Thoughts

2024oct11.     Nobel chemistry.    

… the award honored research that made connections between amino acid sequence and protein structure.    "That was actually called a grand challenge in chemistry, and in particular in biochemistry, for decades. So, it's that breakthrough that gets awarded today," he said.    Baker works at the University of Washington in Seattle, while Hassabis and Jumper both work at Google Deepmind in London.    Baker designed a new protein in 2003 and his research group has since produced one imaginative protein creation after another, including proteins that can be used as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors, the Nobel committee said.    

"The number of designs that they have, produced and published, and ... the variety is absolutely mind blowing. It seems that you can almost construct any type of protein with this technology," said Professor Johan Åqvist of the Nobel committee.    Hassabis and Jumper created an artificial intelligence model that has been able to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that researchers have identified, the committee added.    Linke said scientists had long dreamt of predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins.    "Four years ago in 2020, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper managed to crack the code. With skillful use of artificial intelligence, they made it possible to predict the complex structure of essentially any known protein in nature," Linke said.    "Another dream of scientists has been to build new proteins to learn how to use nature's multi-tool for our own purposes. This is the problem that David Baker solved," he added. "He developed computational tools that now enable scientists to design spectacular new proteins with entirely novel shapes and functions, opening endless possibilities for the greatest benefit to humankind."   https://www.npr.org/2024/10/09/g-s1-27123/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-awarded-to-david-baker-demis-hassabis-and-john-jumper

The pair of scientists used artificial intelligence to predict the structures of almost all known proteins and created a tool called AlphaFold2.    Proteins are made of chains of building blocks called amino acids that each fold in a unique shape. Scientists had long struggled to predict the shape of each of the millions of proteins, but that structure drives what it does in the human body.    Understanding the structure is crucial to knowing how to target the protein and alter its behaviour, which is crucial in medicine.     The Nobel committee called AlphaFold2 a "complete revolution", and the tool is now used for 200 million proteins worldwide.    Before the pair starting working on the problem, just a tiny fraction of protein structures had been worked out.    The pair received one half of the Nobel prize. The other half was awarded to Prof Baker for what the committee called the "almost impossible feat" of building new proteins.    In 2003 Prof Baker used amino acids to design a new protein, opening the door to the creation of new proteins used in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other tools.    He too used computer software in predicting protein structures, designing the Rosette programme in the 1990s.  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrm0p2mxvyo 

Contents     

  (in key-word terms -- search page for key-word interest)

anti-matter

climate change

closure

dark energy

education

ego death -- addiction

friends

fifth nature force

higher technology (space travel)

improvement  -- perfection

modus operandi

muse  -- Harv's 'writing' -- happiness --

net neutrality 

parent responsibility

quantum gravity

rogue planets

secularism

social media

Stoicism

universe

weight loss -- fiber  --  diet  --  

wholly spirit -- retirement

technology -- wind turbines -- batteries  --  browsers  --  

2024july06.     13 presidential win causers.    

Watch 6min video.    https://www.wsj.com/video/series/news-explainers/presidential-historian-explains-why-dropping-biden-wont-help-democrats/3368DA73-3AA5-4ABE-B31C-03C34FBB98BA?mod=WSJvidctr_mostpopular_pos3

2024jun11.     human male mindset.    

Why would lions make such a dangerous crossing?    “Sex,” said Craig Packer, who ran the Serengeti Lion Project for 35 years and wasn’t involved in the study. “If there’s nobody to mate with, what are you doing? You’re a male lion. You don’t have a very long life span, so you have to get on with it, especially if you’re wounded.”    Local conditions also played a part. According to Dr. Braczkowski, the park’s lion population has fallen to around 40 today from 71 lions in 2018, with at least 17 lions, mostly females, poisoned by nearby residents aiming to protect their livestock. Males  outnumber females two to one.  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/science/swimming-lions-3-legged.html        Even at 86, Harv has this male mindset -- engrained mentally (DNA or learned) -- and at 86 with little if not physical attractiveness -- yet an attractive -- to him -- female does get instant study, although tempered by time and experience.

2024jun06.     higher technology.    Israel has been deploying the GBU-39s since 2008, using them in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. The bombs have a range of at least 40 miles and are guided by GPS with coordinates for specific targets set before the weapons are launched. Experts say the GBU-39 is so precise that it can hit specific rooms within buildings.        Most strike aircraft can carry eight GBU-39s at a time, and each can be independently guided to various targets. That makes them an efficient weapon for Israel’s army, said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services.  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/world/middleeast/us-israel-bomb-gbu39-gaza.html

2024may29.     higher technology.    After it dropped away from the upper stage, the booster was able to gently set down in the Gulf of Mexico while the second-stage spacecraft traveled halfway around the world, survived the searing temperatures of re-entering the atmosphere and also made a controlled splashdown, in the Indian Ocean.         The outcome also helps validate the company’s break-it-then-fix-it approach to engineering, with steady progress since the first test launch in April last year when the rocket had to be deliberately destroyed when it flew off course.        Harv has yet to sutdy his Me-Self from a "break-it" not necessarily intentionally, then take the pieces that coalesce, then move into an available next opportunity for what now Harv labels as personal growth (for all involved?). He has easily seen his self as Mr.FixIt.        If Starship can fly again and again, more like a jetliner than a conventional rocket, it could transform a global space launch industry that SpaceX already dominates.    Today’s flight is also likely encouraging for officials at NASA. They are counting on SpaceX to provide a version of Starship to take astronauts to the surface of the moon during NASA’s Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for late 2026.        After reaching a peak altitude of about 130 miles, the Starship upper-stage vehicle fell back to Earth, as planned, and re-entered the atmosphere. Cameras on the spacecraft captured an vibrant glow of gases heating up beneath it.    At an altitude of about 30 miles, pieces started peeling away from one of the steering flaps near the top of the spacecraft, with the flap continued to work. The camera’s view then became obstructed when debris cracked the lens.    “The question is how much of the ship is left,” said Kate Tice, one of the hosts of the SpaceX broadcast.        For Harv, his Me-Self seems completed after many 'break-its'.         “Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” Mr. Musk wrote on X.        The damaged flap and the loss of heat-resistant tiles points to crucial upgrades still needed. Otherwise, Starship would, like the space shuttles, require extensive refurbishment after each flight.    “But that’s all fixable,” Mr. Dumbacher said. “It’s a step in the right direction, and there are more steps that have to be taken.”    Earlier in the flight, the rocket’s first stage, the giant Super Heavy booster was also able to perform maneuvers that in the future would take it back to the launch site. For this flight, it simulated such a landing by setting down in the Gulf of Mexico. All three previous attempts at that feat have ended in explosions.  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/science/spacex-starship-fourth-test-flight.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20240606&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=168877&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024may29.     emptiness.    “Emptiness,” in contrast, is the “presence of potential.”  This state is experienced as open, creative, full of potential in the form of abundant energy.  It is without forms, but is not a space of destroyed or pulverized forms (as with the Void).  It invites us into it, is not (when we are fully recognizing and encountering it) threatening, is not toxic or unsafe.  The archetypal open meadow on a sunny day in Spring, lying on our backs staring up, is the state of “Emptiness”:  we are not threatened by the space, and can feel and tap into the vast energy and possibilities.  It is a space in which the lack of “objects” is not experienced as horrid;  we are drawn to this space, when we recognize it, because it is where life arises.  http://www.psychedinsanfrancisco.com/understanding-depression/

Question:  I've noticed as a general pattern, that through changes in life, often "holes" arise.       Hole, in terms of: the absence of something, that used to be there and fulfill a fundamental function or archetype one became used to, in a way to build their future on it.    What to fill those with?  Or how to deal with them?         Answer: I've found, at least for myself, whenever I feel the effects of various holes in my life, that taking the time to examine what, precisely, the person or thing that once filled this hole actually contributed to my life, and then finding ways to fill this need on my own or seeing if this void is something I can live with.        These "holes" are opportunities for us to discover more about ourselves; without this forced self examination through loss, we become complacent in who we are, which is a death sentence for progress.   https://www.reddit.com/r/intj/comments/v6d71i/what_to_fill_psychological_holesvoids_with/

2024may29.     diet.    https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/resources/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-online-materials/food-sources-select-nutrients/food-0        

2024may29.     browsers.    ... internet surfing can be speedier with privacy browsers, some users and security professionals say, partly because they aren’t loading ads on pages.    “If your computer is less busy making thousands of requests to the web, it’s going to go a lot faster,” says Jean-Paul Schmetz, chief executive of Ghostery and a board observer at Brave.  https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/internet-browsing-privacy-99ee0be8?mod=lead_feature_below_a_pos1

2024may21. friends   It Takes at Least 200 Hours to Make a Close Friendship, and More to Maintain It.        Working to keep up friendships can be logistically tough but good for us physically, mentally and emotionally.   https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/how-much-time-close-friend-a63350c3#

Conversations with people you don’t see eye to eye with can be difficult, but they still can be productive. Conflict-resolution experts recommend practicing what you’re going to say, incorporating strategies such as using “I” instead of “you” and “yes, and” instead of “but.” Be an active listener by summarizing what the person said and then asking if you heard it correctly. End the talk by discussing your next steps.  https://whatsnews.cmail19.com/t/d-e-etthuz-iudygtktd-r/

2024may16. mind food.   Why is it important to feed your mind?        Our thoughts shape our reality, and when we feed our minds with quality content, we lay the foundation for a more positive, fulfilling, and successful life. The choice is yours: choose to nourish your mind with enriching content and surround yourself with positive influences.May 13, 2023(Google) Feeding Your Mind: The Power of Positive Content - LinkedIn

Just like junk food, poor quality television shows can offer a temporary escape from reality and an instant dose of entertainment, but their long-term impact on our mental health can be harmful. They often perpetuate unrealistic expectations, foster unhealthy behaviors, and do little to cultivate our intellectual curiosity or enrich our knowledge.    Similarly, engaging with negative people is like ingesting a slow-acting poison. The pessimistic attitudes, the chronic complaining, the constant criticism – these are toxic elements that can seep into your own mindset, influencing your thoughts, your behavior, and ultimately your happiness.     And let's not forget the cesspool of negativity that can be social media. While these platforms have the potential to connect us with inspiring people, useful information, and positive communities, they can also be filled with drama, gossip, and falsehoods that do more harm than good.    The moral of the story is simple: Make conscious decisions about the media you consume and the people you interact with. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media feeds filled with negativity, choose to follow accounts that inspire, motivate, and educate. Swap the tabloid TV shows for documentaries, educational programs, or thought-provoking films. Opt to spend time with people who uplift you, challenge you, and contribute to your personal growth.    And remember, there's a vast universe of positive and educational content out there waiting for you to explore. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/feeding-your-mind-power-positive-content-matt-soble#:~:text=Our%20thoughts%20shape%20our%20reality,surround%20yourself%20with%20positive%20influences.

Are Smartphones Starving Adolescent Brains?        Dr. James Winston and his groundbreaking theory that digital addiction causes a nutritional deficiency In developing brains.        There has been a lot of news recently about the deleterious effects on the developing brains of children and adolescents who spend too much time online. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (@afterbabel) and many others who have studied it pin most of the blame for spiraling rates of poor adolescent and teen mental health — including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation — on social media. “The costs of using social media, in particular, are high for adolescents, compared with adults, while the benefits are minimal,” Haidt writes in his latest bestseller, The Anxious Generation.  https://www.justthefacts.media/p/are-smartphones-starving-adolescent

2024apr23. technology.   Huang is the king of the tech universe. He has managed to adapt his company’s semiconductor designs from computer graphics to training artificial-intelligence systems, making his chips essential for tech companies from Microsoft to Tesla.        ... Taiwanese-born immigrant who famously mapped out plans for his company at a Denny’s restaurant more than 30 years ago.        A fan of “Only The Paranoid Survive,” a book by legendary Intel CEO Andy Grove about converting near-failure into lasting success, the 61-year-old Huang encourages a startup-like culture where his 30,000 employees act as though they’re a month away from going out of business. He has said he searches for hard problems, solves them, then tries to forget how difficult it all was.        Nvidia’s foundational idea was to target so-called accelerated computing. The chips at the heart of every computer—central processing units, or CPUs—are digital jacks-of-all-trades, capable of doing a variety of calculations reasonably well. Accelerated computing was the notion that specialist chips could do better at some tasks. Nvidia focused on improving computer graphics.        The company made billions of dollars selling graphics processing units, or GPUs, in its first couple of decades, catering to PC gamers who prized sharper resolution and faster-refreshing screens.    In 2006, after noticing that medical researchers were starting to use Nvidia graphics cards, Huang opened up the GPUs for anyone.    Several years later, researchers outside the company discovered that Nvidia’s GPUs were excellent for AI computation. The math needed to build complex AI systems dovetails with the way graphics chips work—by doing a multitude of calculations at once.         The artificial-intelligence systems behind the current boom in generative AI—language models like the ones that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT—are especially dependent on Nvidia’s GPUs. Educating these systems involves crunching data on a scale with little precedent. ChatGPT was built using tens of thousands of Nvidia’s GPUs.        Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month talked up plans to spend what will amount to billions more dollars this year for his growing AI ambitions. “By the end of this year, we’re going to have 350,000 Nvidia H100s (Nvidia’s advanced GPUs),” he said.         Microsoft said in a statement that its custom chips were complementary to Nvidia’s, not replacements, and allow customers to choose the optimal price and performance. Google offers its own chips alongside Nvidia’s to give customers a wide menu of chips based on their budget and technical needs, according to a person familiar with the company’s chip strategy. Even as it develops homegrown options, Amazon pointed to its long-term partnership with Nvidia, expanded last year, and said it offered the widest array of the company’s chips in its cloud service.         Analyst Srini Pajjuri of Raymond James estimated that it costs Nvidia just over $3,000 to make one of its advanced H100 chips, which sells for about $25,000.        One of his long-term focuses outside of AI is the notion that his chips could help in drug discovery and computational biology.  https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-vision-company-f05db212?mod=article_inline

2024apr09.  closure.    What science says about closure.    Closure may sometimes give someone a feeling of control where there wasn't one before, and it may provide a stronger foundation from which one can take action and move forward.     The need for closure may stem from the way the human mind makes sense of the world.      And give insight into why others involved exercised their autocratic control (chain of command) without explanation.        The intensity of a person's need for closure may depend largely on their personality. People with an intense need for closure may be used to being in control and prefer life to go as planned. They may feel distressed by and have a desire to avoid uncertainty, and their sense of safety and well-being may depend on structure and plans. In addition to individual differences in personality, situational factors can impact the extent to which someone may feel the need to achieve closure.        Conversely, people with less need for closure may tend to be more creative, open-minded, social, willing to "go with the flow," and spontaneous. These individuals may have already made up their minds about a situation, but they can often remain willing to consider alternatives. They may also be more likely to enjoy spontaneous activities and keep friends who are unpredictable.        https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/relations/defining-closure-psychology/#

2024apr09.  dark energy.    If the work of dark energy were constant over time, it would eventually push all the stars and galaxies so far apart that even atoms could be torn asunder, sapping the universe of all life, light, energy and thought, and condemning it to an everlasting case of the cosmic blahs. Instead, it seems, dark energy is capable of changing course and pointing the cosmos toward a richer future.        The new finding has about a one-in-400 chance of being a statistical fluke, a degree of uncertainty called three sigma, which is far short of the gold standard for a discovery, called five sigma: one chance in 1.7 million. In the history of physics, even five-sigma events have evaporated when more data or better interpretations of the data emerged.  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/science/space/astronomy-universe-dark-energy.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20240409&instance_id=119706&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=162992&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024apr04.  write template.    William LeMessurier - The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis: A Lesson in Professional Behavior.  https://onlineethics.org/cases/engineers-and-scientists-behaving-well/william-lemessurier-fifty-nine-story-crisis-lesson        

2024apr03.  education.     https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/gen-z-trades-jobs-plumbing-welding-a76b5e43?mod=djemwhatsnews

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2024mar30.  modus operandi.     Stoicism.        Stoicism is more popular than ever. Too bad it’s so incoherent now.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/03/28/stoicism-ryan-holiday-mark-tuitert/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d3e8aa%2F6608354522dc3c657a8a9f0a%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F32%2F46%2F6608354522dc3c657a8a9f0a        Complete my cutting of the NY professor's video class as the coherent version.

2024mar30.  modus operandi.     Opinion  The internet was supposed to make humanity smarter. It’s failing.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/29/internet-conspiracy-theories-misinformation-media/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d3e8a7%2F6608354522dc3c657a8a9f0a%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F26%2F46%2F6608354522dc3c657a8a9f0a        Rather, the user fails if they stop at their favorite influencers.  Personally, I read multipe sources of the same news, and trust/practice my self to choose a reality that works for me as to longevity and QOL.

2024mar27.  muse.     Daniel Kahneman, an Israeli American psychologist and best-selling author whose Nobel Prize-winning research upended economics — as well as fields ranging from sports to public health — by demonstrating the extent to which people abandon logic and leap to conclusions, died March 27. He was 90.        Dr. Kahneman’s research was best known for debunking the notion of “homo economicus,” the “economic man” who since the epoch of Adam Smith was considered a rational being who acts out of self-interest. Instead, Dr. Kahneman found, people rely on intellectual shortcuts that often lead to wrongheaded decisions that go against their own best interest.    These misguided decisions occur because humans “are much too influenced by recent events,” Dr. Kahneman once said. “They are much too quick to jump to conclusions under some conditions and, under other conditions, they are much too slow to change.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/03/27/daniel-kahneman-dead/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

2024mar27.  muse.     Harv's fatal fault ?         NEW YORK (AP) — A media frenzy was born on Feb. 27, when the hashtag #WhereIsKate exploded online with speculation about the whereabouts of Britain’s Princess of Wales. It opened a rabbit hole of amateur detective work, memes, bizarre theories and jokes — mixed with genuine concern about Kate’s health — into which thousands of people descended until her announcement last week that she was recovering from cancer.    The episode offered the royal family — and everyone else — a lesson in the modern world of online media: If your silence leaves an information vacuum, others will rush to fill it. And the results may be messy.  https://kesq.com/news/2024/03/27/the-british-royal-family-learns-that-if-you-dont-fill-an-information-vacuum-someone-else-will/

2024mar06.  secularism.     It’s been 100 years since the world had a formally recognized caliphate. That’s because, on March 3, 1924, the leaders of the then-new, secular Turkish republic moved to abolish the institution that had prevailed in various forms for centuries, stretching back to the founding of Islam.    The caliph — not wholly unlike the pontiff in Rome for Catholics — was the leading, unifying temporal authority of the Muslim world. The institution shifted across the expanding political geography of Islam, moving from Arabia to the venerable cities of Damascus, Syria, and Baghdad and later to Egypt. Its clout and authority waxed and waned through wars, invasions and political upheavals, but it endured. As the Ottoman Empire became a continent-straddling Muslim superpower, its sultan assumed the spiritual trappings of the Caliph.        TRAPPINGS: plural noun; accessories, trimmings, frills, accompaniments, extras, ornaments, ornamentation, adornment, decoration; regalia, paraphernalia, apparatus, finery, frippery, livery, fittings, accoutrements; appurtenances, appointments, equipage, equipment, gear, effects, things, panoply; baggage, impedimenta; informal bells and whistles, stuff, bits and pieces, bits and bobs; archaic trumpery.        But the caliphate did not survive the Ottoman empire’s turbulent collapse and disintegration by the end of World War I. By 1924, Turkey’s new leaders — chiefly the ruthlessly modernizing Mustafa Kemal Pasha, or Ataturk, as he’s widely remembered — had already dismantled the Ottoman sultanate in their fashioning of a new Turkish state out of the ashes of empire. The spiritual role of the Caliph was still occupied by Abdulmejid II, a meek Ottoman scion who would soon be forced into exile along with his immediate family.        In foreign reportage, a stark narrative was already set: An Oriental anachronism was being swept away by the tide of history. The dissolution of the caliphate, noted the Economist on March 8, 1924, “marks an epoch in the expansion of Western ideas over the non-Western world, for our Western principles of national sovereignty and self-government are the real forces to which But they were short-lived, Middle East scholar Martin Kramer noted. “After the 1930s, the caliphate remained a curious slogan for eccentrics, until more recent times, when caliphate fever seized some of the more apocalyptic Islamists, those obsessed with reenacting early Islam in painstaking detail,” he wrote, gesturing to the violent delusions of the Islamic State and Islamist militants. the unfortunate ‘Abdu’l Mejid Efendi has fallen a victim.”    Ataturk would go on to dramatically transform Turkey: The Arabic script was shed for the Latin one; mosques delivered sermons in Turkish, not Arabic; muscular nationalism and draconian secularism defined the state, much to the chagrin of more pious Turks and ethnic minorities like the Kurds.    The loss of the caliphate had an obvious impact well beyond modern Turkey’s borders. Anger over the post-World War I dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire inflamed the politics of British-ruled India, with countless Indian Muslims mobilizing in what was dubbed the Khilafat Movement. It drew the support of other non-Muslim Indian opponents to British rule, including Mahatma Gandhi.    Other attempts at reviving the institution of the caliphate elsewhere in the Muslim world flared in the 1920s.        Ataturk’s legacy sowed the seeds of the political backlash now seen in the religiously tinged nationalism of long-ruling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Turkey could have avoided the excesses of the Kemalist “single party” era — especially the “revolutions” that blatantly violated religious freedom — and develop a more religion-friendly secularism,” Akyol argued. “Then it could have avoided the revengeful religious comeback under Erdogan, too.”  https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=65e7f9a01c99264ac92d08c8&linknum=2&linktot=60

2024mar04.  space travel.     Because the laser instruments on Odysseus for measuring altitude were not working during descent, the spacecraft landed faster than planned on a 12-degree slope. That exceeded its design limits. Odysseus skidded along the surface, broke one of its six legs and tipped to its side.    If the laser instruments had been operating, “We would have nailed the landing,” Mr. Altemus said during a news conference last week.    The same concerns will apply for SpaceX’s humongous Starship, which will take two NASA astronauts to the moon’s surface as soon as 2026.    Starship, as tall as a 16-story building, will have to come down perfectly vertically and avoid significant slopes. But those should be solvable engineering challenges, Dr. Metzger said.    “It removes some of the margin of error in your dynamic stability, but it doesn’t remove all the margin of error,” Dr. Metzger said of a tall lander. “The amount of margin that you have left is manageable as long as your other systems on the spacecraft are functioning.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/science/moon-landing-sideways-gravity.html

2024feb25.  wholly spirit.     CONFIRMATION BIAS: noun: the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.(OAD)

2024jan26.  secularism.     In addition to being the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in our nation’s history, Gen Z adults also identify as LGBTQ at much higher rates than older Americans. Like millennials, Gen Zers are also less likely than older generations to affiliate with an established religion.         Gen Z adults (ages 18–25) and Gen Z teens (13–17)        Gen Z adults identify as Democrats, and this rate is similar to other generations, with the exception of Gen Xers, who are less Democratic (31%).        With the exception of millennials (24%), Gen Z adults (28%) are notably less likely than other generational cohorts to identify as conservative. And Gen Z adults (43%) identify as liberal at a higher rate than other generations. A plurality of Gen Z teens (44%) identify as moderate.    While Gen Z women are substantially more liberal than Gen Z men (47% vs. 38%), that gender gap is smaller among Gen Z teens, with 27% of teen girls and 21% of teen boys identifying as liberal. By contrast, white teens are more likely to identify as conservative (38%) than non-white teens (21%).  https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/PRRI-Jan-2024-Gen-Z-Draft.pdf

2024jan25.  ego.     We also spoke to sex therapists and researchers who said that discrepancies in sexual desire were common, almost to the point of inevitability in long-term relationships. Research suggests that desire differences are one of the top reasons couples seek out therapy.    “I’m inclined to say that this happens in almost every partnership, either some of the time or more perpetually,” said Lauren Fogel Mersy, a psychologist, sex therapist and co-author of the forthcoming book “Desire: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating Libido Differences in Relationships.”          Many factors can influence libido: interpersonal dynamics, physical and mental health, the social messages around sexuality that people absorb during childhood and adolescence. The list goes on, and there are seldom easy fixes. But Dr. Fogel Mersy and other experts said more communication could help couples bridge gaps in sexual desire.        When she sees clients with libido differences, Dr. Elisabeth Gordon, a psychiatrist and sex therapist, does not focus on lowering one partner’s sex drive or increasing the other’s. Instead, she helps partners understand what is driving those differences — which could be anything from relationship concerns to work stress — and, crucially, how to talk about them.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/well/family/sex-drive-libido-partner.html

2024jan24-25.  secularism.   The phase the country is in now, said Cragun — who co-wrote the book “Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society,” which was published last year — is moving past the debate among social scientists about whether the United States is becoming more secular. Decades of global research done by the World Values Survey, starting in the 1980s, showed by the 2010s that religion was declining, Cragun said.    “That debate is over. Now we’re debating: What will the future look like? What will people turn to?” he said.    Cragun said he subscribes to a theory of Swiss sociologist Jörg Stolz that a key driving force behind religion’s decline is “the culmination of growing autonomy in society. People don’t like being told what they should do or what they should not do, especially when the teller isn’t especially qualified. Increasingly, people are saying, ‘Why do I need a pastor to tell me what to do? What makes them any more insightful than this academic journal?’ The rise of the nones is the manifestation of a move toward greater autonomy of individuals.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/24/nones-no-religion-study/?utm_campaign=wp_evening_edition&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

He says the growth of Nones could affect American public life.    "We know politically for example," Smith says, "that religious Nones are very distinctive. They are among the most strongly and consistently liberal and Democratic constituencies in the United States."    And that could change electoral politics in the coming decades.    The political power of white Evangelicals has been well-reported in recent decades, but their numbers are shrinking while the number of the more liberal Nones is on the rise.    However, Smith points out that Nones are also less civically engaged than those who identify with a religion – they're less likely to vote. So, while they identify as Democrats, getting them to the polls on election day may prove to be a challenge.  https://www.npr.org/2024/01/24/1226371734/religious-nones-are-now-the-largest-single-group-in-the-u-s?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240125&utm_term=9232873&utm_campaign=news&utm_id=57283407&orgid=502&utm_att1=

2024jan15.  wholly spirit.   SRF Lesson Nine.        (14%) In every human heart there is an inborn spirit of inquiry. But to have correctness of thought you must be guided both by your intellect and your soul. Reason can produce correct thinking or fallacious thinking, and most people have not learned to distinguish between the two. Hence, as they explore in the forest of thought, they easily become lost in confusion or misled by erroneous assumptions.        (16%) What God is cannot be fully grasped by the human intellect, nor expressed in words; but the immanent-transcendent conception of God, taught in Yoga philosophy and succinctly summarized in the Bhagavad Gita, is the most nearly correct. People have believed variously that God is many, or that He is one, or that God and matter exist separately India's wisdom teaches that God is everything and beyond everything, that matter and God are essentially the same - Existence, Consciousness, Bliss - just as the waves and the ocean are essentially the same. God is the infinite ocean of Spirit; He manifests as finite waves of creation. He is all manifested things, and at the same time He is the unmanifested pure cosmic consciousness of Spirit.

2024jan13.  muse.   Too many people, especially progressives, fail to think deeply about the enduring sources of his appeal...        Trump got three big things right — or at least more right than wrong.    Arguably the single most important geopolitical fact of the century is the mass migration of people from south to north and east to west, causing tectonic demographic, cultural, economic, and ultimately political shifts. Trump understood this from the start of his presidential candidacy in 2015, the same year Europe was overwhelmed by a largely uncontrolled migration from the Middle East and Africa.        Only now, as the consequences of Biden’s lackadaisical approach to mass migration have become depressingly obvious on the sidewalks and in the shelters and public schools of liberal cities like New York and Chicago, are Trump’s opponents on this issue beginning to see the point. Public services paid by taxes exist for people who live here, not just anyone who makes his way into the country by violating its laws.         Trump points to migrant law violation while he personally violates the law as a sleight of hand.        It said something about the self-deluded state of Western politics when Trump came on the scene that his assertion of the obvious was treated as a moral scandal, at least by the stratum of society that had the least to lose from mass migration. To millions of other Americans, his message, however crudely he may have expressed it, sounded like plain common sense.        ... liberal elites insist that things are going well while overwhelming majorities of Americans say they are not        including COA        , Trump’s unflattering view captured the mood of the country.        channeled the mood        In 2017,         there was a palpable sense of economic decline, with fewer and fewer younger Americans having any hope of matching their parents’ incomes at the same stages of life.        lost the will/responsibility to work ?         ... institutions did their own work in squandering, through partisanship or incompetence, the esteem in which they had once been widely held.        Much of the elite media, mostly liberal, became openly partisan in the 2016 election — and, in doing so, not only failed to understand why Trump won but also probably unwittingly contributed to his victory. Academia, also mostly liberal, became increasingly illiberal, inhospitable not just to conservatives but to anyone pushing back even modestly against progressive orthodoxy.        As it is, the 2024 election will not hinge on questions of democracy but of delivery: Which candidate will do more for voters? That will turn on perceptions of which candidate did more for voters when they were in office. Biden’s supporters are convinced that the president has a good story to tell. But they also think that Trump has no story at all — only a pack of self-aggrandizing lies. That’s liberal self-delusion.        Then there's Chris Christie's campaign withdrawal speech challenge.        https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/opinion/columnists/donald-trump-election.html

'A Lifelong Nightmare’: Seeking Justice in India’s Overwhelmed Courts.    With 50 million criminal and civil cases pending, it would take 300 years to clear the country’s judicial backlog.        This is where US is on immigration.        https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/world/asia/india-judicial-backlog.html

Johnson Says He’ll Stand by Deal to Avert Shutdown, Spurning Hard-Right Demands.    The House speaker is facing intense pressure from far-right Republicans to abandon the agreement he struck with Democrats to keep the government from partially shutting down next week.        This is where US is with MAGA.        https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/us/politics/spending-deal-johnson-shutdown.html

2024jan01.  wholly spirit.   SRF Lesson Eight.        (14%) In Spirit the state of being (the Knower), the act of perception (the Knowing), and the object of perception (the Known) are One; hence there is no vibration only eternal, transcendental stillness: ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Joy (Sat-Chit-Ananda).        There existed? a void.        When Spirit created the universe, the first manifestation was vibration the vibration of thought by which the undifferentiated Absolute (Spirit)     the void    became three: the Creator, the power of creation, and the object created (the finite universe) the non-void.        (16%) The very first verses of St. John's Gospel (which can rightly be called "Genesis According to St. John") gives a most beautiful and scientific description of the origin of creation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made."        the Word/God void        (21%) God is the Supreme Intelligence, the invisible factory of intelligence from which all manifested things are created, born, and harmoniously developed.        That Supreme Intelligence which governs everything is God.        the void        (23%) The Biblical writers, lacking the scientific terminology used in modern times, called it "Holy Ghost" a ghostlike Invisible Force that sustained everything and was holy because it was controlled by the sacred Intelligence of God. This projected creative power is the manifestation of God that can be known by attunement with the Aum sound.         (26%) Man apprehends the phenomena of objective nature (more or less, according to their subtlety) with his senses and reasoning intellect. The noumenon behind the phenomenon consciousness as the causal essence of man and creation is beyond the grasp of human intelligence. Human intelligence can give knowledge only of phenomena; noumena must be known through intuition, the power by which consciousness apprehends itself. Ordinary human beings therefore cognize the natural universe around them but not the immanent Spirit. Thus, though God is manifest everywhere (as the Cosmic Intelligent Vibration Aum or Holy Ghost), His essence is secreted behind the veil of Nature's phenomena.         (30%) "These things saith the Amen (Aum), the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."Revelation3.14  St. John thus speaks of the cosmic Aum sound as the faithful witness to the running of the Cosmic Motor the Force that projected creation, and the sound of its vibration as it upholds atomic, planetary, and stellar creation, the sound emanating from the balanced rhythm of the cosmos.

2023dec30.  space travel.   Launched in 2018, NASA Parker Solar Probe has the goal of making repeated, and ever closer, passes of the Sun.  https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67837161

2023dec25.  wholly spirit.   How to Be a Stoic (2017) Pigliucci Location 110. ... by profession a scientist and philosopher, I have therefore always been inclined to seek more coherent ways to understand the world (through science) and better choices for living my life (through philosophy).        Location 222. Stoicism is yet another (unstraightforward) path devised by humanity to develop a more coherent view of the world, of who we are, and of how we fit into the broader scheme of things. The need for this sort of insight seems to be universal, ...        Harv's first thought of above was to translate unstraightforward as complicated.  Sure, Harv is complicated, but a second thought; Harv is complicated because of his human doings, some were incorrect for him, including philosophy(ies). For the future, Harv's life-flow philosophy should be of simple understandable uncomplication.

For example, in study of his Youthful Spirit, Harv sees his personal epochs.

Harv's evolving philosophy exemplifies in his latest epoch rather than the preponderance of chasing-to-please action of previous epochs.        Location 106. ... through a combination of cultural happenstance, life’s vicissitudes, and deliberate philosophical choice. In retrospect, it seems inevitable that my path would eventually lead me to the Stoics. Ex-wife Elaine proclaimed Harv a Stoic -- he still doesn't understand that meaning.    Location 117. I have been on my own in dealing with questions of where my morals and the meaning in my life come from. For Harv, his own philosophy began with his daily Mass missal reading between the lines, promoted by parodical education.    Location 134. in Stoicism I have found a rational, science-friendly philosophy that includes a metaphysics with a spiritual dimension, is explicitly open to revision, and, most importantly, is eminently practical. The Stoics accepted the scientific principle of universal causality: everything has a cause, and everything in the universe unfolds according to natural processes.    Location 140. ... by far the distinguishing feature of Stoicism is its practicality: it began in the guise of, and has always been understood as, a quest for a happy and meaningful life.    Location 190. ... moral character is the only truly worthy thing to cultivate; health, education, and even wealth are considered “preferred indifferents” (although Stoics don’t advocate asceticism, and many of them historically enjoyed the good things in life). Such “externals” do not define who we are as individuals and have nothing to do with our personal worth, which depends on our character and our exercise of the virtues. In this sense, Stoicism is eminently democratic, cutting across social classes: whether you are rich or poor, healthy or sick, educated or ignorant, it makes no difference to your ability to live a moral life and thus achieve what the Stoics called ataraxia, or tranquillity of mind.  Harv was not born into calm !  He quickly learned to avoid 'unsafe' circumstance.  Reenforcement came as latch-key kid, eating on restaurant meal tickets, summers on the farm with relatives.  He became that loner that he remains today, although with differing life-style -- and certainly NOT age-appropriate .

Location 206. The idea was that in order to decide on the best approach to self-living we also need to understand the nature of the world and  the nature of the self (metaphysics), how it works (natural science), and how (imperfectly) we come to understand it (epistemology). Another web-site page defines Harv's universal self with the core seed being POCTA -- its Point Of Choice To Action.    Location 203. The original Stoicism, for instance, was a comprehensive philosophy that included not only ethics but also a metaphysics, a natural science, and specific approaches to logic and epistemology (that is, a theory of knowledge). The Stoics considered these other aspects of their philosophy important because they fed into and informed their main concern: how to live one’s life.  Harv's web-site blog then 'lives' his life, with calendar residuals highlighting where his self is going as he repeats/drags his existence-needs tasks into the future.

Location 82. ... the ultimate question: how do we best prepare for the final test of our character, the moment when we die?    Location 149. ... we live in a society where life keeps being extended by modern science and more and more of us will consequently find ourselves needing to decide what to do with our existence for decades after retiring.    Location 150. ... we also need to find ways of preparing ourselves and our loved ones to face the permanent demise of our own consciousness, of our unique presence.    Location 152. ... we need to know how to die in a dignified way that allows us to achieve tranquillity of mind and is of comfort to those who survive us.    Location 156. Life, for the Stoics, is an ongoing project, and death, its logical, natural end point, is nothing special in and of itself and nothing that we should particularly fear.    Location 88. The resulting panorama is truly astounding and reflects both the creativity of the human spirit and the urgency that we obviously attach to inquiries into meaning and purpose.    Location 96. Stoicism is not about suppressing or hiding emotion—rather, it is about acknowledging our emotions, reflecting on what causes them, and redirecting them for our own good. It is also about keeping in mind what is and what is not under our control, focusing our efforts on the former and not wasting them on the latter. It is about practicing virtue and excellence and navigating the world to the best of our abilities,    Location 99. ... while being mindful of the moral dimension of all our actions.    Location 104. Stoicism was very much a philosophy of social engagement and encouraged love for all humankind and Nature as well.    Location 141. ... coming to us from the late Roman Stoa (as the Stoic school was called), since most of the early writings have been lost—are paragons of clarity. Epictetus, Seneca, Musonius Rufus, and Marcus Aurelius speak to us in plain language, far removed from the often cryptic Buddhist texts or even the flowery allegories of early Christianity.

Location 183. Stoicism is a philosophy, not a type of therapy. The difference is crucial: a therapy is intended to be a short-term approach to helping people overcome specific problems of a psychological nature; it doesn’t necessarily provide a general picture, or philosophy, of life. A philosophy of life is something we all need, however, and something we all develop, consciously or not. Some people simply import wholesale whatever framework for life they acquire from a religion. Others make up their own philosophy as they go along, without thinking too much about it, but nonetheless engaging in actions and decisions that reflect some implicit understanding of what life is about. Still others would rather—as Socrates famously put it—take the time to examine their life in order to live it better.

2023dec22.  wholly spirit.   SRF Lesson Seven. Harv is not impressed with the thinking underpinning this lesson.        (16%) ... there are three types of relaxation: physical, mental, and metaphysical. Some persons have learned how to relax physically, but not mentally. And even mental relaxation is only one of the first states of metaphysical or super-relaxation.        By the techniques of tension and relaxation taught in these Lessons, Self-Realization students first learn to know themselves as energy in the flesh. Then, by further advancement, they know themselves as the soul behind the energy.        Harv's translation of the "soul behind the energy" is POCTA -- thus Harv knows his self as his Point Of Choice To  Action.         (19%) The art of super-relaxation makes possible the complete, voluntary withdrawal of consciousness and energy from the entire body, and full absorption in one's true identity: Spirit. This release of consciousness from the delusion of duality affords the highest kind of mental relaxation.  Sounds dangerous in an atmosphere of pending interruption at any time.       1. stilling the muscles, whose restless activity is caused by nerve impulses from the brain;  2. calming the activities of the heart, lungs, and circulatory system; and  3. shutting off the stimulating perceptions of the senses.        (25%) The body cannot thrive in such a state because continual tension is fatiguing. The purpose of this method of relaxation is to withdraw consciousness and energy completely from the muscles and motor nerves at will.       (28%) When the soul becomes satiated with the material experiences of the day, it passively switches off the life force and mind from the senses to create the state of sleep. However, even during sleep there are varying degrees of relaxation (or lack thereof). During dreamful sleep, the tactual, optical, auditory, gustatory, and olfactory faculties are subtly busy, even though their "wires" are switched off from the outer senses and muscles. In deeper, dreamless sleep the energy and consciousness are fully switched off from the muscles and senses; even thoughts are banished. This produces greater relaxation. Escape. That which can be done passively and unconsciously can also be attained consciously by the accomplished yogi.        (38%) By using the second method (sensory-motor relaxation), you can shut out mental distractions. This is called mental relaxation. To keep the mind fixed constantly on the soul after freeing it from all distracting thoughts is called soul relaxation. POCTA focus.    (59%) When you have learned to still your body, your mind will begin to calm down also, provided you do not disturb it with worries or fears or other distressing thoughts. As you want your body to be perfectly quiet and relaxed when you need to rest, so also you want your mind to be still, unruffled by emotions or stormy thoughts. The paradox is that even though you keep your body motionless, your mind can be in a state of upheaval. And if violent emotions are surging within you, your heart will pound, your circulation will accelerate, and your blood pressure may rise. So the body may be unmoving, yet not relaxed. Hence, to fully still the body, it is necessary to still the mind. That is for Harv, to think -- to the critique point of "thinking too much".    (63%) But you don't want to go to sleep every time you want to become peaceful! Faithful practice of deep meditation is the most efficacious way to divert the attention from worry and other emotions to a state of absolute peace. In addition to meditation and to the basic Relaxation Technique just described, the following exercises are very beneficial in promoting mental relaxation.

2023dec17.  wholly spirit.   SRF Lesson Six -- Part Two.    (16%) Not only do they help you to maintain a state of health and calmness conducive to meditation, they also help you to attain conscious control of the life energy.    (29%) Special Note: If for any reason you cannot perform the actual movements of the exercise, you should, nevertheless, practice the exercise mentally, with closed eyes. Feel that you are transmitting the energy to that body part just as though you were going through the physical motions of doing so.    (84%) Unconscious will is used in automatic or habitual actions such as walking, etc. But when you walk blindfolded in the dark you have to use conscious will, and then you necessarily send more nerve energy to the muscles and limbs to insure coordinated movement. The use of will to induce tension, as in these exercises, is conscious will as differentiated from automatic or unconscious will. It is not the "blind will" of childhood, nor the "exploding will" of the excited, nor the "unthinking will" of the whimsical. It is an ordered will, regulated and guided, crystallizing into adjustment of the body's tissues and a harmonious integration of the psychophysical factors of life.    (87%) Sleep recharges the body battery unconsciously and partially. The SRF/Yogoda Technique of Energization does that consciously and more fully. The Hong-Sau Technique (and Kriya Yoga), when deeply and successfully practiced, does that superconsciously and completely. For your own knowledge and Master the Art of benefit, master this highly Energization practical Technique of Energization by faithful and regular practice. Each step of the Self-Realization Fellowship instructions will yield definite, satisfactory, and invigorating results in body and mind as well as increased spiritual realization which you can experience for yourself if you are regular, faithful, attentive, and correct in your practice.

2023dec09-10.  wholly spirit.   Self-study advice: "Keep the internalized fortification work going -- betterment is happening."    SRF Lesson Six -- Part One.    (29%) As a bundle of cells that are a manifestation of chemical motion, the appearance of the body is small; but because the dancing chemical motions of the cells are essentially condensed waves of Cosmic Consciousness, the body is potentially vast, omnipresent.    Visualize and deeply ponder the above description, until you begin to apprehend your native vastness.    As the wave cannot exist with out the ocean, so the body could not exist without the underlying sea of Spirit. The wave is not the ocean, but it can be said that the ocean has become the wave. In the same way, the ocean of Spirit or Cosmic Consciousness has become the waves of all finite manifestations, including the human body.    The body, being motion, cannot live without motion; hence it has to be kept stirred with life from external and internal sources.     (39%) Bread (i.e., material sustenance food, oxygen, liquids, and sunshine) alone does not support life. If it did, one could put food into the body of a dead person, lay it out in the sun, pump air into its lungs, and expect it to come to life. Sustaining life in the human body requires also the "word" (the cosmic creative energy) of God. The "word" is the direct inner source and sustainer of life, the power that creates life and enables the body to convert food and air into energy.     (43%) Body must also have inner life energy, the direct source and power of life. You must [best] learn to be conscious of that energy and utilize it for your highest welfare.  (46%) As mentioned earlier, every- level of health and vitality. thing in creation is construc-ted of and sustained by conscious cosmic energy or vibration, the "Word" of God. In the human body the medulla is the original source of intake of this cosmic energy as it comes from God [the external god not the internal god].    (50%) Science has proven that everything is created from and exists in a sea of cosmic energy. Yoga teaches that this cosmic energy is broadcast forth from Cosmic Consciousness; and, like a halo, it constantly surrounds the human body. [time/space availability to POCTA]         The medulla [as described in Lesson 3] is directly onnected by polarity with the Christ Consciousness center between the eyebrows [the mind], which is the seat of our power of will [POCTA].    (54%) Will is the great suction pump of energy, which irresistibly draws the cosmic life energy into the body to renew it.    (Similarly, death cannot ensue as long as the body is basically intact and the "will to live" is present. It is only when a person, after an exhausting struggle with disease, relaxes the hold of his will on life that death can conquer. So omnipotent is the will of man!)    Nature does renew the energy in sleep; but ordinarily we use up much more of it in waking hours than we store up in sleep. Hence we get run down in body and mind, and enter "old age" prematurely.    (57%) If energy can be generated in the state of sleep, it can also be generated consciously in the active state; but one must know how to do it.    Students who have mastered the SRF Energization Exercis- can draw their supply of cosmic energy from the ether by the power of will - at any time and whenever needed.    The Greater the Will, the Greater the Flow of Energy.     (71%) Tension results when energy is transmitted by the will to any muscle. Harv has long know the serenity of Sweet Dreams.

Harv's favorite scripture from the parochial education of his youth:  

John 1  --  The Word Became Flesh  [the human essential of spirit -- that Point Of Choice To Action]

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2  He was with God in the beginning.

3  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6  There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

7  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

8  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9  The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

10  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

13  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15  (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”)

16  Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

17  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18  No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.  https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/1.html

2023nov28.  social media.   According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, a “growing share” of adults in the U.S. are getting their news directly from TikTok, at a time when other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X are seeing a rapid decline in news and journalism engagement. It’s a direction viewed with skepticism by organizations that have failed to gain significant followings on short-form video platforms. Rolling Stone spoke to several TikTok news creators who believe the trend is an encouraging sign for news’ continued presence in the social media ecosystem, but say both the platform and newsrooms have work to do before the app can become a reliable stop for every kind of news.     As an app, TikTok has billed itself as a short-form platform for disrupting industries, selling products, and building individuals into money-making brands. But with its detailed content moderation, it’s been difficult for outlets to report on heavier news topics without losing important context or triggering guideline violations. Now, the rise in users going to TikTok directly for their news could impact the content people see on the app. According to the Pew report, while the number of U.S adults who say they get news from TikTok is small, that figure is continuing to grow, from three percent in 2020 to 14 percent in 2022. The research also found that the sentiment is most popular among adults aged 18 to 29, who, according to Statistica, make up the largest portion of TikTok users. Young adults want news, and research shows that more and more of them are using the app to fill that need. But can, or should, news organizations answer that demand?   https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tiktok-news-source-pew-research-1234892761/

2023nov28.  social media.   Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Monday announced she was quitting the X platform formerly known as Twitter, calling it a "gigantic global sewer" that was "destroying our democracies" by spreading abuse and misinformation.    After buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk laid off thousands of employees, including many who moderated content on the platform. Rebranded as X, it has lost several major advertisers and was blasted by critics, including the White House, for not doing enough to curtail antisemitism.    "This platform and its owner intentionally exacerbates tensions and conflicts," Hidalgo said in lengthy posts in English and French, citing manipulation, disinformation, antisemitism and attacks on scientists, climatologists, women and liberals.    Hidalgo's campaign to transform Paris into a cycling capital has earned her both scorn and praise on social media over the years, with some users criticising the seemingly endless work and visually unappealing worksites under the #SaccageParis (WreckParis) hashtag.    "This medium has become a gigantic global sewer, and we should continue to wade into it?" asked the Socialist politician, whose failed bid for the French presidency garnered 1.7% of the vote in 2022.    "I refuse to endorse this evil scheme," she said.  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paris-mayor-quits-x-platform-124606996.html  Harv withdrew from Facebook perhaps 15 years ago.

2023nov27.  net neutrality.   One of the longest-running debates about internet access has entered a new phase, and the way it unfolds could directly affect everything you do online.    You might remember the net neutrality debate from a decade ago. Originally voted in by the Federal Communications Commission during the Obama administration, net neutrality guidelines were subsequently ended by Donald Trump's FCC in 2017. Now a new push for it is back under President Joe Biden.    FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel proposed restoring net neutrality rules in September, and the agency voted in favor last month. But there's a long road ahead still.    Net neutrality is the principle that all internet traffic is treated equally -- meaning your broadband provider won't slow down or speed up sites you visit according to whether those sites pay extra money to have their traffic prioritized, or whether they have a special relationship with your provider. For instance, if you get your internet through Comcast, then it shouldn't speed up access to its own streaming service Peacock while slowing down competitor services like Netflix and Disney Plus.    Reinstating net neutrality rules should be a top priority, says Free Press Co-CEO Jessica J. González. Free Press is a media and technology watchdog.  https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/net-neutrality-what-it-means-for-your-everyday-internet-access-and-streaming-speeds/

2023nov13.  wholly spirit.    2023nov13.  wholly spirit.   Harv's comments appear with this grey-out.    SRF Lesson Five notes.    (14%) ... the goal of life and the highest necessity of man consist in destroying the three-fold sorrows of human existence: physical, mental, and spiritual; and especially in contacting the Infinite Bliss of Spirit, or God - the only source of permanent happiness and satisfaction of your soul.    Advice is therefore 'concentrate' via 'Hindu prayer'.        (22%) Jesus said: "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." ... God does not reveal Himself and His truths unto the theoretically wise, but unto babes those who with childlike trust humbly surrender themselves, their egotism, their pride, and their limited knowledge before the vastness of His measureless wisdom. Intellectual prayers may stimulate the intelligence, but they do not stir the soul. They may yield egotistical satisfaction, but they do not bring conscious response from God.    For Harv then, is the critical question, "What is Harv's god?  A:  Harv's god is his POCTA -- his Point Of Choice To Act(Action) -- as defined in Harv's definition of the universal self -- the POCTA 'soul' could be a individual's-part of any religion's God.        (38%) So before you demand your inheritance from God, first establish your identity with Him through meditation. ... Demand Oneness When the mind microphone has With God been damaged by hammers of restlessness wielded by noisy passions, it must be repaired by deep silence, or by practice of physical and mental discipline such as that given by the SRF recharging exercises and the techniques of concentration and meditation. When you feel calm, your mind microphone is again in repair; then is the time to broadcast your first and foremost loving demand: "Father, make me realize again that Thou and I are One."        (41%) If after repeated attempts you still do not see God or hear His knock at the gate of your heart, do not be discouraged. For a long time you have been running away from Him, hiding in the marshes of the senses. The noises of your own rowdy passions, and of the flight of your heavy footsteps in the world of matter, have made you unable to hear His call within. Stop. Be calm. Pray steadfastly, and out of the silence will loom the Divine Presence.    Defitinetly needs translation from religious speak, especially below.        (46%)  His response is plain, never indefinite, though sometimes very subtle. Hold your mind radio tuned with soft touches of deepest devotion, of the grandest, most constant love. Then suddenly He may burst upon your consciousness as a wordless song of subtlest harmonious vibrations of the Cosmic Voice, or as the fragrance of a trillion mystic flowers. You may feel Him as a gentle breeze of bliss, wafting softly in your love-filled heart. He may televise His presence as a fire-mist aureole, blazing on the screen of your vision. The delectable flavors of a million nectars may enthrall your palate. Endless thrills, sensations, and perceptions of joy may dance in every body cell, on every wisp of thought, on the altar of your inspiration. God may talk to you audibly, or He may use electrons and protons to transmute His message into visible thought patterns of light. Sometimes you see or hear the words themselves. Most often, however, truth manifests as intuitive perceptions: thoughts dropped into the conscious mind from the superconsciousness. God is the "Word" or Cosmic Vibration. His voice is the humming sound of Aum in every atom. The cosmic sound of Aum heard in meditation- is the music of God's voice thrumming throughout the universe. The highly advanced devotee may hear that Cosmic Voice speak actual words. Sometimes when I converse with God while listening to Aum, its sound changes into audible English or Bengali words, conveying to me a verbal answer from God. The mind is a the most powerful imaginator, especially under suggestion.        (62%) Affirmations are superior to the customary form of prayer. They remind the soul of what it already has; and of what it has temporarily lost because of forgetfulness.    Affirmations are statements of all-powerful truth, and are far different from begging prayers. ... Words are vibrations of thought. Thoughts, in turn, are vibrations of power and energy. Thought is the force that powers the complex cellular mechanism of the body, as well as the machinery of human destiny and the entire cosmos. Thoughts are responsible for all the chemical, nervous, and metabolic functions and psychological reactions of the body, just as the thoughts of the general citizenry, and of the political leaders especially, direct the activities of the national machinery.        (68%) Healing prayer is for healing of body, mind, or soul. Affirmation is the most effective form of healing prayer.  Religious speak yet to be gleaned from above.        

2023nov24.  technology.    Launched in mid-October, Psyche is currently en route to catch humanity’s first glimpse of a metal asteroid between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will spend the next six years traveling about 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) to reach its namesake, located in the outer part of the main asteroid belt.    Along for the ride is the Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, or DSOC, which is carrying out a mission of its own during the first two years of the journey.    The tech demo was designed to be the US space agency’s most distant experiment of high-bandwidth laser communications, testing the sending and receiving of data to and from Earth using an invisible near-infrared laser. The laser can send data at 10 to 100 times the speed of traditional radio wave systems NASA uses on other missions. If wholly successful over the next couple of years, this experiment could be the future basis of technology that is used to communicate with humans exploring Mars.    And DSOC recently achieved what engineers called “first light,” the feat of successfully sending and receiving its first data.   The experiment beamed a laser encoded with data from far beyond the moon for the first time. The test data was sent from nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) away and reached the Hale Telescope at the California Institute of Technology’s Palomar Observatory in Pasadena, California.    The distance between DSOC and Hale was about 40 times farther than the moon is from Earth.    “Achieving first light is one of many critical DSOC milestones in the coming months, paving the way toward higher-data-rate communications capable of sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars,” said Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA, in a statement.    First light, which occurred on November 14, happened as the flight laser transceiver instrument on Psyche received a laser beacon sent from the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Table Mountain Facility near Wrightwood, California.    The initial beacon received by Psyche’s transceiver helped the instrument aim its laser to send data back to the Hale Telescope, which is located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Table Mountain.    “(The November 14) test was the first to fully incorporate the ground assets and flight transceiver, requiring the DSOC and Psyche operations teams to work in tandem,” said Meera Srinivasan, operations lead for DSOC at JPL, located in Pasadena, California, in a statement. “It was a formidable challenge, and we have a lot more work to do, but for a short time, we were able to transmit, receive, and decode some data.”  https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/24/world/nasa-psyche-dsoc-first-light-scn/index.html

2023nov18.  climate change.    ... at the edge of a beach called Anse Source D’Argent [The Seychelles], Dutton’s colleague Dan Zwartz came upon a column of coral wedged between two boulders the size of trucks. The rest of the team clambered over to the fossil, running their hands along the jagged surface. Perched beside the coral outcrop, they could look across the tops of palm trees and see the ocean gleaming more than 25 feet below.        Contrary to depictions in grade-school textbooks, the Earth is not a perfectly round sphere, spinning through space on a precisely predictable path. The planet is bulging and irregular — jagged along mountain ranges and wide in the middle. It teeters like a top as it rotates on its axis. The shape of the Earth’s annual journey around the sun is in flux, as Jupiter and Saturn play gravitational tug-of-war with our orbit.        ... if the Northern Hemisphere gets a bit of extra sunlight, it can trigger a cascade of processes that cause the ice sheets to melt. Temperatures rise, and the world enters a warm period known as an interglacial.    For the past several thousand years, humanity has enjoyed a particularly stable and mild interglacial. Relatively constant temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations enabled the development of agriculture, the construction of cities, the invention of writing and plumbing and antibiotics.      The Earth’s average temperature has come closer to that of the Last Interglacial — the warm era before this one, between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, when Dutton’s corals grew.        Observations from the nation’s single tide gauge show that local sea levels are rising by about six millimeters per year — twice the global average rate. Repeated bleaching events have destroyed about 90 percent of the coral reefs that ring the islands, diminishing their ability to absorb the force of incoming waves. Rising water temperatures have also intensified the cyclones that form in the Indian Ocean, creating powerful storm surges that inundate the Seychelles’ shores.        ... the nation is listed sixth in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative’s ranking of countries most exposed to climate impacts. U.N. scientists project that the sea level around the Seychelles will rise by another 2 to 2.5 feet by the end of the century — enough to inundate 1 in 8 buildings and 42 percent of major roads on the main island of Mahé, according to the country’s coastal management plan. Scientists have identified almost 150 endangered species on the islands that could be driven to extinction by climate change.                Seychellois say their survival depends on larger nations with more economic clout drastically reducing their own carbon pollution to avoid further warming. So far, the opposite is happening: Global greenhouse gas emissions set a new record this year.    “It’s like, when the elephants fight, the grass gets crushed,” Ernesta adds. “We are the grass.”        The ice sheets that cover the Earth’s poles are so massive, they exert a gravitational pull on water in oceans. Their weight compresses the continents underneath them and pushes Earth’s crust upward elsewhere — the same way sitting on a couch can cause the cushions to bulge to the sides. These phenomena can cause sea levels to rise near the ice sheets and fall in the mid-latitudes.    When the ice melts, its gravity weakens, and the Earth’s crust is able to bounce back. The ocean falls near the poles, and water surges in the opposite direction.    The result is that each ice sheet produces a distinctive pattern of sea level rise known as a “fingerprint,” which can help scientists understand what places were most affected in the past — or will be most at risk in the future.When the ice melts, its gravity weakens, and the Earth’s crust is able to bounce back. The ocean falls near the poles, and water surges in the opposite direction.        The Seychelles, which are located almost on top of the equator, are in the worst possible spot. No matter which ice sheet is melting, the islands will experience 9 to 24 percent more sea level rise than the global average, according to a 2014 study in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.        Her “working hypothesis,” she said, is that the first burst of melting probably came from Antarctica. Then the Northern Hemisphere started warming up, causing another pulse of sea level rise from the Arctic region. Finally, the northern ice sheets unleashed one last spurt of meltwater, before the planet tilted back into a cooling phase and the Last Interglacial came to an end.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/coral-reefs-sea-level-rise-climate-change/?utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere_trending_now&utm_medium=email&utm_source=alert&location=alert

2023nov15.  wholly spirit.    ... the BIG JOY Project finds that people who commit daily "micro-acts" of joy experience about a 25% increase in emotional well-being over the course of a week.    "We're really excited," says Emiliana Simon-Thomas, a BIG JOY project leader, and science director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. "There are statistically significant, measurable changes [including] greater well-being, better coping, less stress, more satisfaction with relationships."    The BIG JOY Project is a collaboration between UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and other research institutions. So far the researchers have preliminary results from over 70,000 participants in more than 200 countries. "What we're really focused on is understanding impact and the potential for change in people's lives," Simon-Thomas. Overall, the new analysis shows micro-acts led to increased feelings of hope, optimism, as well as moments of fun or silliness.    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/11/14/1212908276/can-little-actions-bring-big-joy-researchers-say-micro-acts-can-boost-well-being

2023nov13.  climate.    Trees are natural carbon storage units, breathing in carbon dioxide and locking it into their roots, trunks, branches and leaves. Understanding just how much carbon trees can store has been a top priority for many scientists, and it requires measuring the storage capacity of existing forests, and inferring how much carbon could be stored in areas where new forests could feasibly grow.        Deforestation has drastically cut the carbon-storing power of forests by about 328 gigatons of carbon, the researchers found. Some of that storing power will never be regained, as the land is covered by cities and other developments. But in areas with a lower human footprint, the researchers estimate 226 gigatons could be stored if those forests returned to their natural state, a process that would take decades.    Protecting the forests we have and allowing them to regrow could account for 61% of the lost storage capacity, the researchers found. The rest could be achieved by reconnecting fragmented forests through a diversity of sustainable management and restoration practices.  “If you say, I'm gonna plant some trees so that I can continue emitting, the continued emissions will kill those trees,” through climate change he said. “This must be the paper that kills greenwashing.”  https://themessenger.com/tech/planting-trees-climate-change-fix-deforestation?utm_campaign=body&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=messenger-morning

2023nov13.  wholly spirit.    Harv's comments appear with this grey-out.    SRF Lesson Four notes.    (13%) ... all successful people have good powers of concentration. (19%) ... the student who wishes to achieve real concentration should begin by learning two things: (1) what the distractions are; (2) how to detach the attention from them scientifically. (33%) The body is never truly at rest. In the process of metabolism to generate energy, the cells give off waste products, "decay." (42%) By mental concentration and self-control, as in meditation, for example, the breath and the life force automatically become calm; thus one attains stability. But mind cannot control all of the functions of the body until it knows its own powers and those of breath, life force, and vital essence relative to itself. The person who strives toward mind-control by harmonizing all four related factors succeeds more quickly than one who seeks to attain mental control without the aid of controlled breath, energy, and vital essence. (44%) ... if breath is made calm and rhythmic by practice of the principles set forth in these Lessons, your life force, mind, and sexual instincts will be under your control. Thus, by proper breathing exercises and by attaining control of the breath, you can achieve a state of deep concentration. (46%) The balanced way to Self-realization is to practice the exercises and principles that simultaneously control and harmonize breath, life force, mind, and vital power. Therefore every spiritual aspirant should practice specific breathing exercises; ...

2023nov09.  technology.    The power's out. But on a street in India, there's a cash machine still happily dispensing banknotes. Thanks, in part, to burnt cotton. For this cash machine has a backup battery inside it – a battery that contains carbon from carefully combusted cotton.              

With huge demand for batteries expected in the coming years, propelled by the rise of electric vehicles and large energy storage systems, some researchers and businesses are frantically developing possible alternatives to the lithium ion and graphite batteries that are commonplace today. Like PJP Eye, they argue we could be using much more sustainable and widely available materials for battery production.  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231108-batteries-of-the-future-how-cotton-and-seawater-might-power-our-devices

2023nov08.  wholly spirit.    One state, Pennsylvania, dominates the 2024 list of best places to retire. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ranks as the No. 1 place to retire in the U.S. thanks to the overall happiness of its residents, retiree taxes and proximity to health care options.    Affordable housing helped propel six other Pennsylvania cities to the top of the 2024 rankings, including Reading, Lancaster, Scranton, Allentown, York and Pittsburgh. These highly ranked Pennsylvania cities typically also have quality health care and residents who report liking where they live.    Typically a major player on this list, Florida saw drops in two areas this year: happiness and desirability.    Despite that, Florida is still prevalent in the top 25, with one city in the top 10 (Daytona Beach) and five others in the top 25: Tampa, Sarasota, Lakeland, Melbourne and Orlando.  https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/best-places-to-retire/articles/the-best-places-to-retire

2023nov02.  wholly spirit.    An acquaintance brought SRF (definition not pertinent) into Harv's consciousness.  At that time, Harv saw the SRF challenge as an opportunity to coalesce his thoughts on his developed, but not yet narrated wholly spirit.

Harv signed up for SRF lessons, and along with the lessons came a monthly SRF newsletter.  As with all well-crafted narration, the SRF November 2023 Newsletter had a opening hook:  "Dear Friend,    As we move along the spiritual path as seekers of higher consciousness, is it possible at the same time to get a better grip on our individual problems and gain awareness on how best to deal with real-world challenges?"  Underline emphasis by Harv.

2023nov01.  ego death.    No matter who it is or what substance that person is hooked on, loneliness is at its root. For whatever reason — and I have no theory as to why — there are those of us who feel isolated in this world, as if everyone else had some secret formula for getting along, for fitting in, and no one ever let us in on it. That loneliness resides deep inside us, at our core, and no matter how many people try to help us, no matter how many friends reach out, support us, show up for us, it never entirely goes away. It’s vast and shadowy and also part of who we are. Something happens when we discover a drug or alcohol: Suddenly we have a companion holding our hand, propping us up, making us feel we fit in, we can be part of the club. It’s there for us in the empty hours when it seems no one else is.      He laid bare his wounds, his struggles, his complicated relationship with drugs and alcohol. That’s the best we can do in life — be truthful and hope those truths become lanterns for others as they wander through the dark. My biggest hope is that he knew he had fulfilled his wish.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/opinion/matthew-perry-loneliness-addiction.html

2023oct30.  weight loss.   ... GLP-1 differs substantially from semaglutide, the active ingredient in weight-loss drugs. GLP-1 sticks around in the blood for only a few minutes, but semaglutide persists for days. And this stability allows the drug to go into the brain, where it squelches appetite and cravings directly, says Sandoval. That's why people on these drugs lose so much weight. "In mice or rats, we can give naturally occurring GLP-1 directly into the animals' brains, and it stops them from eating," Sandoval says.        Here, inside the large intestine, the fiber meets a whole crew of microbes that can digest the fiber. Bacteria in your large intestine can break down certain dietary fibers into smaller molecules. And these smaller molecules can trigger the release of not only GLP-1, but also another key hormone that decreases your appetite, called PYY (peptide YY). These smaller molecules also can suppress appetite on their own, and have been linked to lower body weight and better glucose regulation.    Since this extra boost of GLP-1 and PYY occurs hours after you eat, it can tamp down cravings between meals and even the overall desire to eat the next meal. "PPY regulates satiety – that is how long you wait between meals," says the University of Arizona's Frank Duca. "The release of PYY, in addition to the GLP-1, can increase the length of time between meals," he says.         But, not all fiber is equal: To get this extra boost of satiation hormones, you need to eat fiber that bacteria can digest. These fibers are called fermentable because bacteria literally ferment them, in a similar way that yeast ferments barley into beer.         Other fermentable fibers include dextrin in wheat, oligosaccharides in beans, peas and lentils, and pectin in apples, pears and green bananas.    If your diet currently doesn't include much fiber, Duca says, don't worry too much about which fiber you start adding. "Just being aware of how much fiber you're eating and increasing it, that's a huge step to improving your health," he says. "Then once you get into the habit of eating more fiber, you can be more specific about adding more beta glucan and barley."   https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/10/30/1208883691/diet-ozempic-wegovy-weight-loss-fiber-glp-1-diabetes-barley

2023oct27.  muse.    https://www.c-span.org/video/?531430-1/speaker-emerita-nancy-pelosi-speaks-georgetown-law&_gl=1*ybnd34*_ga*MTk5NzgwMjQ5MC4xNjk4MDkzNTI0*_ga_MZ1V6F99FJ*MTY5ODQ1MDAyMC4xMC4xLjE2OTg0NTAwMzAuMC4wLjA.

2023oct23.  muse.    Lesson three.    The life force, that cosmic energy which structures and sustains the human body, enters the body through the spiritual center in the medulla oblongata and is stored in the reservoir of the brain.(13%) Harv says "in the mind/imagination."  By meditation, then, we gradually rejoin the little joy of the soul with the vast and eternal bliss of Spirit.(15%) Harv says "rejoin vast bliss via imagination." 

When immortals behave like mortals, they experience the alternations of pleasure, sorrow, and indifference in their natures. That is why you must destroy this changeable nature grafted to your unchangeable, immortal nature. When you have found your true soul-nature of everlasting joy, that indestructible bliss will remain with you throughout all experiences of life, whether they be pleasant or disagreeable. Your joy will stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking earthly pleasures. You will enjoy everything with the Joy that is God.(23%)  All saints who have ever found God practiced some form of meditation.(28%)  When you know God as peace within, you will realize Him as peace existing in the universal harmony of all things without.(32%)  To attain the state of divine consciousness, which is omnipresent, it is first necessary to expand the mind by meditation - such as concentration on some aspect of God's infinite nature: Cosmic Consciousness, Cosmic Love, Cosmic Bliss or Joy, Cosmic Wisdom, Cosmic Light, and so forth. Visualization can help you. You must understand that visualization is not the same as realization; but it is an effective aid for deepening one's concentration, which is essential for the deep meditation that yields realization.(57%)   Harv expands his mind by concentrating with study.  Next lesson-four available 2023nov6

2023oct19.  wholly spirit.   In California, Safe Parking Lots Offer a Haven for the ‘Mobile Homeless’.   ... growing number of parking lots for people who have been forced to live out of their cars.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/us/homeless-parking-lots.html        Harv lives out of his car by choice for peace and convenience.

2023oct14.  muse.   Closest to book title "ALONE: illegitimate, parent-less, parochial, worker, happy H2o, annulment, chase, wholly spirit, LOVER, death."

2023oct09 evening.  muse.   Harv search for and watched a Youtube video that told a story of EVERYTHING, simply leading to inaction/unconsciousness in the state of god-self over-soul -- where you know/conscious about everything and don't have to chose to act, rather, re-mediates beck into the realization/concentration about EVERYTHING i.e. the void of absolute consciousness, thus are at ultimate understanding with no need for choice to action, just the return to the EVERYTHING mind state of god-self pure-bliss through continued re-mediation - even after death and being reborn.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pICciopQs7w

2023oct09.  muse.   Lesson 2 released.  Review: (Oct01 - wee hours) Harv's purpose here on earth, that is, to experience joy, love, and freeing...  (13%) Religion, rightly understood, means that which fulfills the highest necessity of man — that which brings about the attainment of our essential goals and fulfillment of our purpose on earth.  Harv's hierarchial fulfillment thinks the universal human needs are: Existence needs, Relatedness needs, Growth needs (ERG).  (21%) The superconscious ecstasy of contact with God is the only thing that can truly quench the desire-thirst and happiness-hunger of the soul. Apparently, Harv has trained his consciousness/action in appropriate need fulfillment ways, thus he feels that his wholly spirit has a touch-of-god operation. (OAD)god: noun: 3 an adored, admired, or influential person.  (32%) ... various spiritual teachings, according to their semi-developed or highly developed training, can lead you to God slowly or quickly. I call the Self-Realization/Yogoda teachings the "airplane way" to God.  Harv's life-way took 85 years with study within several religions including 'Yogoda'.  (53%) ... the purpose of pranayama (control of the life force) is to attain fitness for dharana concentration), which comes after the achievement of pratyahara (withdrawal). All devotees who seek Self-realization must be able to practice pranayama so successfully they can attain pratyahara at will.  (53%)  Only those who have successfully practiced these five steps can control the body, moods, and habits, and gain the ability to switch off the life-force current from the five senses. Those who practice (withdrawal) or other methods of life-energy control should keep in mind the purpose of the methods they are practicing, or they may not progress sufficiently to attain (withdrawal).  (71%) the fruit of meditation, that is, self-transformation NOT action (74%) for Harv the proof of God's response is action satisfaction [Harv's joy in youth in his worker action satisfaction] (87%) for Harv concentration/meditation led directly to the worker satisficing/joy truth (89%) Overindulgence in study, particularly of religious books written by spiritual novices or religious theorists, should be avoided. Indiscriminate study creates an indigestible mental hash of imagination, intellectual egotism, and misunderstanding. But if that which you read and hear is valuable, meditate upon it long enough to become one with the thoughts of the author. Then try to manifest this new realization in practice. In other words, spiritual teachings can be understood not by reading them over and over, but by meditating on them and applying them in everyday life. Realization comes from both regular meditation and a wide-awake, ever-busy and searching mind that converts theory into knowledge through practice and experience.      Do not let a love of book reading or ceremonial diversions be the delusion to divert you from realization.      God-realization must come first; books and everything else are of secondary importance. Have God and you have everything. "Seek ye the kingdom of God first, and all things will be added unto you" — all wisdom, prosperity, and beauty. Get the tree of all life, and you shall have each of its fruits too.         Lesson 3 to be released Oct 23rd.

2023oct05.  muse.   Another book title "WITHOUT: illegitimate, fatherless, motherless, parochial, worker, happy, annulment, chase, wholly spirit, death."

2023oct02 later.  muse.   (11% '5. The Way to Self-realization')  "Expanding Your Consciousness.    The way to a higher life is through the gradual expansion of your consciousness from delusory identification with your human nature and limitations to the perception and expression of your inherent divinity.    Life becomes ever more beautiful - richer and more wonderful in every way - as you progress step by step to higher and more refined states of consciousness, and thereby see through the coverings of matter and gross vibrations that obscure the glory of the indwelling Spirit within you and pervading all creation."        The app indication completion of lesson one of 18.    Harv attempted to skip lessons 2-5 but lesson six will only be available 2023dec05 -- he put on Harv's calendar to continue study.    At that time perhaps, Harv may be required to skim all intervening lessons to 'thwart' the rigid indoctrination controls -- so goes Eastern v Western freedom.    He 'blacks out' the not essential, for him, ritual.  Yet he pursues this Eastern view of target focus -- each religion to its own.         Harv's life is beautify of late !  "Richer and more wonderful in every way."

2023oct02.  muse.   (57% iPhone SRF/YSS app lesson 'Highest Achievement Through Self-Realization').         "Carry into your daily activities the calmness you feel in meditation [target focus from oct01 comment]; it will help you to bring harmony [/balance] and happiness into every aspect of your life."        "Self-Realization Fellowship has no wish to teach its students to become mere theological parrots, constantly repeating beautiful concepts without any corresponding inner experience of their truth."        (60%) "Persevere, and you will feel a growing satisfaction, an ever-increasing indwelling peace, wisdom, and faith. Your continuously expanding perceptions of truth and your ever-growing happiness and contentment are divine assurances that you have begun to experience God within."        Emphasis 'assurances within.'

2023oct01 continued at mealtime.  muse.   (61% iPhone SRF/YSS app lesson 'Highest Achievement Through Self-Realization').  "What Is Meditation, Really? Meditation as practiced in Self-Realization Fellowship does not mean musing in darkness, chasing after fleeting thoughts with eyes closed, in a state of dreamy passivity during periods of "sitting in silence."Real meditation consists of simple but definite scientific techniques for bringing the mind into a focused state of concentration and fixing the attention on a definite perception of God, or Spirit."       Harv's evidence of his awareness is these published notes that he reviews for the purpose of reenforcement of learning/understanding the target.  Emphasis 'target focus.'

2023oct01 continued in the day.  muse.   Back to Harv's SRF/YSS app's lesson's meditation (perhaps to be called his skim-reading or skim-study specificity -- now combined with written narrative, possibility foundation for a shadow author)  (48% iPhone SRF/YSS app lesson 'Highest Achievement Through Self-Realization').  Harv has blacked out 'unfruitful assertions' that burden his mind.        "Likewise, the various religious paths and beliefs travel by different routes toward God; but as they near the goal the followers of each have the same experience. Religions are many; but in the course of realizing Truth, or God, all seekers - be they Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, or follower of any other path, or none - will discover that true religion, or the actual experience of God, is the same for all. God is One; and there is only one truth, though its aspects are myriad. Followers of all creeds may apply Self-Realization Fellowship teachings: the highly developed meditation techniques of the masters of India (described below), and universal spiritual truths that develop man's potentialities for living a godly life. We do not want to burden your mind with untested, impractical, unfruitful theological beliefs and assertions. Our humble desire is to help you, through these teachings, to expand your consciousness until you understand by your own Self-realization the eternal Truth behind all great religions, and to foster goodwill and universal brotherhood in the name of the one Spirit. 

2023oct01 wee hours.  muse.   "What is your purpose here on earth ?"  In response, Harv references his definition of the universal self with the continuum polarities of joy-sad, love-hate, freeing-fear.  His life process of improvement/satisficing is to move toward/realize joy, love, and freeing; moving away from sadness, hate, and fear.  He believes that all other descriptions can be placed on those three continuums.  That self model goes on to focus upon the self-choice to action and thus realization of Harv's purpose here on earth, that is, to experience joy, love, and freeing -- what ever the continuum gradation descriptions.   https://www.harvotto.com/p/definition-of-UNIVERSAL-HUMAN-SELF.html  

Harv's SRF/YSS app's lesson's meditation continues.  "Self-realization is knowing one's Self, one's soul [spirit/self]; and realizing that the soul is one with God [perfection imaged although blurred internalized].  Everyone's goal in life is to acquire happiness, peace, love, satisfaction [satisficing], security [enough wealth to fulfill ERG needs], wisdom [curiosity satisficed], and immortality [the process of never ending curiosity]. These longings for perfection [God as perfection imaged although blurred internalized] spring from the soul [spirit/self], the image of God that lies hidden within every human being. This perfect image of God seeks to manifest itself in each human life [striving]. We are immortal [forever striving until real death] ..."(32% iPhone SRF/YSS app lesson 'Highest Achievement Through Self-Realization').   Harv sees not that God is hidden from himself.  Harv has acquired that 'everyone's goal.'  Harv is satisficed.  Harv is not real dead yet.  Harv will not let you know when he is really dead because he will be really dead.  Harv thinks he has reconciled his Western outlook with the Hindu outlook.  There are at least five other outlooks for reconciliation. (https://oxplore.org/question-detail/is-there-life-after-death#1819) 

2023sep29.  muse.   Harv's book title.        "Year 87 - a hi-tech hermit maturation (Not the pus definition. Ha. Ha.)."

2023sep28-30.  muse.   Harv has thought that he's muses.       muse: verb: be absorbed in thought.   noun: an instance or period of reflection.        reflection: noun: 2 serious thought or consideration. • an idea about something, especially one that is written down or expressed.(OAD)      Is that thought/feeling correct? Harking back to Greek mythology, no less.  Why shouldn't that be, that he muses, in the spirit of the ancient Greek philosophers, specifically Harv being a Stoic as described by his ex-wife Elaine?  Harv did not know in his ignorance what she meant (the salutatorian of a class of 400) until he began to gain insight into Stoicism much later.  By then, their marriage was three decades past -- an example of Harv being a slow learner, and no instant genius.  Thus the dumb naive 'kid" muses.

Here, he "writes down or expresses" that tought/feeling.  The muse continues about his lifetime of improvement, learned from his environ from infantancy onward.  improvement: noun: an example or instance of improving or being improved.  • the action of improving or being improved.  • a thing that makes something better or is better than something else.(OAD)  As a kid walking with mother Connie, he would race ahead.  She would yell, "Slow down."  In later years, she would ask, "Harvey, how much education do you need?"  Harv's subconscious said, "All of it."  Thus the ideas of improvement and more were enacted.  He was not satisfied with slow-walk or non-curiosity.  He wanted to 'move on.'

Divinity came into play early and late in Harv's lifetime.  Elementary, high school, and college were Catholic sponsored.  The nuns, parish priests, and Jesuits matriculated him (signed him up for his next life phase).  And he has been signing up for that next life phase on his own ever since -- degrees, jobs, potential life-partners, residences, religions, life-styles, retirements -- even as minute as bicycle rides or hikes-off-trail.  He has taken his spirit, and "moved on", seemingly, for his entire lifetime.

....

Awaiting snail-mail Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) lessons that are personal and confidential (secret for $90),  Harv began use of the daily mediation app (SRF/YSS) (2019).  "To connect your life with Spirit is the most important duty." (Yogananda).        In 1995, Harv extensively studied the Old and New Testaments using the word 'spirit' -- resulting in his Spirit Principles/Commands.  Thus, the runaway spirit of his youth persists across his lifetime and religions, even into this blog/tome "y85 a YOUTHFUL SPIRIT."

Just opening the app for the first time was a meditation.  "Discover your soul's infinite potential..."  The 'infinite potential'  ties with Harv's matriculation-to-more experiences.  But the use of the word soul warranted more study for Harv.

In his youth, parochial school/religion conjured imagination -- harshly put, he began living in his head/mind (day dreaming is not imagination benefit oriented).  Beyond school, he reentered his day-to-day life routine as a loner -- as an infant, as a latchkey kid, as a masturbator whose identity-of-imaginator he never gave up. through a 21 year no-talk marriage, and an annulment even with three children.  He lived imagination -- rehearsing anticipated lifetime scenes beforehand, something likened to preparation.  He studied toward Deaconship.  He attend sanctuary Mass with the Archbishop.  He tithed.  He was a Reader, even preached the Gospel at the old age home and distributed Holy Communion at crowded Masses.  Although he quit being a Server after memorizing the first Latin sentence.  He showed no interest when he was recruited to be a priest by a distant Monseigneur-in-law (his uncle-in-law's brother).  Also interestingly, from his particular parochial education by the nuns and priests he knew that a functioning-for-all-the-people secular government was necessary for freedom of religion, even mandatory.  He always interchanged  spirit over the word soul -- solidified by the 2023 Wikipedia definition of Spirit (Philosophy, religion and folklore): [underlining is Harv's emphasis}

• Spirituality, pertaining to the soul or spirit
• Holy Spirit [Holy Ghost before modernization], a divine force, manifestation of God in the Holy Trinity, or agent of divine action, according to Abrahamic Religions
• Great Spirit, conception of a supreme being prevalent among some Native American and First Nations cultures
• Vitalism, a belief in some fundamental, non-physical essence which differentiates organisms from inanimate, material objects
• Pneuma, an ancient Greek word sometimes translated as 'spirit'
• Soul, the spiritual part of a living being, often regarded as immortal
• Mind-body dualism, the view that mind and body are distinct and separable
• Geist, a German word corresponding to ghost, spirit, mind or intellect
• Psyche (psychology), a Greek word for 'soul' or 'spirit' and used in psychology
• Genius (mythology), a Latin word for a divine spirit present in every individual person, place, or thing.

With his "soul or spirit" interchangeability hardened, he sees not to have an immortal soul.  His earthly spirit is divine in the sense of striving for perfection but never getting there -- the unattainable being "the" divine or Divinity.  For Harv, that striving/satisficing is the joy of working to actualize/realize.  For example,  he realized as a teen that he was a spirited worker and he enjoyed that role -- that constituted his spirit.  Other examples of his spirit relate to his universal human existence, relatedness, growth needs (ERG).

That brings Harv's narrative to Self-Realization and back to the Self-Realization meditation app.  One-hour meditations do not fit Harv's lifetime pace, although that lifetime can be considered slow enough to fulfill his individualized self-ERG needs.  Coordination within the form of his COA Retirement Office is an example -- not to be entertained or be employed, but to coordinate/socialize with others, yet study -- specifically the Computing Activity supported by the provided COA Wava Hall wifi.  Another example -- he recently 'fired' two specialists and, with approval, transferred health monitoring to his Primary Care Physician (PCP).  More convenient and releasing time for chosen study and writing growth.  His self-health-care currently includes no walking, and he no longer pursues the rigorous exercise of his past -- that never resulted in a wholistic self-care regiment.  Currently his PCP and nutritionist applaud his self-care progress/process.

Harv may be catching on that the initial SRF/YSS lessons may not be limited to snail mail !  However, the iPhone lessons seem to be highly proprietary, requiring a personal and confidential pledge.  Weekly emails are becoming apparent, offering talks, hour meditations, 8 hour meditation, and a day-long retreat -- warning -- his life-time consumers are subject to evaluation of the worth of that activity, especially when he believes not in a life hereafter, that is, the afterlife.  He has only so many years, weeks, and hours remaining until his death.  And, he must freely/responsibly choose his lifetime/life-time activities.  His blog/tome web site has progressed in expression/facilitation.

All religions, concludes Harv, foster imagination and specifically the self-imagination.  imagination:noun: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. • the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful. • the part of the mind that imagines things.(OAD)

Perhaps the most prominent imagination is life-after-death.  Google search gives many facets of that idea. Perhaps, the most broad summary:

• 1. A question with two possible answers
• 2. Christianity
• 3. Islam
• 4. Judaism
• 5. Buddhism
• 6. Hinduism -- [Hindus] believe that every person has an atman, a soul or spirit. This spirit is always the same, no matter what body it is temporarily living in.
• 7. Sikhism
• 8. Chinese folk religion. (https://oxplore.org/question-detail/is-there-life-after-death#1819) 

Oxplore.org explains these in detail - Harv thinks each religion has well-meaning imagination to lead people to the good life.  That good life, Harv believes, is expressed as the fulfillment of the needs of all humanity, that is, each individual.

Those universal human needs can be expressed as a hierarchy of existence, relatedness, and growth needs. (Maslow, Alderfer, ...)    Fulfillment can be seen as actualization and realization -- that brings Harv back to SRF/YSS -- Self-Realization Fellowship -- and the realization of his self.

Harv's initial writing feels like meditation -- a focused hour passes quickly.  He feels that the soul/spirit/self is being fulfilled.  For example, he has been able to rationalize his entire lifetime activity in six epochs, yet for the past several years his activity in support of his spirit/soul/self, or defining his spirit/soul/self, is summary weekly to maintain choice unto realization focus.  Another example -- out of respect for his predecessors/leaders, he has been able to keep up with news reporting on the 108 billion humans that have gone before him.  He is much better equipped to converse factually with many more people.

After ruminating/'mediating'/expressing on the app's first lesson page, Harv returns to what apparently are the iPhone SRF/YSS app lessons.  "What is your purpose here on earth ?"

2023sep27.  anti-matter.   Dr. Fajans was part of an international team known as ALPHA, the Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus collaboration, which is based at CERN and led by Jeffrey Hangst, a particle physicist at Aarhus University in Denmark. Dr. Fajans and his colleagues assembled about 100 anti-atoms of hydrogen and suspended them in a magnetic field. When the field was slowly ramped down, the anti-hydrogen atoms drifted down like maple leaves in October and at the same rate of downward acceleration, or g force, as regular atoms: about 32 feet per second per second. They published their result on Wednesday in the journal Nature.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/science/physics-universe-antimatter.html

2023sep27.  space travel.   The most affected are those muscles that help to maintain our posture in our back, neck, calves and quadriceps – in microgravity they no longer have to work nearly as hard and begin to atrophy. After just two weeks muscle mass can fall by as much as 20% and on longer missions of three-to-six months it can fall by 30%.        Astronauts can lose 1-2% of their bone mass every month they spend in space and up to 10% over a six-month period (on Earth, older men and women lose bone mass at a rate of 0.5%-1% every year). This can increase their risk of suffering fractures and increase the amount of time it takes to heal. It can take up to four years for their bone mass to return to normal after returning to Earth.    To combat this, astronauts undertake 2.5 hours a day of exercise and intense training while in orbit on the ISS.        A recent study, however, highlighted that even this exercise regime was not enough to prevent losses in muscle function and size.        Scott Kelly, a Nasa astronaut who took part in the most extensive study of the effects of long-term spaceflight after staying onboard the ISS for 340 days while his twin brother stayed back on Earth, lost 7% of his body mass while in orbit.        Some of the vision changes reverse within about a year of astronauts returning to Earth, but others can be permanent.        A more recent study has raised concerns about other changes in brain structure that can occur during long-term space missions. Cavities in the brain known as the right lateral and third ventricles (responsible for storing cerebrospinal fluid, providing nutrients to the brain and disposing of waste) can swell and take up to three years to shrink back to normal size.        Researchers examining Kelly after his trip to the ISS found that the bacteria and fungi living in his gut had altered profoundly compared to before he flew into space. This is perhaps not entirely surprising, given the very different food he was eating and the change in the people he spent his days with (we obtain a horrifying amount of gut and oral microorganisms from the people we live alongside). But exposure to radiation and the use of recycled water, along with changes to his physical activity could all also have played a role.        His skin was found to have heightened sensitivity and a rash for around six days after he returned from the space station. Researchers speculated that a lack of skin stimulation during the mission may have contributed to his skin complaint.       At the end of each strand of DNA are structures known as telomeres, which are thought to help protect our genes from damage. As we age, these get shorter, but research on Kelly and other astronauts has revealed that space travel seems to alter the length of these telomeres.  https://draft.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/5061034831056916264/1540908956194601553

2023sep27.  technology.   ... company’s “spar buoy” design like a stoppered bottle of water, semi-submerged in the sea. In this case, the “bottle” is a gigantic hollow concrete tube, sealed at both ends and weighted with gravel and water to lower the center of gravity and serve as a counterbalance to keep the rig upright.         ... the sweeping blades — each 265 feet long — appeared to be rotating slowly, purposefully, in the light air. But looks can be deceiving: The blades travel at 180 mph. A single turn provides enough electricity to power one Norwegian house for a day.    The turbines rise, dip and sway in the swell.        This floating wind farm won’t supply electricity to shore but instead will provide 35 percent of the annual electricity power demand — about 88 megawatts — for five offshore oil platforms, which use large amounts of energy to separate oil, gas and water from the wells.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/09/25/floating-offshore-wind-energy-norway/

2024jun14.   dark matter.    Scientists may have found an answer to the mystery of dark matter. It involves an unexpected byproduct.        Primordial black holes have regained popularity with the discovery of gravitational waves, yet not much is known about their formation, according to Nico Cappelluti, an assistant professor in the physics department of the University of Miami. He was not involved with the study.    “This work is an interesting, viable option for explaining the elusive dark matter,“ Cappelluti said.         “All the hydrogen and helium that we have in our universe today was created in the first three minutes, and if enough of these primordial black holes were around until then, they would have impacted that process and those effects may be detectable,” Natarajan said.    “The fact that this is an observationally testable hypothesis is what I find really thrilling, aside from the fact that this suggests nature likely makes black holes starting from the earliest times through multiple pathways.”        “Actually, the universe is teeming with black holes,” Alonso-Monsalve said. “But the dark matter particle has not been found, even though people looked in all the places where they expected to find it. This is not to say dark matter is not a particle, or that it’s for sure black holes. It could be a combination of both. But now, black holes as candidates for dark matter are taken much more seriously.”        In the 1970s, American astronomers Vera Rubin and W. Kent Ford confirmed dark matter’s existence by looking at stars orbiting at the edge of spiral galaxies. They noted that these stars were moving too fast to be held together by the galaxy’s visible matter and its gravity — they should have been flying apart instead. The only explanation was a large quantity of unseen matter, binding the galaxy together.    “What you see in a spiral galaxy,” Rubin said at the time, “is not what you get.” Her work built upon a hypothesis formulated in the 1930s by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky and kick-started a search for the elusive substance.    Since then, scientists have been trying to observe dark matter directly and even built large devices to detect it — but so far, with no luck.    Early in the search, renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking postulated that dark matter could be hiding in black holes — the main subject of his work — formed during the big bang.  https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/science/black-holes-dark-matter-scn/index.html

2023july01. Euclid telescope.  Unlocking the true nature of dark energy and dark matter could help astronomers understand what the universe is made of, how its expansion has changed over time, and if there is more to understanding gravity than meets the eye. Both dark matter and dark energy also play a role in the distribution and movement of objects, such as galaxies and stars, across the cosmos.       The telescope’s image quality will be four times sharper than those of ground-based sky surveys. Euclid’s wide perspective can also record data from a part of the sky 100 times bigger than what Webb’s camera can capture.        During its observations, the telescope will create a catalog of 1.5 billion galaxies and the stars within them, creating a treasure trove of data for astronomers that includes each galaxy’s shape, mass and number of stars created per year. Euclid’s ability to see in near-infrared light could also reveal previously unseen objects in our own Milky Way galaxy, such as brown dwarfs and ultra-cool stars.         “With these upcoming telescopes, we will measure dark energy in different ways and with far more precision than previously achievable, opening up a new era of exploration into this mystery,” said Rhodes, who serves as the deputy project scientist for Roman and the US science lead for Euclid.       Roman also has the ability to hunt down rogue planets that aren’t attached to stars, search for exoplanets across our galaxy and study objects on the outskirts of our solar system.    “Together, Euclid and Roman will add up to much more than the sum of their parts,” said Yun Wang, a senior research scientist at the California Institute of Technology, in a statement. “Combining their observations will give astronomers a better sense of what’s actually going on in the universe.” https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/01/world/euclid-telescope-launch-scn/index.html

2023sep23.  quantum gravity.   Hossenfelder turned to YouTube "to keep my sanity" when she was unable to go to her office at Germany's Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. Actually, you might say she returned. She'd started a channel in 2007 but just hadn't been very active. Then came a rebranding — Science without the gobbledygook. Today, she has 1 million subscribers (up from 50,000) and also enjoys a strong and growing contingent of Patreon supporters.         She takes her role as a science communicator seriously, aiming her videos at an audience seeking context. "People can go to my channel and get the brief, 20-minute summary," Hossenfelder says. "They don't have to read a whole book or download a review article, which they won't understand anyway."         As her YouTube channel has gained traction, Hossenfelder has been able to hire a handful of writers, though she still writes most of her own jokes. She's no longer at the Frankfurt Institute but has a research position at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. Meanwhile, her dive into social media has allowed her to largely escape the perpetual pursuit of research grants that she says is "always kind of like a lottery."    Posting videos to the internet, it turns out, generates a more reliable revenue stream to fund her work in quantum gravity. YouTube provides some money directly, but Hossenfelder gets more through sponsors who advertise on her channel, Patreon supporters and donations. Crunching the numbers, she "realized that so long as I would keep producing interesting content, I would have an income."        Hossenfelder's science channel has also become a ready platform for her somewhat contrarian views on the state of physics. Among them is what she sees as the problem of beauty, the pursuit of simplicity. Specifically, how her colleagues who try to fathom the fundamental underpinnings of the universe are obsessed with it.    As far back as the Renaissance, scientists have sought compact and elegant descriptions of space, time and motion: a sort of scientific version of Occam's razor — that the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one. But as we seek answers in a complex universe, Hossenfelder cautions that the quest for simplicity could be a dead end. Her 2018 book on the topic, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, served as something of a shot across the bow of modern physics.        In her mind, one such failure has been the effort to explain dark matter, the so-far undetected and unexplained something that makes up a large percentage of the universe. "At the point where we are now, it's pretty clear that it can't be a simple story. It's got to be something more complicated than some kind of new particle," she says.    To be sure, Hossenfelder, 47, isn't the only physicist wondering aloud how far the standard model of particle physics can be pushed in the service of dark matter. She describes herself as "pretty much a voice in the wilderness," but some others, such as astrophysicist Pavel Kroupa, have publicly expressed similar skepticism.        Stacy McGaugh, a professor of astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, met Hossenfelder at a conference several years ago, where they were both on the roster of speakers. They discovered a shared view on many issues, including that the gaping hole in physics left by dark matter might be at least partially filled by a modified theory of gravity. The two have since collaborated on multiple scientific papers. "She's very frank and plainspoken and is not afraid to speak her mind. And that's great," McGaugh says.    That frankness has placed her at odds with some big guns of science, including Don Lincoln, a physicist and researcher at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) outside of Chicago. Unlike Hossenfelder, his work is focused on the experimental side of cutting-edge physics. Lincoln, a fixture on Fermilab's YouTube channel, co-discovered the top quark in 1995 and was part of the team in 2012 that discovered the Higgs boson at Europe's Large Hadron Collider. He and Hossenfelder have occasionally sparred online, he says.    "It's not like we are mortal enemies or anything like that," he's careful to point out. But in a recent episode of Science without the gobbledygook, Hossenfelder took experimental scientists to task for their pursuit of ever-larger, more-powerful and expensive colliders that she believes have little prospect of making important new discoveries.    Lincoln, however, says there are good reasons to believe that dark matter will turn out to be previously unseen particles and not some modified form of gravity. "Most cosmologists would say that while it's true that these modified motion and modified gravity theories can be made to work pretty well on the size of rotating galaxies, or the size of clusters of galaxies, where they fail is on the truly cosmic scale," he says.  On a parallel track to her science channel, Hossenfelder has produced an eclectic mix of music videos, ranging from Beethoven's Ode to Joy to a cover of "Galaxy Song" from the 1983 Monty Python film The Meaning of Life. She learned most of it at YouTube University. "I am mostly interested in audio mixing. I have a thing for quirky sound effects and synths and echoes and reverb anIt's more acceptable nowadays to be both a scientist and someone who explains science to the public, she says. Giants such as the late Carl Sagan — and, more recently, Neil deGrasse Tyson — have helped pave the way. But among her fellow scientists, "there's still this line of thought that Sabine is not doing research anymore ... that she's now doing YouTube," Sabine Hossenfelder says.        Arizona State's Rankin says Hossenfelder's efforts to fund her own research, while unusual today, hark back to an era when gentlemen scientists put up their own money to build scientific instruments, such as telescopes, and pay for scientific expeditions.        Last year, she published her second book, Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions. And she's working on two new scientific papers.    While the gender divide in physics is marginally less stark in Germany than in America — by one estimate, a quarter of Ph.D.s in physics are women there, while it's only about a fifth in the U.S. — Hossenfelder eschews the "role model" label.  https://www.npr.org/2023/09/23/1199469798/youtube-star-scientist-sabine-hossenfelder  

2023sep18.  ego death.   ENLIGHTEN ME WITH RACHEL MARTIN.        She chased 'ego death' - first in religion, then in parenthood.  https://www.npr.org/

2023sep18.  universe.  In an attempt to explain the shockingly bright, highly structured—and possibly quite massive—galaxies existing so early in the timeline of the universe, some researchers have posited that the universe is roughly twice as old as previously believed. They push the age of the universe from a spry 13.8 billion years old to roughly 26.7 billion years old.    An article published earlier this year in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society came to this conclusion after combining two models of the universe. One is the commonly accepted model for the expansion of the universe. This model explains that as the universe expands, the light from galaxies must travel further and therefore shifts from a bluer to a redder spectrum of light.  https://www.npr.org/2023/09/18/1198748542/why-the-earliest-galaxies-are-sparking-drama-and-controversy-among-astronomers

2023aug07.  Fifth nature force.  All of the forces we experience every day can be reduced to just four categories: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force. These four fundamental forces govern how all the objects and particles in the Universe interact with each other.       ... results announced in 2021 [ https://www.bbc.com/news/56643677 ] in which the Fermilab team first suggested the possibility of a fifth force of nature.        The researchers believe that they will have the data they need, and that the theoretical uncertainty will have narrowed in two years' time sufficiently for them to get their goal. That said, a rival team at Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are hoping to get there first.        Everything in the world around us is made from atoms - which in turn are made from even smaller particles. These interact to create the four forces of nature: electricity and magnetism (electromagnetism), two nuclear forces and gravity.    Their behaviour is predicted by the standard model, and for fifty years it has predicted their behavior perfectly, with no errors whatsoever.    Muons are similar to electrons which orbit atoms and are responsible for electrical currents, but they are about 200 times as massive.    In the experiment they were made to wobble, using powerful, superconducting magnets.    The results showed that the muons wobbled faster than the standard model said it should.  https://www.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/5061034831056916264/1540908956194601553  Also see below: 2019sep11.   Fifth nature force.

2023aug07.  Rogue planets.  Free-floating planets — dark, isolated orbs roaming the universe unfettered by any host star — don’t just pop into existence in the middle of cosmic nowhere. They probably form the same way other planets do: within the swirling disk of gas and dust surrounding an infant star.    But unlike their planetary siblings, these worlds get violently chucked out of their celestial neighborhoods.    Astronomers had once calculated that billions of planets had gone rogue in the Milky Way. Now, scientists at NASA and Osaka University in Japan are upping the estimate to trillions.        Could any of these planets be habitable? Possibly, Dr. Bennett surmised, explaining that they’d be dark without a host star, but not necessarily frigid. Hydrogen in a planet’s atmosphere could act like a greenhouse and trap heat emanating from its interior — which is what sustains microbial life in deep sea vents on Earth.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/science/rogue-planets-milky-way.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20230808&instance_id=99514&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=141426&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2023aug07.   Nuclear fusion.  A group of U.S. scientists say they have repeated their landmark energy feat [of 2022dec05] — a nuclear fusion reaction that produces more energy than is put into it. But this time, they say the experiment produced an even higher energy yield than one in December that got international attention for making a major step forward toward the long elusive goal of producing energy through fusion.        Researchers can only create a fusion reaction about once a day because they have to let the lasers cool and replace the fuel target. But a commercially viable fusion plant would need to be able to do it several times per second, Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT, previously told The Washington Post.        “Once you’ve got scientific viability,” he said, “you’ve got to figure out engineering viability [decades].”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/08/06/nuclear-fusion-net-energy-gain-higher-yield/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

2023aug04.  Deep exploration.    NASA said Friday that it lost contact with Voyager 2 on July 21 after "a series of planned commands" inadvertently caused the craft to turn its antenna 2 degrees away from the direction of its home planet.        NASA said it resumed full communications with the Voyager 2 on Friday after almost two weeks of silence from the interstellar spacecraft.        A Deep Space Network facility in Australia then sent "the equivalent of an interstellar 'shout' " to the Voyager 2 telling it to turn its antenna back toward Earth. The signal was sent more than 12.3 billion miles away and it took 37 hours to get a response from the spacecraft, NASA said.  https://www.npr.org/2023/08/02/1191341035/nasa-voyager-2-spacecraft-contact

2023july25.  Global life-quality.   Five well-known biologists and neuroscientists were on the committee, including Randy Schekman, who won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and Shirley Tilghman, who served as president of Princeton University from 2001 to 2013. In its report, which focused on 12 academic papers, the committee said there was no evidence that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne had knowingly falsified data or withheld such information from the public.    But the committee noted that “multiple members of Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s labs over the years appear to have manipulated research data and/or fallen short of accepted scientific practices,” pointing out multiple errors in the five papers for which Dr. Tessier-Lavigne had led or overseen the research. In response, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne vowed to retract three of the five articles, request major corrections for two and step down from his position as president.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/science/tessier-lavigne-resignation-research.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20230725&instance_id=98356&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=140200&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2023july11.  No-talk codified.  Dr. Siegler and his colleagues analyzed data from microwave instruments on Chang’e-1, launched in 2007, and Chang’e-2, launched in 2010, two early Chinese spacecraft no longer in operation. Because Congress currently prohibits direct collaboration between NASA and China and the research was financed by a NASA grant, Dr. Siegler could not work with scientists and engineers who collected the data.    “That was a limitation, that we couldn’t just call up the engineers that had built the instrument in China and say, ‘Hey, how should we be interpreting this data?’” he said. “It would be really great if we could just have been working on this with the Chinese scientists the whole time. But we’re not allowed to. But, luckily, they made some of their databases public.”    He was able to tap into the expertise of a Chinese scientist, Jianqing Feng, who met Dr. Siegler at a conference. Dr. Feng was working on a lunar exploration project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/science/moon-hot-spot-granite.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20230711&instance_id=97222&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=138982&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2023july10. Sound of Silence -- humanity's no-talk and no-write.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCtouot15cA        Skip the ads and be ready to close after listening to the song.

2023july10. Network effect.  Threads isn't the first Twitter alternative: we've had Gab, Mastodon, Parler, Bluesky, Truth Social, and more - and they've all fallen short.    That could be because of the "network effect" - a phenomenon where the value of a service goes up with every new user. Think telephones: they weren't very useful when only 10 people had one, then they became essential.    In social media, a network effect emerges when a platform reaches a critical mass with enough interaction. If a modest number of users switch from platform to another, it probably won't feel as fun as the last one. But if millions jump at the same time, it will.     Threads was able to bring over millions of users from Instagram in the first few hours - achieving a near-instant network effect. It can also go in reverse: if enough people stop tweeting, Twitter could lose its network effect and go the way of Myspace.  https://view.email.bbc.com/?qs=207b930c4e205ee9ff8cde47f1f407638e0db0a11dffdedf5f575dbe3a0fabd7ee0e4054d8b831cf4819f10c869f8571705e1e9df3abaf53d3da8de52ee706b31592c4d163c95c79da8666bcf08c467c6a07d53d68425bff 

2023jun14.  Quantum computing.  Error correction is already used in conventional computers and data transmission to fix garbles. But for quantum computers, error correction is likely years away, requiring better processors able to process many more qubits. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/science/ibm-quantum-computing.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Science

2023may02. Home schooling. Home-schooled children have attended Ivy League schools and won national spelling bees. They have also been the victims of child abuse and severe neglect. Some are taught using the classics of ancient Greece, others with Nazi propaganda. What all share is the near-absolute control their parents wield over the ideas they encounter.    Many parents say home education empowers them to withdraw from schools that fail their children or to provide instruction that better reflects their personal values. But there is little to no regulation of home schooling in much of the country, with no guarantees that kids are learning skills and subjects to prepare them for adulthood — or, for that matter, learning anything at all. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2023/christian-home-schoolers-revolt/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3a283d0%2F64761e9149fef7411dfab0b3%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F8%2F70%2F64761e9149fef7411dfab0b3

2023may02.  A serving of chia seeds — roughly two tablespoons — won’t transform your entire diet, or replace the vitamins you should be getting from vegetables. But doctors and dietitians point to a few key health benefits: Chia seeds contain remarkably high levels of an omega-3 essential fatty acid known as alpha-linolenic acid, or A.L.A. You can only get these acids from your diet, Dr. Ring said, and eating foods that are rich in A.L.A.s can help prevent heart disease. In fact, the seeds are one of the richest plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids; one serving has more than twice the daily amount of A.L.A. recommended by the National Institutes of Health.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/well/eat/chia-seeds-benefits.html

2023may01.  Visualization of a self - a theoretic frame.       I (i = the line featuring the dot which represents the non-physical self "of course capitalized because of its personal importance") -> I have my moments -> I have connectivity/continuity/wholeness of my moments -> I reason -> I choose -> I actualize further moments "at time synergistic/creative".       Stated in way-precedence: I actualize >- I choose >- I reason >- I interconnect >- I have moments >- i am self (the dot).      That dot can be seen to exist its life 'pie', quartered be two polarities and a circumference: joy-sad, love-hate, freeing-fear (a smallest circumference/pie-of-life would be catatonic.       Those three 'polarities' encompass all emotions/feelings to facilitate the performance/actualization of the self.       

2023may01.  What is cognition? In simple terms, it's how we think – our mental processes and abilities, from working out problems to our imagination. It also includes imbuing symbolic meaning in actions, objects or places.    If the research team excavating at Des-Cubierta are right, then it appears Neanderthals were capable of at least some of these higher forms of cognition.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230428-the-puzzle-of-neanderthal-culture-and-aesthetics

2022jun14.   … the tale of how a relatively obscure Scotland-based physicist developed a stunning theory, one that would help illuminate the invisible, particulate web that holds our universe together. And how in the following decades, the research community would argue, debate, build and expand on his idea, setting out on a quest to confirm the existence of the Higgs boson and with it our own understanding of the universe.    At a basic level, Higgs’s theory belongs to a fundamental and puzzling question: Where does the mass of the universe come from? Using the known rules of physics, from electromagnetism to quantum mechanics, Higgs raised the possibility of an unstable subatomic particle that, through a series of fizzing interactions, could lend mass to other particles. He predicted this particle would be a boson — a notably massive subatomic particle that helps hold matter together — and that it would exist in an energy field that enabled the interactions. Higgs suggested a path to confirming the existence of the boson  and the eventual measurement of its decay products. In doing so, Close writes, the theory issued a subtle challenge: “Is this just a clever piece of mathematics or does nature really work this way?”    Close uses that question as a launching point, taking the reader through much of the history of particle physics and introducing the key players, the insights by others in the field who moved the ideas forward and the eventual decision to build a machine in Switzerland — the Large Hadron Collider — to test the possibilities. The L.H.C. would find confirmation for the boson’s decay products in 2012. Close brings to this story an insider’s knowledge and a combat-ready willingness to defend Higgs against his occasional critics, at one point dismissing the high-profile British physicist Stephen Hawking as a man with a “singular genius for playing the media.”    In other words, this is a very human telling of the ways that we’ve figured out at least some of the mysteries of our universe since the mid-20th century. “What does the discovery reveal about the cosmos and our place in the universe?” Close wonders, and he ends his book on a note of additional mystery, reminding us that there are great achievements in physics to come and that tantalizing questions still shine in front of us, their answers still out of reach, ever elusive.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/books/review/elusive-peter-higgs-frank-close.html  

2023apr30.   Space exploration.  ...probing the outer bounds of the solar system for over 45 years... Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1 (launched the same year), are the only spacecraft to have ventured beyond the heliosphere.     Ed Stone, who was the chief scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab before he retired last year, has spent over half his life dedicated to the Voyager program. He oversaw the spacecrafts churn out one discovery after another as they explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.     "What it revealed was how complex and dynamic the solar system really is. Before Voyager, the only known active volcanoes were here on Earth," Stone told NPR in 2017. "Then we flew by Jupiter's moon, Io, and it has 10 times the volcanic activity of earth. Before Voyager, the only known oceans in the solar system were here on Earth. Then we flew by another moon of Jupiter, Europa, which it turns out has a liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust."     Voyager 2 is 12.3 billion miles away from Earth and counting. Voyager 1, also facing an expiration date as it also loses power, is 14.7 billion miles away.

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/30/1172921603/nasa-voyager-2-2026-backup-power-space

2019sep11.   Fifth nature force.   Physics centers essentially on four forces that control our known, visible universe, governing everything from the production of heat in the sun to the way your laptop works. They are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong force.         ...an excited helium atom emitted light as it decayed. The particles split at an unusual angle – 115 degrees – which couldn’t be explained by known physics.        Scientists at the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Atomki) have posted findings showing what could be an example of that fifth force at work.         Three years ago...Those findings, which showed particles coming off beryllium-8 at around a 140-degree angle, were strange and new.        But Feng believed the Hungarians were for real. His research group published a paper on the heels of the Hungarians' 2016 work, laying out a theory to observe what Krasznahorkay's experimental team had seen.        Meanwhile, nuclear physicists around the world set to work looking for errors in the Hungarians’ work, and have come up empty-handed over the past few years.        Feng says that, barring experimental error, there was only a one-in-a-trillion chance that the results were caused by anything other than the X17 particle, and this new fifth force.    

He added that if another research group could repeat these results with a third type of atom in addition to beryllium and helium, “that would blow the cover off this thing.”        They’re leading us closer to what’s considered the Holy Grail in physics, which Albert Einstein had pursued but never achieved. Physicists hope to create a “unified field theory,” which would coherently explain all cosmic forces from the formation of galaxies down to the quirks of quarks.    But the universe isn’t giving up its secrets easily.    “There’s no reason to stop at the fifth,” Feng said. “There could be a sixth, seventh, and eighth force.”

 https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/22/world/fifth-force-of-nature-scn-trnd/index.html        Functional organization is a theory.