Yes, Earth has received a laser-beam signal from 8-billion light-years away! Who sent it? Or what sent the signal? How did it hit the MeerKAT Telescope array at the North Cape in South Africa and more astonishing it stayed needle-sharp for 4.7 hours!? That signal was with such extreme clarity from a hyper-extreme range that it puzzled scientists hinting that something else unusual was involved. It had to be because when the laser-signal originated at that distance, Earth was not even in existence! What was going on? What had gone on that long ago? Has extra-terrestrial life made contact with us?
The mega-maser coming from HATLAS J142935.3–002836 was detected by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, which is made up of 64 linked radar dishes. Credit: CSARAO/MeerKAT
Don’t jump to any conclusions yet. The Cosmos is our endless treasure trove of splendid weirdness and mind-boggling phenomena. It always challenges us and/or rewrites what we once thought was understood. Were we contacted, or was it something else?
After more extensive examination scientists determined that it was a hydroxyl megamaser which is a natural microwave amplifier triggered by two galaxies slamming together. Imagine our own Milky Way slamming into Andromeda, the nearest galaxy to us. In fact, cosmologists, astrophysicists, astronomers, etc., want to rename or make a new category for the phenomena called gigamaser. What is a megamaser or gigamaser?
“The word maser stands for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It works like a laser but sends out radio waves instead of visible light. When galaxies collide, they crush vast clouds of gas into tight, turbulent pockets. Inside those pockets, molecules called hydroxyl—simple oxygen-hydrogen pairs—soak up energy from the crash.
As radiation passes through this excited gas, the hydroxyl molecules release additional photons at exactly the same wavelength and direction. The beam gets stronger. For this system, designated HATLAS J142935.3–002836, the signal arrived at roughly 18 centimeters in wavelength, near 1667 and 1665 MHz. Those are the standard lines astronomers search for when hunting hydroxyl masers.”
HATLAS J142935.3–002836 is only visible to us thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. These 2014 images, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope (right), show a partial “Einstein ring” of magnified light from the distant galaxy merger. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/W. M. Keck Observatory
What happens when a host galaxy looks distorted and stretched to astronomers and other scientists?
“That is the telltale mark of gravitational lensing. A massive foreground galaxy sits almost exactly between Earth and the distant merger. Its gravity bends the fabric of space, acting like a natural magnifying glass that redirects more of the background signal toward us.
This effect does not create new light. It simply focuses what is already there. The lensing boost explains why a source at redshift z = 1.027 stayed detectable. Previous hydroxyl surveys had only reached redshifts around z = 0.25, much closer to Earth in cosmic terms.“
Illustration of the distant galaxy 8 billion light-years away (red), magnified by an unrelated foreground disk galaxy, resulting in a red ring. Credit: Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy (IDIA).
“The crash itself supplies the raw power. Smashing galaxies churn gas into dense regions where molecules build up and collide. Those conditions energize the hydroxyl into the state required for maser action. Earlier studies of the same system show signs of rapid star formation, exactly what you would expect from a merger burning through its fuel.”
In some 4.5 billion years our Milky Way galaxy will indeed collide, crash into the Andromeda galaxy—the gravitational pull is too great for us to escape it. It is already happening. When they do crash together it will form a new, giant elliptical galaxy, often nicknamed by scientists “Milkdromeda“. Here is a computer simulation of what that collision might look like from the outside of both galaxies… perhaps to another distant civilization monitoring their outer-space with highly advanced instruments:
Wow, talk about a non-stop fireworks show in the celestial night sky! Unless of course Earth is hit, wounded, or obliterated, vaporized. Yikes. 😧😬
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
I always follow the U.S. News and World Report annual data compilation of Best States to reside because it offers anyone in America a good, objective litmus test and comparison of how states are ranked in making living, a quality of life, and affordability to live there for U.S. citizens. The final tallies are always very telling. Without further delay here is this year’s 2026 overall rankings:
#1 – Utah
#2 – New Hampshire
#3 – Idaho
#4 – Minnesota
#5 – Nebraska
#6 – Florida
#7 – Vermont
#8 – South Dakota
#9 – Massachusetts
#10 – Washington
My home state of Texas usually, well… almost always ranks in the middle half to the lower one-third of the fifty United States. For 2026 they rank #29, the lower half once again. And once again for 6-10 years running our “economy” is the ONLY category that ranks high compared to the other 49 states, with “fiscal stability” ranking 12th; no surprise. But every other category has always been dismally low or barely average for the last 2-3 decades. It begs the question, What changed in Texas in 1994-1995 to the present? Hmmm. 🤔 It’s pretty obvious.
If you would like to see how all the other states rank and their breakdown of why their ranking status go to: Best States Rankings at U.S. News & World Report for an excellent, unbiased assessment. You might be surprised between what is hype and propaganda about states and what is actual fact(s).
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Be Objective
There is really not much for me to say that hasn’t already been said by the world’s most sane, by the most reasonable, by the most stoic and diplomatic in foreign affairs, by most unbiased news reporters and journalists, and frankly, most good-hearted, authentically patriotic Americans. But now it has become glaringly obvious that our POTUS is, if he hasn’t already, has lost his marbles, his mind, sanity, and any remaining human decency (if there was any) for We the People of the United States and this nation’s good will. And the dissent now includes lawmakers, on both sides of the congressional political aisles.
Miranda Jeyaretnam of Time Magazine and Time.com perfectly sums up in her article what has gone very, very wrong for our POTUS and his MAGA Republican cabinet, as well as for our entire nation:
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump posted on Easter Sunday, threatening once again to bomb Iran’s civilian power plants and bridges. “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”
In his childish tirade early, early this past Easter Sunday morning on his social-media platform for kids, the tantrum-throwing toddler of the United States presidency let loose an ultimatum rant of profanity upon Iran’s ruling regime that would have made Sam Kinison cower in shock. And with each passing day and passing week, as Iran keeps demonstrating repeatedly to U.S. White House officials, Iran’s military leadership, missiles, and will to fight to the bitter end has not wavered, has not been “obliterated back into the stone age,” and certainly shows no signs of further weakening. Those press releases and speeches from the administration are merely half-truths, largely ambiguous, or flat out lies. The bottom-line is that Trump’s war is failing. Period. Time Magazine’s Jeyaretnam continues:
Trump set Tuesday at 8 p.m. E.T. as the deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face U.S. bombs, despite what he has called “productive” talks towards a cease-fire. Israel has already attacked Iranian civil energy infrastructure, including Iran’s South Pars gas field and oil depots across Tehran, potentially violating international humanitarian law. Trump’s open threat of what could also constitute war crimes has led some lawmakers and critics to call for his Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D, Conn.) posted, “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.”
Therefore America and Americans, including congressional lawmakers, it is now time to seriously examine removing our acting, yet mentally and emotionally unstable Commander-in-Chief, from office. If the U.S. congress members, both parties, do not proceed with preparations for invoking the 25th Amendment on Trump, the consequences come Wednesday, April 8, 2026, could be so devastating that the United States economy, along with the rest of the free world’s economies may not recover for decades. This is no joke people! This is no joke federal lawmakers!
President Donald Trump addresses the nation about the Iran War from the White House on April 1, 2026. Alex Brandon—AP/Bloomberg/Getty Images
“Several Republicans and former Trump allies have also called on lawmakers and Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, especially as Trump previously described Vice President J.D. Vance as having a “less enthusiastic” view of waging war on Iran.
Former Congressman and prominent Never Trump Republican Joe Walsh posted, alongside a screenshot of Trump’s threat, “His Easter morning post. And just 2 days ago, one of his ‘religious advisors’ compared him to Jesus Christ. He will forever be a stain on this country. And the world. 25th Amendment. Now.
Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as the White House communications director during Trump’s first term but has since become a vocal critic, posted, “It was at this point that our Founders thought the best thing to do would be to remove a mad man who has the executive office. It became more formalized with the 25th amendment, but more people now should be calling for this man’s removal.”
I strongly suggest reading Miranda Jeyaretnam’s excellent article, if for no other reason than to be prepared, to be in the know of what seems likely to happen after Wednesday, April 8th. It will be infamous and history making, no doubt. If what should happen does happen, then there is a very apropos poem president tRump should learn and stick to memory, if that’s even possible for him today. Since he likely has never heard of it (Dunne) or understood its poignant and powerful imagery and meaning, then the school-yard bully should’ve learned it and memorized it by high school…
“No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend’s were. Each man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.”
— John Donne
I Am Alone – I Didn’t Learn – I Didn’t Listen – I Didn’t Think – I Didn’t Care
Over the Easter, or Ēostre weekend I have often written about all those religious theological fallacies and rampant mistakes within Christendom that the ancient Greco-Roman Catholic Church covered up, changed, edited, omitted, etc., from the 1st-century CE Jewish reformer Yeshua bar Yosef and then passed down to 21st-century Protestant followers, churches, and seminaries. But this time I am going to skip all that. Why? Because verifiable, authentic history never changes. Why beat a dead horse into oblivion? Faith-followers will either be objective or not, equitable or not, brave and open-minded or not, or worse scared to death, or not. C’est la vie. 🤷♂️
No, today I want to write about things that really matter, pun intended. I want to share and comment on a few science subjects, in particular Earth’s physical status—another disruptive affect of Climate Change that is becoming disturbingly obvious—DNA sequencing discoveries, as well as recent atomic findings such as Quantum Entanglement.
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Have any of you noticed that the days on Earth are getting longer now? Yes, it is factually true. You might ask, How is that possible? Believe it or not, Climate Change or a warming planet is contributing to a slower rotation of Earth. Scientists say that this slower rotation has not been seen for at least 3.6-million years. Many decades ago, perhaps century ago, earlier research established an increasingly warming planet affects sea levels and consequently, Earth’s rotation on its axis. However, this change is in a geological context. Geodesist Professor Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, states:
“This rapid increase in day length implies that the rate of modern climate change has been unprecedented at least since the late Pliocene, 3.6 million years ago. The current rapid rise in day length can thus be attributed primarily to human influences.
By the end of the 21st century, climate change is expected to affect day length even more strongly than the Moon. Even though the changes are only milliseconds, they can cause problems in many areas, for example in precise space navigation, which requires accurate information on Earth’s rotation.”
One of Soja’s colleagues, Mostafa Kiani Shahvandi of the University of Vienna, explains that the effect is similar to a figure skater spinning more slowly after extending their arms. This is simple high school Physics 101. Ice sheets and glaciers across the planet are more dense and therefore heavier; a slower rotating Earth. However, a warm planet and much warmer seas are less dense, thinner, molecularly more active so less weight has less gravity which means a faster rotating Earth. Despite the simple physics though, what has been uncertain or never before seen was whether or not climate had ever lengthened the day this quickly before. To answer that puzzling question, the research team reconstructed changes in Earth’s day-length going back millions of years.
Relying on fossilized remains of benthic foraminifera, i.e. single-celled marine organisms that preserve chemical signals of past ocean conditions. This method of study, like polar ice-cores, has proven to be highly revealing of Earth’s climate history for many of her past millennia. First, by analyzing these fossils, scientists were able to infer ancient historical sea-level fluctuations and calculate how those shifts would have affected Earth’s rotation. Second, the researchers then applied a type of deep learning algorithm to their findings, designed to reflect sea-level change while accounting for the uncertainty that comes with ancient climate data.
“From the chemical composition of the foraminifera fossils, we can infer sea-level fluctuations and then mathematically derive the corresponding changes in day length,” Kiani Shahvandi said. “This model captures the physics of sea-level change, while remaining robust to the large uncertainties inherent in paleoclimate data.”
These findings strongly suggest that Earth’s day-length has varied significantly over the last 2.6-million years, in particular during the Quaternary Period, when large continental ice sheets repeatedly grew and melted. Those ice-driven sea-level changes caused Earth’s rotation to speed up or slow down in different eras of Earth’s history.
However, that said, scientists have found that today’s increase in day length is exceptional. More specifically, they found only one period, around two million years ago, showed a rate of change that came close to present-day levels, and even that episode was slightly slower than what has been observed between 2000 and 2020. This only leads scientists to one most plausible conclusion: the current climate trend reflects a broader pattern of unusually rapid climate and oceanic change. And these scientists predict that by the end of the 21st-century accelerated climate-driven domino effects on our length of days could surpass the gravitational pull or slowing by our Moon. In other words, the further ripple-effects upon Earth will be catastrophic.
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Through the methodology of DNA Sequencing paleoanthropologists and geneticists have discovered that the last known remaining Neanderthals stayed totally isolated from other human groups, including Homo sapiens as well as Neanderthals nearby, which alters human history.
Researchers used part of a root of one of Thorin’s molars to determine that he was male and to generate a whole-genome sequence, revealing that he was part of an isolated, previously unknown lineage of Neanderthals. (Image credit: Ludovik Slimak)
Ludovic Slimak, the paleoanthropologist who made the remarkable discovery at Grotte Mandrin, a cave in Rhône Valley, France, had the jaw bone of Thorinanalyzed by geneticists and then sequenced showed that Thorin’s lineage managed to stay totally isolated from the rest of the Neanderthal population, “in spite of the fact that other human groups lived close by.” Slimak goes on to say:
“The population of Thorin had spent 50 millennia without exchanging a single gene with the classical Neanderthal populations.” The analysis showed that Thorin had “high genetic homozygosity,” which indicates inbreeding in the lineage’s recent past. It also offers no evidence of interbreeding with modern humans of the time.”
With this discovery everything about the Neanderthals and their extinction, and by default human history must now be rewritten. Also, with this discovery it further proves that diversity among human populations is highly advantageous if not simply for better immune systems. And those groups of inclusive only religious populations—not marrying or procreating outside of a specific faith—is known to be highly risky and disadvantageous for retardations, weaker immune systems, and higher survivability rates.
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At the Australian National University Research School of Physics, tangibly observed for the first time a pair of atoms existing in two different places simultaneously, i.e. at the exact same time known as Quantum Entanglement. Quantum physicists at ANU said, “It’s really weird for us to think that this is how the universe works. You can read about it in a textbook, but it’s really weird to think that a particle can be in two places at once” when you see it with your own eyes on atomic instruments, says Dr. Sean Hodgman.
Dr. Hodgman goes on to say, “This result confirms the predictions of over a century ago that matter can be in two locations at once, and it can interfere with itself even in those locations.” This means massive, better knowledge of examining how small-scale Quantum Mechanics interact with gravity and General Relativity at the universal scale. This means physicists are one step closer to the “Theory of Everything.” It isn’t as unknown anymore.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
My late father, who was an agnostic humanist and very well educated in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas – Austin, used to sometimes say to me when there was a controversial narrative being told, or seen on television, heard over FM radio, or inside the theater on the silver screen, that you can’t always believe what you see or hear. His quote that always stayed with me was “Son, there are always three sides to every story, sometimes more than three.” And I have found in today’s 21st-century hyper-overloaded American tech-media-information market, Dad’s news mantra is never more true than right now. It can be argued that it began in 2000 and has easily grown 6-fold since then.
Did you know as of May 2021 that within the U.S. out of one hundred seventy-four (174) news companies/outlets only forty-seven (47) are non-profit organizations according to Harvard University. In other words, only 27% of all U.S. news media are typically more unbiasedthan private For Profit news corporations that must heed to private owners’ and/or shareholders’ and a board of directors’ special interests for profits, i.e. biased. And of those 47 non-profit news organizations many of them are under the umbrella of a parent company, such as Frontline PBS under the former CPB. What does all this mean for news consumers, rural and urban viewers inside the United States?
It means most all or a very large majority of our U.S. news is driven by individual owners and boards of directors’personal interests and/or biases. To be more candid, most all of our news we Americans consume is slanted to some degree, if not to a large degree, and the integrity of our “journalism” is often tainted, polluted, or worse, distorted. How do we avoid the modern traps of (extreme?) biasness? How can we find a more neutral source of news and information?
There are two answers: 1) consume a more varied diverse spread of news agencies, media, and outlets, then compare and contrast all of it to unravel the more objective version of a story. Yes, this is an immensely time-consuming method and every day life gets in the way of such deciphering. But the more diverse the input/output, the better. Or 2) pare down your consumption of news to only the non-profit outlets and digital media platforms. Why is number two (2) a more attractive option? Less time spent is one reason. However, below are sixty (60) reasons why to favor non-profit news outlets because of the “donations” to a political candidate or campaign by GOP-dollars versus Democratic-dollars:
There is where all the biasness saturates our privately owned or publicly traded American news media. And this is why “Three Sides to Every Story” is so critical for U.S. consumers to remember to find fair, more factual, more integrity from their news sources. This is why I often watch Al Jazeera or utilize their website. And right now, with our unprovoked U.S. attack and war on Iran by our fake pretend Commander-in-Chief and his Secretary of War, and the massive ripple-effects it is causing for Americans back home at the gas pumps, grocery stores, utilities, as well as nations and their citizens around the world… we simply cannot rely on this administration’s press releases and conferences (or Truth social X) for any direction or understanding. Right now we cannot obtain or rely on the full truth of:
Was Iran really an imminent threat to the U.S. homeland,
What is the true status of the war right now, or
How and when will the war conclude.
Department of War director Pete Hegseth (left) and U.S. President (right), Feb. 2026 explaining war.
Our POTUS never consulted, brought forth or debated any of these crucial points with Congress (or for Americans) the merit of this Iranian War as our U.S. Constitution dictates he do, and he took a solemn vow again for the second time January 20, 2025, to uphold and abide by our Constitution! Our POTUS breaks this solemn vow, the law all the time while in the White House! How many times will this bogus, idiot Commander-in-Chief get away with so much un-Constitutional, illegal behavior?
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Nevertheless, if your own good conscience wants to have more of the facts and truth about today’s current U.S. administration and what is really happening domestically or around the world, then you have no choice but to take the above two news-consumption methods. If you only watch, browse, or listen to one source of news and (dis-)information, you are NOT getting all or more of the facts. Period. Because privately owned news media or publicly traded news media cannot be wholly trusted to share fairly all the facts and how events and their causes play out. Profits are their bottom-line, every single day.
As my father used to often say, “There is always three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the Sunday morning paper.” And that might not be all points-of-view on the controversy and much of one or two slanted stories might be highly falsified propaganda. Think about it.
One is entitled to their own personal opinion, but no one is exclusively entitled to the facts. The facts are always independent of the narrator(s), including our POTUS. Always.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Know Propaganda
I have zero expectation that anything I ever say will end someone’s belief in their God. Not my goal or purpose. That alone belongs to the individual. ~ Zoe
'Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it' - Terry Pratchett
The Professor's Convatorium 