May The Fourth Be With You

Today is Star Wars Day, 4th of May….

Just a little something extra today.

Scifi has been responsible for some inventions that we use today….like GPS is said to have originated from a scifi story by Heinlein and the flip phone was inspired by Star Trek:  the original series….so what if anything has the great scifi series, Star Wars, given us?

Just 48 short years ago, movie director George Lucas used the phrase “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” as the opening to the first “Star Wars” movie, later labeled “Episode IV: A New Hope.” But at least four important aspects of the “Star Wars” saga are much closer – both in time and space – than Lucas was letting on.

One, the ability to add blue food coloring to milk, was possible even at the time the first film came out. But in 2024, “Star Wars”-themed blue milk became periodically available in grocery stores.

And we, an environmental health engineer and a civil engineer, know there are at least three more elements of these ancient, distant Lucas stories that might seem like science fiction but are, in fact, science reality.

Moisture farming

In that first movie, “Episode IV,” Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen was a farmer on the planet of Tatooine. He farmed water from air in the middle of a desert.

It might sound impossible, but it’s exactly what experts discussed at the second International Atmospheric Water Harvesting Summit hosted by Arizona State University in March 2025.

Each day, a human needs to consume about the equivalent of 0.8 gallons of water (3 liters). With more than 8 billion people living on the planet, that means engineers need to produce nearly 2.6 trillion gallons (10 trillion liters) of clean drinking water every year. Taken globally, rainfall would be enough, but it’s distributed very unevenly – including landing in the oceans, where it immediately becomes too salty to drink safely.

Researchers at places such as Berkeley have developed solar-powered systems that can produce clean drinking water from thin air. In general, they use a material that traps water molecules from the air within its structure and then use sunlight to condense that water out of the material and into drinkable liquid. But there is still a ways to go before they are ready for commercial distribution and available to help large numbers of people.

(there is more….read on….)

https://theconversation.com/some-star-wars-stories-have-already-become-reality-255563

I thought I would lighten the mood a bit on this special day, at least for those Star Wars fans….

Have a wonderful day.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Last Week At The Sh*t Show–04May25

May The Fourth Be With You  (In honor of Star Wars Day)

This past week has seen some of tricky Donny’s greatest brain farts…..considering he actually uses the grey matter between his ears….there are times when I doubt that he does….

After all he stated on national interview….

The Atlantic is out with a deeply reported piece on President Trump to mark the first 100 days of his second term, a story that incorporates an interview with him. And in that interview, Trump makes a remarkable statement:

  • “The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive,” he says when asked to contrast this term with his first. “I had all these crooked guys,” he said. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.”

Sounds like TDS to me (look it up)

Lots happening at the seat of power….

Looks like the beginnings of a secret force force….

The Trump administration has secretly allowed immigration agents to invade homes without a warrant for over a month, according to a leaked internal memo.

The memo, obtained by USA Today and issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi March 14, orders Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to break into the homes of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without a warrant.

It stated that ICE can curb the “proactive procedures” put in place to obtain a warrant, since they “will not always be realistic or effective in swiftly identifying and removing alien enemies.”

“Given the dynamic nature of enforcement operations, officers in the field are authorized to apprehend aliens upon a reasonable belief that the alien meets all four requirements to be validated as an alien enemy,” it read.

It added: “This authority includes entering an alien enemy’s residence to make an [Aliens Enemies Act] apprehension where circumstances render it impracticable to first obtain a signed notice and warrant of apprehension and removal.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-memo-donald-trumps-ice-breaking-into-homes-without-warrant/

For a couple of weeks there were worries that Donny would declare martial law….it did not happen but could this be just a preview?

More legal stuff….Donny’s poll numbers are dismal and now he wants them investigated….

US President Donald Trump hit out Monday at “fake polls” showing dismal approval ratings for the Republican less than 100 days after returning to the White House.

A Washington Post-ABC News survey last week revealed just 39 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s job performance, while a New York Times poll put that figure at 42 percent.

More than 40 percent of Americans “disapprove strongly” of Trump, The Post found.

“Great Pollster John McLaughlin, one of the most highly respected in the industry, has just stated that The Failing New York Times Poll, and the ABC/Washington Post Poll…are FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

McLaughlin is a close supporter of the president and a Republican researcher who has consistently published survey results favorable to Trump.

The president, who has long seen the mainstream press as an enemy, accused pollsters and news organizations of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

https://nordot.app/1289557900762874157

“Election fraud”?  seriously?

From this point on I will be listing the absolutely stupidity performed by Little Donny….

First there is golf….did you know in his first 100 days he has spent 25% of the time chasing that little white ball?

As he approaches 100 days back in office, the extraordinary amount of time Donald Trump has spent on the golf course might suggest where his priorities lie.

This also comes with a financial cost, borne not by him, but by American taxpayers. Since officially taking the oath as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, Trump has hit the golf course an astonishing 24 times in just 99 days in office.

This means a staggering 24.24 percent of his second term has been spent on the greens, according to Trump Golf Track, a website that monitors his golfing frequency.

Trump, despite his presidential powers, is drawing criticism for actions that don’t exactly enhance his image. Since returning to office, he’s made bold moves like slapping tariffs on nearly every nation and facilitating massive layoffs with the aid of billionaire Elon Musk.

(the mirror.com)

After the order to arrest a sitting judge Donny’s blonde bimbo press secretary had this to say….

On Monday, a reporter asked Leavitt if the administration would ever “arrest somebody higher up on the judicial food chain, like a federal judge or even a Supreme Court justice?”

“Anyone who is breaking the law or obstructing federal law enforcement officials is putting themselves at risk of being prosecuted, absolutely,” Leavitt stated.

The question was in relation to Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge who was arrested last week after she “intentionally misdirected federal agents away” from an immigrant whom they were intending to detain at her courthouse.

(tag24.com)

If that happens then you can say that you are now a citizen of an authoritarian regime…..happy now?

A Trump health adviser blames children’s diseases on demons….you read that right.

Calley Means, one of President Donald Trump‘s top health advisors, blamed “demonic forces” for the rise of chronic diseases among children in the US, and put his faith in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“When Secretary Kennedy is in a meeting with various people or stakeholders, I see a light behind him of MAHA moms,” Means said during a Thursday appearance on the Steve Gruber Show.

“Let’s be clear, there are demonic forces against children in this country,” he said. “A child that is sick, and depressed, and is getting gender transition surgery, and in fear, that child’s extremely profitable.”

He went on to claim that “A sick, addicted, depressed child is a gold mine” for the pharmaceutical industry, and claimed that how the health system treats children is “evil.”

https://www.tag24.com/politics/politicians/donald-trump/trump-health-advisor-blames-demonic-forces-for-childhood-disease-3380366

“Demonic forces”  really?

Is this the attitude you want the health of your children to be in the hands of?

Speaking of health….Donny will host a guy that pushes bleach as a cure for cancer and covid….

Donald Trump’s private golf resort in South Florida will next week host one of the world’s leading purveyors of chlorine dioxide, a potentially life-threatening form of industrial bleach that is claimed without evidence to be a cure for cancer, Covid and autism.

Andreas Kalcker is among 50 listed speakers at the “Truth Seekers Conference”, a two-day event opening on Thursday at the US president’s resort, Trump National Doral Miami. The event features several anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy theorists who have been brought together by the far-right commentator Charlie Ward.

Kalcker, a German national thought to be living in Switzerland, markets the bleach under the brand name “CDS”, for chlorine dioxide solution. His online brochures claim that the toxic chemical, which he admits is a disinfectant, can “eliminate pathogens” that cause disease.

He boasts it is “possibly the greatest medical discovery of the last 100 years”.

Government health authorities in the US and Spain have denounced the remedy as fraudulent, saying it is no different from drinking bleach. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that it can cause serious and even life-threatening side-effects, including dehydration, diarrhoea and kidney injury.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/27/trump-golf-club-speaker-bleach

Little Donny seems to have a hard on (if that is possible) for canals….

President Donald Trump is making the bottom-line case for free U.S. access to two of the world’s most vital shipping lanes — a move that could save American companies hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Posting on Truth Social Saturday, Trump declared, “American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America.”

“I’ve asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!”

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-calls-free-passage-us-ships-through-panama-suez-canals-would-not-exist-without-usa

Are you one of those people that laughed at the idea that Donny will try for a third term….thinking it was all a ploy….well hang on to your hat….

For anyone still doubting whether Donald Trump is contemplating a third term, consider that the president is currently selling “Trump 2028” hats.

The red caps were spotted on the online Trump store retailing for $50 a pop.

“Make a statement with this Made in America Trump 2028 hat. Fully embroidered with a snap closure in the back, this will become your new go-to hat,” the item description reads.

Trump has been continually suggesting the idea of running for a third term since he was on the campaign trail last year, but last month, the president insisted he was actually “not joking” about staying in power.

https://newrepublic.com/post/194372/donald-trump-new-merch-threat-2028