The  Vera C. Rubin Observatory  atop Cerro Pachón in Chile recently experienced first light last night, and released the above photo. But before focusing on that new telescope, the latest summary of what is occurring in the Israel and USA vs Iran War, where controlled orchestration seems to be the mode of operation. Iran did "take revenge" at Trump's attack on its nuclear facilities by lobbing a few missiles into U.S.'s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar . However, Iran first alerted Qatar that this was coming, with a sense that we are not at war with you, but only hate America.  Sort of Trump saying we are not at war with Iran, but only its nuclear facilities.  There were no casualties at the U.S. base. Of course, Qatar informed the U.S., so the ten missiles were all intercepted and destroyed in the air. It seems that Iran had to satisfy it's people, so on TV exaggerated the magnitude of its attack. There are more than 50,000 American troops scattered throughout the Midd...

I yesterday posted on the 17 rare earth materials.  So let me expand the discussion to another element,   lithium , which is especially crucial for electric vehicles and batteries.  I begin with an introduction to lithium. It is the lightest metal with an atomic number of 3, and was originally created like hydrogen and helium at the time of the Big Bang. First isolated in 1855. Is a shiny, silvery metal at room temperature with a melting point of 357 F, and can be cut with scissors. Lithium powder or dust can spontaneously ignite. Lithium floats in water and forms lithium hydroxide and hydrogen, which typically burst into a red flame. Between 2008 and 2018 the annual production rose from 25,400 to 85,000 tons.  Demand will more than double by 2024. Most of this element is used for batteries, but also for the glass and ceramics industry. In 2010 77% of all lithium went to glass and ceramics. In 2020 71% of lithium was for batteries. Note that the correct name is ...

The   New York Times   this morning provided graphs that showed why Republicans will become a truly minority party if only the pandemic went on for a few more decades.  Well, that's an exaggeration, and that's not what they said, but a higher rate of Republicans is dying from COVID-19: Turns out the death rates were similar until the end of last year.  What happened was that vaccines arrived, and today,  40%  of Republican adults remain unvaccinated, compared with about  10%  of Democratic adults.  Why has this happened?  Disinformation, promoted by  Fox News , Sinclair Broadcast Group and online sources.  The question is if this is because of conservative policy, or because those who watch Fox News are predisposed to be less inclined anyway.     NYT  further suggested that the difference will drop because the new Pfizer and Merck antiviral treatments for those who contract COVID-19 will result in fewer deat...