Thursday but already combat tested in Ukraine, is meant to make small drones smart enough to perform some crucial functions on their own. ..."
Moscow Mapped, Maybe Mined Important Infrastructure on North Sea Bottom
Putin the Terrible at work! I would not be surprised if this is confirmed!
"NATO countries suspect that Russia may have mined the EU’s critical underwater infrastructure in the North Sea based on data from companies that manage key oil and gas pipelines, and electricity and telecommunications cables, The Times reports. ..."
Putin the Terrible treats his soldiers in the Russo-Ukrainian War like canon fodder
This is my impression following the news about this war! Obviously, no or little precautions are taken by the Russian military to spare the lives of their soldiers! Russian soldiers are often sent needlessly into harms way without any regards!
When will the lethargic, apathetic, and slavish Russian people finally get rid of their last czar, the megalomaniac and war criminal Putin the Terrible! How many more young Russian men have to die or be maimed because Putin the Terrible has conducted a “special military operation” since February of 2022!
"More than 1,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine were killed or wounded on average each day in May, according to NATO and Western military officials." (Source)
Ongoing active rebuilding of Bombed Out Homes and Cities: Chernihiv, Ukraine
Good news (if you can call it that) from the brave and resilient people of the Ukraine! Bravo!
"... However, from the very first days of the full-scale war, volunteers from many countries have been helping Ukraine’s recovery effort. And a program of state funding for restoration has been working for a year now.Yet many people don’t bother to wait for compensation to be allocated to them; they repair and renovate their houses on their own. ...
The last major strike on the city was in May. We speak to one of the leaders of the rescue teams. ...
The last major strike on the city was in May. We speak to one of the leaders of the rescue teams. ...
According to the head of the Regional Administration, Vyacheslav Chaus, there are more than 10,000 affected sites in the region. But the pace of recovery over the past two years is also impressive – more than half of the damaged or destroyed sites have been restored. ..."
Some of the destroyed buildings have already been repaired, like this house – which was done at the city’s expense.
U.S. Supreme Court: Entitles a former President to absolute immunity!
It is amazing how many media outlets in the U.S. and overseas tried to downplay, belittle or or even misrepresent this decision by the SCOTUS! The decision is very clear and unambiguous!
Trump Derangement Syndrome again on display!
This is the court's summary:
"The nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority; he is also entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts; there is no immunity for unofficial acts."
The reverse side of the SCOTUS building. Too bad, many people are probably unfamiliar with it!
Russia’s Political Sclerosis Is Creating Regional Fiefdoms
Recommendable! Federalism versus centralism under Putin the Terrible!
Red square, Moscow
Monday, July 01, 2024
Ursula von der Leyen Reappointed: Leading the EU for Another 5 Years
Oh no! I was afraid this would happen! Hopefully, the European Parliament will do the right thing and vote no!
SEBEX 2 explosive: India achieves milestone in defence technology
India, a rising superpower! What would Mahatma Gandhi have to say about this?
Charles Darwin: Natural Selection | The Cell
Recommendable! Personally, I am not convinced of the "single cell" theory of the origin of life on Earth! Sounds too nice to be true!
Greg Kelly: Jill Biden is a 'very unusual woman'
Greg is spot on about the longtime accomplice and partner in crime of the 46th President!
Why does South Korea want to Impeach its President? with Palki Sharma
This would be the third president!
Britain's Sunak & Starmer go to Hindu Temples to woo Voters with Palki Sharma
Amazing stuff! India, a rising superpower! Have you converted to Hinduism already?
Will French Elections Trigger Another Euro Crisis? with Palki Sharma
Recommendable and concerning! France deep in government debt!
Taliban Reject Pakistan, Cosying up to India? with Palki Sharma
Amazing stuff! India is heavily investing in Afghanistan!
India Rolls out new Criminal Laws to Replace Colonial-era Ones with Palki Sharma
Good news! What took so long!
7-Eleven Is Reinventing Its $17B Food Business to Be More Japanese
Recommendable! Take a bite! Store employees will be wearing kimonos soon! (just kidding)
Image of the day
The longtime accomplice and partner in crime of the Biden Clan! She did everything she could to become and remain First Lady no matter the condition of her husband!
OpenAI Introduces CriticGPT: A New Artificial Intelligence AI Model based on GPT-4 to Catch Errors in ChatGPT's Code Output
Like pair programming? You need two to tango? 😊
Finding GPT-4’s mistakes with GPT-4 CriticGPT, a model based on GPT-4, writes critiques of ChatGPT responses to help human trainers spot mistakes during RLHF
Die Zeit läuft gegen Putin der Schreckliche und seinem Krieg in der Ukraine
Wann werden endlich die russischen Bürger diesen total anachronistischen, größenwahnsinnigen Kriegstreiber los werden und der Welt und der Zivilisation einen Gefallen tun!
Macht diesen schrecklichen, täglichen, und völlig unsinnigen Verlusten an Menschen und Material ein Ende!
Katy Integrated School District in Texas bans smart watches under new classroom policy to eliminate distractions
As long as don't ban school children! (Pardon my facetiousness!)
So dumb watches are still allowed? How about an abacus?
"Katy ISD students may no longer wear smart watches in class as part of a new school district policy.
The board of trustees at Monday’s meeting approved a measure that prohibits the use of smart watches entirely for elementary and middle school students and mandates that high school students may only use them outside of instructional time. ..."
Courtesy: Google Maps
Javier Milei: Popularisierer freiheitlicher Ideen
Empfehlenswert!
"... Ausgezeichnet wurde der vom Ökonomieprofessor zum liberalen Hoffnungsträger gewordene Milei am Samstag in Hamburg von dem liberalen Think-Tank mit der Hayek-Medaille, die früher unter anderem auch der polnische Reformer Leszek Balcerowicz erhalten hatte. Dabei konnte man einen – wie immer in Begleitung seiner Schwester auftretenden – sichtlich gelösten, zuweilen nachdenklichen und keineswegs aggressiven, aber leidenschaftlichen Liberalen erleben, der von Teilen der im Publikum anwesenden Argentinierinnen wie ein Pop-Star gefeiert wurde. ..."
His sister Karina
Will the 46th President voluntarily step down?
Don't bet on it!
His wife and longtime accomplice in crime is enjoying her privileged status as First Lady too much! Maybe any other, loving wife would have convinced her husband to quit under the circumstances for the benefit of the American people!
The enormous conundrum for the Dimocratic Party, which waited too long and allowed it to happen in the first place, is very palpable!
How was popcorn discovered? An archaeologist on its likely appeal for people in the Americas maybe as early as 6,700 years ago
Amazing stuff! Let that sink in or pop up! 😊
"... There’s evidence of maize farming from dry caves in Mexico as early as 9,000 years ago. From there, maize farming spread throughout North and South America.
Popped corn, preserved food
Figuring out when people started making popcorn is harder. There are several types of maize, most of which will pop if heated, but one variety, actually called “popcorn,” makes the best popcorn. Scientists have discovered phytoliths from Peru, as well as burned kernels, of this type of “poppable” maize from as early as 6,700 years ago. ..."
Snowball Earth and the rise of multicellularity
Amazing stuff! Shape and function or function follows form.
"For a billion years, single-celled eukaryotes ruled the planet. Then around 700 million years ago during Snowball Earth — a geologic era when glaciers may have stretched as far as the equator — a new creature burst into existence: the multicellular organism.
Why did multicellularity arise? ...
Common wisdom holds that oxygen levels had to hit a certain threshold for single cells to form multicellular colonies. But the oxygen story doesn’t fully explain why multicellular ancestors of animals, plants, and fungi appeared simultaneously, and why the transition to multicellularity took more than 1 billion years.
A new paper ... shows how specific physical conditions of Snowball Earth — especially ocean viscosity and resource deprivation — could have driven eukaryotes to turn multicellular. ..."
From the abstract:
"Molecular and fossil evidence suggests that complex eukaryotic multicellularity evolved during the late Neoproterozoic era, coincident with Snowball Earth glaciations, where ice sheets covered most of the globe. During this period, environmental conditions—such as seawater temperature and the availability of photosynthetically active light in the oceans–likely changed dramatically. Such changes would have had significant effects on both resource availability and optimal phenotypes. Here, we construct and apply mechanistic models to explore (i) how environmental changes during Snowball Earth and biophysical constraints generated selective pressures, and
(ii) how these pressures may have had differential effects on organisms with different forms of biological organization.
By testing a series of alternative—and commonly debated—hypotheses, we demonstrate how multicellularity was likely acquired differently in eukaryotes and prokaryotes owing to selective differences on their size due to the biophysical and metabolic regimes they inhabit: decreasing temperatures and resource availability instigated by the onset of glaciations generated selective pressures towards smaller sizes in organisms in the diffusive regime and towards larger sizes in motile heterotrophs. These results suggest that changing environmental conditions during Snowball Earth glaciations gave multicellular eukaryotes an evolutionary advantage, paving the way for the complex multicellular lineages that followed."
(ii) how these pressures may have had differential effects on organisms with different forms of biological organization.
By testing a series of alternative—and commonly debated—hypotheses, we demonstrate how multicellularity was likely acquired differently in eukaryotes and prokaryotes owing to selective differences on their size due to the biophysical and metabolic regimes they inhabit: decreasing temperatures and resource availability instigated by the onset of glaciations generated selective pressures towards smaller sizes in organisms in the diffusive regime and towards larger sizes in motile heterotrophs. These results suggest that changing environmental conditions during Snowball Earth glaciations gave multicellular eukaryotes an evolutionary advantage, paving the way for the complex multicellular lineages that followed."
Figure 1. (a) Non-motile diffusive cell. The spherical cell takes in all nutrients at the cell’s surface (C = 0), causing chemical resources (e.g. glucose) to diffuse towards the cell from far away (C = C∞). (b) Motile choanoblastula. The organism is hollow with an outer radius a, and swims at a velocity v.
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