Meatballs Part II Camp Sasquatch will be bought out and closed unless owner Coach Giddy wins the boxing competition scheduled for the end of the summer. Tough city punk Flash, who’s performing his community service CONTINUE READING... The post 84 From ’84: Meatballs Part II appeared first on The Retro Network.

On May 20, American Kennel Club (AKC) Museum of the Dog hosted the very first Pet Gala, regarded as "Pet Fashion's Biggest Night", with pet fashion couturier Anthony Rubio.

San Francisco Flew 'Appeal to Heaven' Flag Until Saturday

If you’ve ever felt bad about leaning on a bit of tech to help your love life, rest assured – at least you’re not having to use drones and artificial intelligence (AI) to find a partner (at least we hope not). That’s what Encephalartos woodii, quite possibly the world’s loneliest plant, is having to do to try and bring the species back from the brink of extinction.E. woodii is a member of the cycads, the oldest surviving seed-bearing plants on Earth – they even pre-date the dinosaurs. Unfortunately, this particular species has also met its extinction in the wild, with the last remaining specimen found in the Ngoye Forest, South Africa in 1895.It’s managed not to go completely extinct because of continued propagation in botanical gardens, though because the last wild specimen of E. woodii was male, this means that the remaining members of the species are also all males.Scientists would like to build up the population again through natural reproduction, but therein lies a problem: no one’s ever found a female plant. To give E. woodii a helping hand, a team of researchers have taken to combing the Ngoye Forest, which has never been fully explored before, with drones in an attempt to find a female partner.The drones feature a multispectral camera capable of capturing light from five different wavelength bands, each of which can help to distinguish particular plants and their features. However, there are 10,000 acres of the forest to search and a recent survey of just 195 of those generated 15,780 images.That’s a lot of pictures to go through, so the team have been analyzing them with AI.“With the AI, we are using an image recognition algorithm in order to recognise plants by shape,” explained Dr Laura Cinti, who is leading the project, in a statement. “We generated images of plants and put them in different ecological settings, to train the model to recognise them.”If a female plant isn’t located with this approach – they haven’t found one yet, although less than 2 percent of the forest has been searched – researchers are currently exploring the possibility of changing the sex of a male plant.“There have been reports of sex change in other cycad species due to sudden environmental changes such as temperature, so we are hopeful we can induce sex change in the E. woodii too,” said Dr Cinti.After 300 million years on the planet, cycads are now believed to be one of its most endangered organisms; bringing E. woodii back from the brink of extinction would be quite the achievement.“I was very inspired by the story of the E. woodii, it mirrors a classic tale of unrequited love,” said Dr Cinti. “I’m hopeful there is a female out there somewhere, after all there must have been at one time. It would be amazing to bring this plant so close to extinction back through natural reproduction.”

Drones have revolutionized many facets of the modern world, from engineering and science to warfare and surveillance – as well as the art of photography. To celebrate this burgeoning field, the Siena International Photo Awards has its specialized competition dedicated to aerial drone imagery. The nominees for their Drone Photo Awards 2024 have been revealed, showcasing some of the most beautiful and impressive aerial photography snapped from the skies this year. Top prizes will be announced on Saturday, September 28 at the Siena Awards Photo Festival in the idyllic setting of Tuscany, Italy. The winners, along with the Honorable Mention images, will be featured in an exhibition, named "Above Us Only Sky," held at the San Galgano Abbey.“The eye of the Dragon” by Miki Spitzer (ISRAEL) is a nominee in the Nature category.Image credit: Miki Spitzer/Drone Photo Awards 2024“Stay Where your Heat smiles” by Silke Hullmann (GERMANY) is a nominee in the Nature category.Image credit: Silke Hullmann/Drone Photo Awards 2024The competition has revealed five to six nominees for each of the nine different categories, which include Abstract, Animals, Nature, and People. The nominees were picked from over 2,000 shots submitted by photographers from 113 countries. While the focus is on aerial drones, the competition says it welcomes submissions of “aerial photography and videos captured through various means,” including images taken from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, balloons, blimps, dirigibles, rockets, kites, and parachutes.“Tree of Life” by Isabella Tabacchi (ITALY) is a nominee in the Abstract category.Image credit: Isabella Tabacchi/Drone Photo Awards 2024“Ocean Clean Up” by Toby Nicol (UK) is a nominee in the Animals category.Image credit: Toby Nicol/ Drone Photo Awards 2024For a taste of what’s to come, you can check out the winning shots from the Drone Photo Awards 2022 right here.

Wednesday morning’s airing of NBC’s Today included a segment exploring the purported rise of consumer confidence in May. The show’s hosts were joined by senior business correspondent Christine Romans, who broke down the contributing factors and came to the conclusion that people were acting confidently through their spending, while simultaneously not taking into account that goods and services cost more due to inflation. Romans began by firmly stating that “a very strong job market is really supporting people's finances here.” She cited examples of people’s intentions to make larger purchases, like cars and appliances, adding that “Those are things that suggest you have confidence in your paycheck.” According to her analysis, the labor market was most significantly affecting the increase in consumer confidence. Following a short discussion of the housing market and interest rates as related to the confidence number, things started to unravel when Romans then considered the problem of affordability and complaints regarding excessive costs for basic necessities.     As if completely forgetting basic human necessities that require spending, Romans inaccurately presented the inconsistency of people who, while hesitant about the economy, would not stop spending, which she interpreted as a pretense of confidence: And they just feel like they're being nickeled and dimed. So, affordability is still a problem here. I've been going to swing states talking to people from — who clean hotel rooms to small business owners all up and down the job spectrum. And people say and they do different things. They say they feel lousy about the economy, but they're spending. “They're spending their money and so they’re acting as if they have confidence in their job and they have confidence in the economy, but they're saying they feel really lousy,” she asserted. Romans continued to portray the public as the ones sending mixed signals about the economy: So there's this anxiety disconnect that I think has been the story of the post-Covid economy. And we'll see how that plays out, you know, five months, six months into an election, how do people really feel about the economy. They're doing one thing, they're saying another. The confusion of her arguments was also evident in her earlier statement regarding big purchases as clear proof of growing assurance in paychecks. Her understanding reflected failure to consider the fact that the basic necessities were more expensive, thus an increase in spending was not a sign of confidence.   The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: NBC’s Today 5/29/2024 07:13:44 CRAIG MELVIN: Folks, there's some positive news for the economy this morning. Consumer confidence rising in May for the first time in three months, signaling that Americans are feeling better about where things stand, but there are some lingering areas of concern when it comes to your wallet. NBC's senior business correspondent Christine Romans here to break it all down for us. Christine, always good to see you. CHRISTINE ROMANS: Good morning. MELVIN: It's usually a mixed bag with you, Christine. ROMANS: Yep. MELVIN: There's a little good news, there's a little not, so good news. So let's start with the good news. Consumer confidence up in May. What does that tell you about where we are right now? CHRISTINE ROMANS: It tells me that the job market — a very strong job market — is really supporting people's finances here. When you talk to people in this consumer confidence report, more people said they were looking to buy a car, more people said they were looking to buy an appliance. Those are things that suggest — HODA KOTB: Mmmm. ROMANS: — you have confidence in your paycheck. So, you saw this number rise, and it really is showing you the labor market is underpinning everything here. Also stock markets hitting record highs — KOTB: Mmhmm. ROMANS: — so people who have investments in their 401(k)s, at least on paper they're feeling a little bit better here. And you saw that in that number I think. SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Let's talk about the housing market — KOTB: Mmhmm. GUTHRIE: — because it's sluggish — ROMANS: Yeah. GUTHRIE: — and the interest rates continue to dog it. KOTB: Mmhmm. ROMANS: And in that consumer confidence number, that was one thing that people said was a problem. They thought that interest rates were too high, and they didn't think they were going to come down anytime soon. You have mortgage rates that are now back below seven percent for the housing market. So that's good if you're trying to get in there, 6.94%. But there's just not — there — there's not enough — GUTHRIE: People are used to three percent! Yeah. ROMANS: — I know! And there's not enough houses on the market. You still have inventory. Just, there are more people who want to buy a house than there are houses on the market. So that is the real disconnect in the housing market. But you’re starting to see some energy in the urban areas. People are — want — getting in there, trying to buy homes again. Again, there's not enough supply in the market. KOTB: So, confidence is on the rise, and that's a good thing. ROMANS: Yeah. KOTB: But what about what Americans are actually seeing in their bank accounts? How is that changing? ROMANS: You know, affordability — KOTB: Yeah. ROMANS: — is a real problem here. People look at child care. KOTB: Yeah. ROMANS: They look at health care costs. They look at all these things in their life: home insurance, you know, car insurance, all these other things that have been going up. And they just feel like they're being nickelled and dimed. So, affordability is still a problem here. I've been going to swing states talking to people from — who clean hotel rooms to small business owners — MELVIN: Yeah. ROMANS: — all up and down the job spectrum. And people say and they do different things. They say they feel lousy about the economy, but they're spending. MELVIN: Right. [LAUGHING] HOTB: Mmhmm. ROMANS: They're spending their money and so they’re acting as if they have confidence — HOTB: Mmhmm. ROMANS:— in their job and they have confidence in the economy, but they're saying they feel really lousy. MELVIN: Mmm. ROMANS: So there's this anxiety disconnect — MELVIN: Yeah. ROMANS: — that I think has been the story of the post-Covid economy. And we'll see how that plays out, you know, five months, six months — MELVIN: Yeah. ROMANS: — into an election, how do people really feel about the economy. They're doing one thing, they're saying another. KOTB: Saying another. Okay. MELVIN: That would also explain why credit card debt is so high right now. KOTB: Yeah. ROMANS: Exactly. Exactly. KOTB: Yeah. MELVIN: Thank you, Christine. KOTB: Thanks, Christine. GUTHRIE: Thank you. (...)

The recent stock market rises suggest investors believe the U.S. economy has finally regained its strength after four years of turmoil. Unfortunately, they are probably wrong.The Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed a major milestone on May 16, rising above 40,000 and hovering near that number since then. That represents a 40% increase over the Dow’s September 2022 recent low. Last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both hit record highs as well. The economic expansion is not the outcome of a magical, mystical government stimulus created by deficit spending, as Joe Biden would tell you.One explanation for this exuberance is that business profits are up, having risen in seven out of 10 economic sectors over the past year. One might well argue, however, that stocks are overvalued because price-to-earnings ratios are high and rising. In any case, investors appear to be anticipating an easing up on money-tightening by the Federal Reserve. “Data Wednesday showed that core consumer prices, which exclude the volatile categories of food and energy, last month posted their smallest increase since April 2021. The Dow climbed after the inflation report and then crossed 40,000 Thursday before paring its gains,” the Wall Street Journal reported last week. Investors are thinking — hoping, really — that the slight slowing of inflation in April means the Fed will soon relent on its tightening of the money supply through unusually high interest rates and reductions of its bond holdings, allowing the economy to expand more rapidly. By one measure, the economy is going gangbusters. Consumer spending has risen by a startling 29.5% since February 2021. The conventional (Keynesian) wisdom is that the (massive) increase in government spending since 2020 has buoyed the economy by stimulating demand. I think there is a different and better explanation: The ongoing increase in housing prices is a large contributing factor to the rise of consumer spending, and the increase in housing prices is being caused by excessive federal spending. The median monthly payment for a home purchase was $2,775 in the four weeks ended April 14, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2019, it was $1,242. The median U.S. household income rose by 17.8% between 2019 and January 2024, from $65,712 to $77,397. That means the share of the median household income required to pay the mortgage on the median-priced house has risen from 22.7% in 2019 to 43% today. That is brutal. Home equity accounted for 65% of Americans’ household wealth in 2021. According to Federal Reserve data, U.S. homeowners in 2019 had a median net worth of $293,900. Both of those numbers have risen since then because of housing price inflation. On paper, that is. You need to live somewhere, so, if you sell your increasingly valuable house, you need to buy ... some other increasingly valuable house. As a result, the housing supply is “historically low” today, according to RedFin. Home sales have fallen for two months in a row, and 76% of Americans say this is a bad time to try to buy a house. If you do not move, however, the rise in the value of your home increases the amount of money you can borrow against your (ever-greater) net worth. If people are not buying new homes, they have more ready cash to spend on other things. The simultaneous increase in house valuations and inability to sell homes moves money toward other purchases and investments. Meanwhile, for those who cannot afford to buy a house, the U.S. median rent is 22.5% higher than before the pandemic. Thus, the reported economic expansion is not the outcome of a magical, mystical government stimulus created by deficit spending, as Joe Biden would tell you. Instead, it is being driven by a rapid increase in household borrowing, which reached a record $17.69 trillion in the first quarter of the year. Homeowners can borrow against their houses, whereas renters are stuck paying much higher interest rates on record credit card debt. (Note especially slides 5, 6, 13, and 14 at the linked article.) All this borrowing stems from inflation caused by federal government overspending. If you compare the housing price index with the changes in federal spending from 1970 to the present, you can see federal spending moves above-trend in 2000 and much above-trend in 2021. Housing prices rise in tandem. The post-2020 increase in housing prices is not being caused by a rise in the quality of housing — the latter does contribute over time, but not over the course of two or three years. The price increases track with federal spending because the government is increasingly running deficits, which create inflation via the Fed’s monetization of the federal debt. In fact, “about 80% of the stock rise during Biden’s tenure has been phantom gains due to inflation,” the Committee to Unleash Prosperity reports. Much the same certainly applies to housing values. Given these factors, the recent stock market increases do not appear to be indicative of a great increase in the real value of goods and services produced in the United States. On the contrary, they are a side effect of the federal government’s ongoing and intensifying economic destruction. Those who have large amounts of money invested in stocks are surely happy now. Nearly everybody else is being brutalized by the multitude of economic ills resulting from Biden’s reckless increases in federal government spending.

Without a doubt, Bidenomics has been a disaster for American families, with no relief in sight as the November election approaches. Yet, Joe Biden and his supporters have done everything they can to gaslight and spin their economic disasters and the country’s overall economic malaise into a cause for celebration.One cheerleading Democrat after another has tried to manufacture an alternate reality. Pay no attention to your skyrocketing bills. Never mind the tech layoffs. Inflation? What inflation? Perhaps the most outlandish spin so far comes courtesy of Brian Beutler, a senior editor at the New Republic, in a Substack essay titled, “Biden Beat Trumpflation and the Trump Crime Wave.” Nobody wants to inherit this economy.Beutler tries to bend reality from the start. “Trumpflation” — really? When Joe Biden took office in January 2021, inflation was running about 1.4% annually. In fact, under Donald Trump’s tenure, then-Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said at one point that inflation was too low. And in May 2021, after Trump was out of office, Yellen, now helming the Treasury Department, said she didn’t see any inflation problem ahead. While year-over-year inflation measures peaked under Biden in June 2022 at around 9.1%, cumulative increases since he took office are nearly 20% as measured by the Consumer Price Index, with the real impact felt by consumers even more severe. Speaking of his liberal friends, Beutler laments, “I don’t know any who doubt my premise: Republicans would love to inherit this economy. They’d brag about how it became good the moment they took charge, and they’d quickly reap the political spoils.” We have already established that the author and Democrats are both decoupled from reality, but wanting to inherit this economy? My goodness. Nobody wants to inherit this economy. Biden has not only fueled massive inflation but also embellished economic growth figures, which are now declining, with the first quarter GDP coming in nearly a percentage point lower than expected. Growth in large part has come a result of the government running massive deficits. The U.S. deficit-to-GDP is currently around double the historic average. It is highly unusual for deficits to be that large when the economy is showing growth. More tax receipts should cut deficits. In an unfortunate turn of events, the Biden administration has done the opposite — it used deficit spending to create growth, something that has been done at an incredible cost to taxpayers, with interest rates near 15-year highs. This has created a national debt nearing $35 trillion with interest expense at a $1.7 trillion run-rate. If nothing shifts in terms of spending or interest rates, debt service will soon become the largest individual government expenditure. It gets worse, believe it or not. The Biden administration has weaponized the U.S. dollar, and we are now facing an acceleration of central banks and governments trying to reduce their dependence on the dollar as a reserve currency, which will ultimately make financing the U.S. government more expensive. Americans are also contending with record-high household debt and a dwindling personal savings rate, coming in at less than half of the historic average for the first three quarters of the year, ending March 2024 at 3.2%. On top of that, key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, including the lower individual tax rates, begin to expire at the end of 2025. Whoever wins in November will need to contend with addressing that as well. While living in a fantasy world is the Democratic Party’s strong suit, let me say that nobody, and I mean no one, should want to inherit this fiscal mess. That is reality, and there is no way to spin it.

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