Links 7/5/2025

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1. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 7:16 am

   ‘Massimo
   @Rainmaker1973
   The difference between a dog and a cat’

   A guy put out a reply to that funny video which nails it-

   ‘James
   @SarcasticNomad1
   Replying to @Rainmaker1973
   The cat is how we all see ourselves.
   The dog is how we actually are.’
2. chukjones July 5, 2025 at 7:43 am

   A Mask is Never Just a Mask. A working link for those interested.
   https://archive.ph/GYnhV
   1. Es s Ce Tera July 5, 2025 at 1:10 pm

      If I were a racist white supremacist anti-Asian, which is the only real explanation for being anti-Chinese anyway, and in particular I took umbrage to the fact that those uppity inferior Chinese are stepping outside the bounds of their rightful station, wouldn’t I view with alarm that this tendency for masking may be yet another way those nefarious Asians are gaining against me, at least in the world of disease? But no, it’s do the opposite of whatever they’re doing. Racists are so weird, may racism cease to exist, but to solve the problem of pandemics we now need to solve the problem of racism.
3. chukjones July 5, 2025 at 7:51 am

   Droughts worldwide pushing tens of millions towards starvation, says report.
   This reportage does not show up in the daily weather/news reports in the US. No wonder people are surprised when a “rare”, “unprecedented”, or “a hundred year” event occurs, as in the recent Texas floods. Americans are being gaslit in so many ways.
4. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 8:04 am

   As much as it was a nasty surprise to find your mobile ringing in a fully-closed supposed Faraday bag there is a bright spot. You now know a method to test whether any particular Faraday bag actually works. Just shove your mobile in one and have a friend ring it. If you can hear it ringing, return it as inferior goods with a demand for a refund.
   1. duckies July 5, 2025 at 9:20 am

      It’s deja vu all over again. I thought last time hard cases were recommended over bags.
   2. duckies July 5, 2025 at 9:27 am

      Sorry for double post. Here’s the link to the posts I’m referencing, if anyone’s interested:
      https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/11/links-11-23-2024.html
   3. Paleobotanist July 5, 2025 at 9:59 am

      Danish butter cookie tins work great as Faraday cages. And they are free after you eat all the cookies.
      1. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 10:11 am

         Of course you could use a chip packet-

         https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-28/employee-sacked-over-chip-packet-deception-faraday-cage/9196732
   4. RA July 6, 2025 at 2:22 am

      A year or so back I tried an experiment. I wrapped my phone in heavy duty aluminum foil and and sealed the three joining sides with multiple tight folds. I expected this to stop all RF energy.

      I called the phone and it rang.

      I was amazed. I don’t know how to seal it any better and why it didn’t stop the call.

      This made me think that it would be hard to find a commercial product that worked better, especially with the need to have some closure mechanism that can be opened/closed to let the phone in/out.

      I don’t know what it would take to work better than my foil test. My ham radio and microwave frequencies knowledge couldn’t explain why my aluminum foil bag still leaked enough to receive a call.
      1. Yves Smith Post authorJuly 6, 2025 at 3:31 am

         If you read a link to a tweetstorm below, the writer tested 3 layers of foil. Did not work very well. Some Faraday bags did.

         https://twitter.com/mattblaze/status/1459307006771269636?s=46&t=J8HXcuFoVHOg0COdmaXuRQ
         1. kevin c smith July 6, 2025 at 7:22 am

            Reading Amazon reviews, I get the impression that perhaps in some cases a given bag will leak signal after a period of time, perhaps due to manufacturing deficiencies or fragile RF blocking material. The latter might account for cases where a Faraday bag works well initially but on re-testing after several weeks or months has lost its ability to isolate the cell phone.

            It is claimed that Bluetooth penetrates Faraday bags better than cell signals, so a good test might be to use Bluetooth to try accessing a device while it is in the bag. It is worth noting, however, that Bluetooth operates in a different part of the spectrum than cell service, so interactions between these signals and the blocking material might be different.
            1. Yves Smith Post authorJuly 6, 2025 at 7:30 am

               This bag was giving tweet beeps from the get-go. The Reddit discussion said that cheap Faraday bags (<$50), which mine was, pretty much never work.
      2. LN July 6, 2025 at 3:46 am

         You need to insulate the phone from the cage. E.g. you could put it in a plastic bag and then wrap it in aluminium foil.
         1. geode July 6, 2025 at 7:33 am

            Also, insulate layers.
5. KidDoc July 5, 2025 at 8:22 am

   Interesting – when we paid more for (real, less processed and pesticide laden) food, our BigMed costs were much lower. US longevity peaked in 2014…
   1. Kurtismayfield July 5, 2025 at 12:09 pm

      I want to see how much of those “Other household expenses” is education. Because I see my healthcare costs, and my costs to educate both me and my offspring as the greatest difference between my parents and my lifestyles.
6. Carolinian July 5, 2025 at 8:27 am

   Re Secret Trump Letter–a dog bites man story if ever there was one. While the Biden admin simply refused to negotiate, whether with Putin or over Gaza, Trump pretends to negotiate while trying to shoehorn reality into a form that will gratify his never ending self myth. He’ll have that Gaza Riviera or bust. Trump wants to conquer the world on the cheap while his near twin Netanyahu wants to conquer the Middlle East by getting “easily moved” (bribed and blackmailed) America to do it for him. Oh and please buy some Trump perfume.

   I never much cared for the Hunger Games movies but we seem to be living that grotesquery. Show biz has taken over everything.
   1. Will July 5, 2025 at 9:58 am

      I’ve recently heard it described as the cliffhanger nger style of governance.

      Stenographer: “Mr President, will you [___]?”

      DJT: “I might. It’s a tough decision. But I’ll make that decision soon. Probably in the next week or two. Or maybe not. You’ll have to wait and see.”

      Announcer: “Will The Don [___]? Won’t he? Tune in next time…”
      1. mahna July 5, 2025 at 4:38 pm

         It turns out Trump is not God. God created the World in a week, and Trump does everything in two weeks.
7. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 8:36 am

   “California Triptych”

   This article is a must read over a cup of coffee and is really good. You look at the smog of the past, the fires and the water situation talked about in this article and you realize that Los Angeles is like a huge Jenga tower. The one thing that the author never mentions – which I find notable in itself – is earthquakes. One good solid one or maybe the big one will bring that whole Jenga down to the ground. Is anybody planning how to evacuate a city of some 12 million people where you might have broken roads, broken railway lines and maybe a wrecked airport?

   In passing, I was reading up about the St. Francis Dam collapse and I wonder how many people have even heard of it-

   https://venturamuseum.org/journal-flashback/the-st-francis-dams-death-toll/
   1. chris July 5, 2025 at 9:05 am

      Dear Rev, the USGS and other US organizations have a good idea of what earthquake risks there are for Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s such a regular question that it’s on their FAQ list. I think the reason people don’t think about it is the consequences are horrifying to consider.

      Our famously optimistic government thinks there’s a 1 in 3 chance of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hitting the Los Angeles region in the next 30 years. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake near any urban center in the area would destroy the infrastructure. Also, LA is the largest customer base for natural gas in the state, with about 21 million customers. So after an earthquake of any significant magnitude, you have a high risk of explosions and fires too. Depending on the season, those fires and explosions could generate wildfires.

      We don’t talk about these kinds of events because there is no answer. I don’t understand why property in that part of the country is considered to have a value greater than zero. I don’t understand why any insurer considers risks in that area to be manageable. The only sensible concept to manage what could happen is to depopulate the area. That won’t happen. I don’t know if we’ll ever see ocean front property in Arizona but I’m sure sometime in the next 30 years we’ll see a disaster in SoCal that prompts a wave of migration out of the state.
      1. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 9:16 am

         I suppose that if you live in LA you are either super optimistic of just living in denial or think that such things can only happen to other people. Many years ago I was watching a doc on the likely effects of a major quake in LA and it mentioned a major police station. After noting that after a disaster police stations can become command posts for operations afterwards, it noted that this major police station was actually built on a fault-line. That’s not good.
         1. Norton July 5, 2025 at 7:59 pm

            I knew some people who lived through the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. A elderly couple had their townhouse red-tagged, meaning structurally unsound and not inhabitable. They relocated to Palm Springs, right on the San Andreas Fault!
      2. JBird4049 July 5, 2025 at 9:24 pm

         The problem with California and the Northwest (read about Seattle’s earthquake-lahar-tidal wave trifecta for real nightmare fuel), or the area around the New Madrid Fault, as well as other areas like the Gulf Coast’s hurricanes, is that it can be not just decades, it can be centuries, between disasters with the timing just guesstimates.

         Unless you want to abandon much of the United States, perhaps half of it, because of the reality that real disasters will happen, the only way deal with it is by planning for it, which states like California used to do, but no longer, or at least only performatively, not effectively, because of neoliberalism and corruption. But for now, this native son of a native daughter of California, along with thirty eight million others, is stuck here, which would not be bad if my state still had the competence and energy in the mid twentieth century preparing for natural disasters.
   2. Skip Intro July 5, 2025 at 9:31 am

      And mountain lions and tornadoes ! Connoisseurs of LA doom will enjoy Mike Davis’ Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster
   3. Geo July 5, 2025 at 4:00 pm

      As a resident of LA I will often hum along the lyrics of Tool’s “Ænema” and think about how I should learn to swim. Can’t post most of the lyrics here because this is a polite family blog but:

      “Some say a comet will fall from the sky
      Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves
      Followed by fault lines that cannot sit still
      Followed by millions of dumbfounded *familyblogs*”
8. sfglossolalia July 5, 2025 at 8:38 am

   This Reddit thread has some suggestions for effective faraday bags: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/zabl4q/whats_the_best_faraday_bag/
   1. Yves Smith Post authorJuly 5, 2025 at 9:46 am

      Aha, good leads…and of course there is a GORGEOUS and pricey one from Switzerland.
      1. urdsama July 5, 2025 at 11:08 am

         Yipes!

         It’s more expensive than most cell phones. But I bet it works.
   2. XXYY July 5, 2025 at 2:33 pm

      I had an engineering job where we had to create loss of signal conditions for a product we were selling in order to do testing. It turned out to be astonishingly hard to create a completely dead enclosure that would reliably prevent our unit from receiving a signal. The slightest flaw would allow radio frequency energy to penetrate. It also often depended on things like how the enclosure was oriented, what was going on in the immediate area, whether a nearby door was open or closed, etc. Everything is complicated by the fact that we can’t see radio waves and it’s frequently non-obvious that the unit in the cage is actually receiving radio just fine despite our wishes.

      Since this experience I remain extremely wary of anything that claims to act as a faraday cage, especially if the situation requires portability, ruggedness, resistance to wear and tear, or if the stakes are high, such as preventing observation by a hostile outsider. DIY approaches are especially suspect.

      There are commercial faraday cages (sometimes room-sized) available to users who need something that works reliably, and you can see how difficult the problem is by looking at these things. The level of engineering needs to be quite high and any openings, doors, or pass-thrus need careful treatment to maintain the radio seal.
      1. Santiago B July 5, 2025 at 7:46 pm

         I had the same experience at the old Motorola Seguin plant where we designed the vehicle control modules for Chrysler minivans and John Deere tractors. We had a very serious Faraday enclosure fabricated by a couple of our techs that consisted of 3 layers of copper, the outer and innermost being solid 1/4″ thick and a layer of foil embedded in foam in between. The idea was also to isolate acoustic energy, hence the foam. We had a sensitive test apparatus set up inside with minimal wires exiting the enclosure, sometimes we just put the whole thing inside powered by a battery. I don’t remember what we used as a door, but yeah, even at FCC mandated maximum signal strengths of the type emitted by a car key fob/remote, it was incredibly difficult to isolate. Almost always picked up on sufficient signal to activate the VCM.
   3. Vandemonian July 5, 2025 at 4:33 pm

      I found a phone-shaped tin on eBay:

      https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/396076886636

      Usefulness depends on the size of the phone, I guess…
9. TomFinn July 5, 2025 at 9:02 am

   Re: Faraday bag; I’ve a neighbour we call Copper John and I’ve been meaning to approach him about making thin gauge phone boxes with slip over lids. Sort of like those 4-5 cigar holding cases.
   Was wondering if there’d be a market…
10. ZenBean July 5, 2025 at 9:16 am

    However, like all Syrians present in Europe, he had until recently been protected from deportation due to the risk of ill-treatment he faced in Syria as long as Bashar al-Assad remained in power. […] Austrian refugee aid organizations, which supported the Syrian’s appeal to the ECHR, condemned the deportation. “Based on the information available, it is not possible to seriously rule out that the person concerned is at risk of being subjected to inhuman treatment, even torture, in Syria,” the group Asyl Koordination notably criticized.

    LeMonde mentions it only briefly: the deportee is an IS member. So I think he’ll be just fine in Syria, now that Bashar is out. What claims for asylum could Sunni hardliners possibly have in Europe, now that they have a state alligned with their values?

    It’s a shame Vienna didn’t deport him immediately after his conviction thereby depriving the Baathist of subjecting him to some love. Nothing contributed more to the skyrocketting ant-immigrant sentiment in Europe than the refusal of the NGO-judicial complex to weed out and get rid of the bad apples we imported after 2015.
11. Jonhoops July 5, 2025 at 9:16 am

    A youtube video testing a couple of Faraday bags from Amazon, also tests a couple of home remedy faraday claims.

    https://youtu.be/xmFDXMTc0d4?si=8qAJzxI4408JcTbG
    1. flora July 5, 2025 at 10:04 am

       Thanks. This is a good video.
       1. vao July 6, 2025 at 6:30 am

          I tried one of the tricks he tested: putting the mobile phone in a cast iron pan closed with its lid. He declared this method to be completely ineffective.

          I was very sceptical and set up a test as follows: put a sponge inside the cast iron pan; place the phone on top of the sponge, so that it does not touch any side of the pan (which avoids any possibility of the antenna being “extended” by the metallic enclosure); close the lid.

          I called the 4G-5G capable mobile phone from my land line — which call is of course re-routed to the cellular network. After a period of complete silence, an automatic warning came that “the number you are trying to call is unreachable at the moment”.

          So the cast iron trick seems to work well (at least for mobile networks); I did not try to communicate with the phone via Bluetooth or WLAN; after all, the discrepancy of this simple case makes the other assertions regarding the (non-)effectiveness of some faraday implements under various circumstances somewhat doubtful.
12. flora July 5, 2025 at 9:28 am

    re: Why does the Bible forbid tattoos?

    Because they’re a mark of slavery? A mark of the beast?
    or
    Because the writers foresaw the rise of DARPA?
    Jimmy Dore, utube, ~11+ minutes.

    Government To Monitor You Through ELECTRONIC TATTOOS! w/ German Christine Anderson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb0JI-1e4pw
13. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 9:47 am

    “Trump says he made no progress on Ukraine in his call with Putin”

    Does Trump imagine that the purpose of the world is to make him happy? Macron rang Putin a coupla days ago and demanded that there had to be a ceasefire first, then followed by negotiations. Putin told him yeah, nah! Trump must have known about this call so did he expect Putin to fold to his demands for an immediate ceasefire when he rang? And that is what Trump meant when he said that there was ‘no progress’ and how he was ‘disappointed’ and how he was ‘not happy.’ That Putin would not roll over for him like how people like Rutte did. Trump has tried for months for a ceasefire and each time Putin and Lavrov and Peskov repeat Russia’s demands & conditions. But since this will be a comprehensive defeat for the US/NATO/the Collective West this is not going down well so Ukrainian soldiers continue to be sacrificed in the hope that something turns up for them. I note now that Trump has gone back to calling it Biden’s war and how he was accidentally dragged into it or some such bs. He knows that then when the Ukraine collapses, that the neocons will blame it all on him so that they escape any blame whatsoever.
    1. JMH July 5, 2025 at 10:02 am

       Does Trump imagine that the purpose of the world is to make him happy? Yes.
       1. CanCyn July 5, 2025 at 11:39 am

          Many, many people completely believe that the purpose of the world is to make them happy. Arguably the main cause of our current environmental crises.
          1. hk July 5, 2025 at 3:11 pm

             Possibly, the root cause behind any and all problems involving multicellular organisms.
    2. Bugs July 5, 2025 at 11:40 am

       It’s hard for believe that Macron, Starmer and Merz still think that somehow Russia is going to come around to their phony ceasefire idea where they load up rump Ukraine with weapons and “EU peacekeepers”.

       Talk about high on your own supply.

       And in Le Monde it said that Merz won’t even talk to Putin because “his word is worthless to Berlin”. They’re truly irony challenged, these “leaders”…
    3. Mikel July 5, 2025 at 2:08 pm

       It’s long overdue that neocons and imperialists encounter more than “blame”. The disasters they can be blamed for have reached epic proportions and yet…they persist.

       For all the disappointment of the USA and associates, I haven’t figured out whether they are watching Russia take more Ukrainian territory like a deer in the headlights or if it’s just another manifestation of how little they care about what happens to Ukraine – while they are busy elsewhere.
       1. jobs July 5, 2025 at 7:16 pm

          They act this way because there are never any proportional negative personal consequences for them. It must feel like some kind of political superpower, and I imagine it’s a big aphrodisiac, this kind of invulnerability.

          They continue to be free and rich, so why wouldn’t they keep doing what they are doing? It’s working for them.
14. Solideco July 5, 2025 at 9:47 am

    Matt Blaze (professor & security researcher) looked at Faraday bags and similar in 2021 with mixed results.
    https://www.mattblaze.org/blog/faraday

    But this bit from near the end stood out:

    It’s important to recognize that a Faraday pouch, no matter how effective, only prevents radio communication. A malicious phone might do harmful things that don’t involve the use of radio. For example, it could still record audio, and wait for the phone to come out of the pouch to exfiltrate it. So for the truly paranoid, even the best possible Faraday cage might not provide sufficient protection.

    The use case for Faraday pouches is narrow, and you have to understand the threat against which you’re protecting for them to provide any benefit. For example, if you’re concerned about being tracked to some sensitive meeting, you need to isolate the phone before traveling there, not merely once you’ve arrived.
15. TomDority July 5, 2025 at 9:54 am

    “Prices of Both Housing And Rent Are Decreasing In China Ian Welsh (Micael T). This = deflation. It may seem beneficial in cost of living terms, but deflation if it settles in is worse than inflation. For instance, it destroys the value of productive investment. The best assets to hold are cash and very very very high quality bonds.”
    So, why is deflation worse than inflation as applied to this article describing one sector -housing – where deflation implies a multi-sectorial decline? please explain and support “it destroys the value of productive investment.” To me, productive investement would, for example, be investement in equipment to make product at a profit for a long time… long enough to expense the equipment, pay labor a living wage (made easier because “beneficial in cost of living terms”).
    Now, in the engineered economic structure of today….it says a lot, that a fungible asset type is better to hold than a tangible asset – and is that good as far as, the means and desired aims and ends of the Declaration of Independance ??
    ..”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
    and re-stated in the Constitution
    “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

    Cuban philosopher and poet José Martí says that,
    “Their mistakes must be forgiven, because the good they did was greater than their
    faults. Men cannot be more perfect than the sun. The sun burns with the same light
    rays that warm us up. The sun has spots. Ungrateful men only talk about the spots.
    Grateful men talk about the light.”
    1. lyman alpha blob July 5, 2025 at 11:58 am

       I had the same thoughts since Welsh also notes that retail sales are up sharply. That would seem to be a good thing – less money spent with rentiers means more money to spend on other things. And presumably many of those other things are manufactured in China.
       1. cfraenkel July 5, 2025 at 1:51 pm

          Well that’s the thing – less money spent with rentiers is obviously a bad outcome if you happen to be a rentier.
    2. marku52 July 5, 2025 at 3:26 pm

       Deflation can be a problem BC the value of debt increases over time rather than decreases. For capitalist societies that depend on “animal spirits” to prosper, deflation seriously dampens this. It makes taking on debt for any investment, risky and less profitable
16. Carolinian July 5, 2025 at 9:55 am

    New Seymour Hersh–no paywall–says that his spook sources tell him that the Iran nuclear program has indeed been disabled and therefore they are much delayed in making the bomb they weren’t trying to make and supposedly still aren’t. Hersh seems to feel the honor of the US military has been traduced or some such.

    https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/was-it-obliteration
    1. ilsm July 5, 2025 at 10:34 am

       Talking with mad hatters, Cheshire cats and tweedle Dee and Dumm.

       Nothing new there, Hersch takes the inputs used by the senior national security salesmen as fact, proof and uses a lot of appeal to authority.

       As if there were 7 B-2’s in the air at one time.

       Queen of Hearts level absurdity.
       1. ChrisFromGA July 5, 2025 at 11:54 am

          Without direct observers on the ground, this is all conjecture by Hersh. He’s taking the US government’s word as gospel. No counter argument in his analysis either.

          This is not journalism.
          1. Safety First July 5, 2025 at 1:28 pm

             Hersh’s MO since at least his Kennedy book in the 1980s has been – take whatever your anonymous source tells you as gospel. Sometimes, e.g. as with the stories on Abu Ghraib or the killing of Bin Laden, he mixes in physical evidence or public, on record sources, for verification. At other times, he is basically a conduit for people in the defense slash intelligence community.

             And so his stories are generally a 50/50 coin toss. Which is still arguably better than anything one gets from, say, the Washington Post.

             In this particular case, there is SOME value. He basically restates, uncritically, what the Air Force mission planners and the people in charge are telling themselves – these are the bombs, these are the targets, this is how stuff ought to work, so this is our damage assessment. And it’s likely what those people truly believe.

             The trouble is, without a presence on the ground, Air Force damage assessments have historically been stupendously inaccurate at least some of the time. My favorite not-too-distant example was the Kosovo bombing campaign in 1999, at the end of which the supposedly “decimated” Serbian army units marched out with practically all of their vehicles while CNN reporters filming this stuggled to pick their jaws up from the ground. To quote Wikipedia, of all sources:

             When it came to alleged hits, 93 tanks (out of 600), 153 APCs, 339 other vehicles, and 389 artillery systems were believed to have been disabled or destroyed with certainty. The Department of Defence and Joint Chief of Staff had earlier provided a figure of 120 tanks, 220 APCs, and 450 artillery systems, and a Newsweek piece published around a year later stated that only 14 tanks, 12 self-propelled guns, 18 APCs, and 20 artillery systems had actually been obliterated, not that far from the Yugoslavs’ own estimates of 13 tanks, 6 APCs, and 6 artillery pieces.

             Believe me, this is far from the only example. Though at least in the modern era, you can have multiple layers of drone-based verification – provided you have enough of a ground presence to launch and operate said drones. As for Fordo? The Air Force is guessing, and given its historical tendency to always “round up”, well…yeah. I’ll reserve judgment until we have a shred of actual evidence to go on.

             Not that Hersh is aware of any of this, most likely. Notwithstanding his in-article protestations to the effect of always “checking it out” before believing something.
             1. ChrisFromGA July 5, 2025 at 2:35 pm

                Hersh also fails to take into account the loss of the IAEA from the equation.

                The scuttlebutt is they’d been infiltrated by MI6/Mossad, which no doubt contributed to whatever intelligence they had to guide the mission. Now that is lost.

                He also seems to hang his analysis on the facility at Isafan being destroyed, where he alleges the centrifuges were. I have no idea how hard those are to build, but why couldn’t Kim Jong-un just have a few of those sent by DHL overnight?

                Future rebuilding of whatever Iran lost will now be carried on in the dark. That makes this not even a glass half empty/full, but a mostly empty one with some backwash at the bottom for the US and Israel.
          2. Acacia July 5, 2025 at 10:31 pm

             This is not journalism.

             I believe Yves has described him as a “spook whisperer”. YMMV.
17. KD July 5, 2025 at 9:57 am

    Why Does the Bible Forbid Tattoos?

    Tattoos are associated with paganism, similar to moustaches (and why devout Muslims shave their upper lips or have very small moustaches in accordance with Hadith). Interesting in European societies, tattoos and moustaches became associated with 19th century militarism/Prussian ways, leading to the Amish beard look and no tattoos. (Interesting that the Muslim beard thing seems to have caught on with US vets of the endless wars in Iraq/Afghanistan, perhaps inverting or diluting the original cultural meaning of the Amish beard look. Got to presume it is something of a backhanded compliment to the fierceness and courage of the enemy.)

    Pretending tattoos have something to do with the practice of slavery in Egypt, well Egypt was pretty civilized at the time, why was there no contemporaneous Egyptian record of Moses, the Israelite slaves, the plagues, and the army perishing in the Red Sea? Maybe because it never happened? I guess you could theorize the prohibition on tattoos was an attempt to bolster a historical myth of origins, but reality is that pagans love tattoos, its an easy way to create a group identity.

    https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/tattoos/

    If we look at the Egyptian mummy, 30 tattoos, and presumed high status (tattoos are expensive and time consuming, if you really wanted to mark slaves, you would just use a branding iron). Note the tattoos are occult symbols used to ward off evil, and those occult symbols are undoubtedly connected to pagan religious beliefs and practices. Also, you can look at the Egyptian priestess of Hastur, and hey, these symbols mark her as belonging to a cult of a pagan goddess, maybe that is something a monotheist committed to the invisible God of Storms and War wouldn’t want on their skin.
    1. Polar Socialist July 5, 2025 at 11:25 am

       It’s my understanding that the Leviticus’ phrase in question refers to a (at the time) widely spread (from Egypt to Iran) habit of cutting one’s forehead while lamenting.

       One of the oldest know Christian church (funded in year 42 by Mark, the one better known for his Gospel), that of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church has tattooed it’s member since 640, after the Muslim conquest.

       The other of the oldest know Christian churches, that of the Eastern Orthodox Church, has no official position on tattoos, as they themselves are neither good or bad. If you respect your body as a temple of God and don’t aim to offend anyone, piercing your ears with earrings or plucking your eyebrows or using lipstick or having a tattoo is all cool.

       It seems that it’s not the bible that bans tattoos, since it depends more on the Church.
       1. KD July 5, 2025 at 5:53 pm

          Christian churches have always selectively followed Jewish law. Galatians 5, etc. Excluding the Ebionites, of course.
    2. Es s Ce Tera July 5, 2025 at 12:43 pm

       Is this an attempt to place the Hebrews in Egypt so as to reinforce the Exodus narrative?

       Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think article may be putting forth the following argument:

       1) In Leviticus the tattoo reference is preceded by a reference to mourning.
       2) But in Mesopotamia there was no known tattooing practice to do with mourning.
       3) But in Egypt we know they engaged in tattoing for cosmetic reasons but also to mark slaves.
       4) Therefore, by implication, the Hebrews came from Egypt, the Exodus was true.

       The problem with the thesis is modern research says there is no archeological evidence the Hebrews were in Egypt in the first place, no Exodus from Egypt, but instead the evidence suggests they came from Mesopotamia and were recent additions to a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, eventually themselves merging with these groups, there being no historical records supporting that they moved en masse from Egypt, an event which would have produced records among the adjacent cultures and groups.

       A quick search shows there were at least a few nomadic Persian adjacent tribes who engaged in tattooing as a cultural (non-mourning) ritual, for example the British Museum did an exhibit on how prevalent tattooing was among the Scythians and Zagros mountain tribes who would have been next door to Mesopotamia, so an outsider group. If the Hebrews were a nomadic tribe from Mesopotamia they would have known about the practice of tattooing via these groups.

       British Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8llYuX6yQ
18. PlutoniumKun July 5, 2025 at 10:01 am

    Prices of Both Housing And Rent Are Decreasing In China Ian Welsh (Micael T). This = deflation. It may seem beneficial in cost of living terms, but deflation if it settles in is worse than inflation. For instance, it destroys the value of productive investment. The best assets to hold are cash and very very very high quality bonds.

    I like Welsh, but this is a truly awful take on what’s happening in China. A huge proportion of household wealth in China is bound up in domestic property, possibly the highest proportion in the world. A drop in property prices equates to a direct loss in wealth to ordinary Chinese people. The private rental market in China is actually quite small, so any gains in dropping rents are will only help a small minority and is probably irrelevant for the economy as a whole.

    It’s an open question as to how damaging deflation actually is – some sources argue that it can have positive impacts (although historically there aren’t many good examples). But certainly in China now there is little incentive for anyone to do anything but hold cash unless you want to gamble on the very volatile stock market. The evidence suggests that real deflation hasn’t really got hold yet – the much rumoured price war in cars and other household goods hasn’t happened yet, most likely because of government pressure on companies not to do so. But with the scale of overcapacity it seems inevitable that it will happen.
    1. Terry Flynn July 5, 2025 at 3:30 pm

       Thanks, comments like this restore my faith in (parts of ) humanity.

       I attended a group meeintg IRL (had to mask up etc) earlier courtesy of a certain online platform, and was subjected to (despite the title) a party political recruiting 2 hour lecture for Reform. I could’ve pointed out 20+ inconsistencies and complete nonsensical statements (many of which were not even INTERNALLY consistent) by the guest speaker. However, I realised these people didn’t want facts.

       “Free thinkers” as a name is same as “fair and balanced news” or any of the Orwellian or Goebbels double-speak. The “official” topic was moving toward Swiss-style “referenda on practically everything”. Ironically I came out of the meeting thinking, in this country we should be RESTRICTING the franchise if you people are anything to go by. My cat is better at critical thinking than you.

       I thought “all critical thinkers should attend such groups” since the groups are the best way to argue AGAINST what they propose (and which was revealed part-way through – getting Reform into power……permanently? I dunno and won’t say that but these people were scary.) The National Front (REAL fascists) were contesting the constituency in which I live right up to 1997. They’re back, with a new paint-job.
    2. chuck roast July 5, 2025 at 5:09 pm

       In case you missed this from 7/3 Links. It’s Reuters, but nevertheless. I find this astonishing if true. I’m unaware of any such official market intervention anywhere, ever. We shall see if the evidence builds for a general deflationary environment.
       1. PlutoniumKun July 5, 2025 at 6:08 pm

          Thanks, yes – it does seem astonishing, but it shows just how worried they are that a price war could run entirely out of control. There is vast overcapacity in the Chinese car industry (not just the car industry, but it’s most obvious there). Everyone knows there will have to be a clear out of capacity at some stage, but nobody wants it to be via a price war that could pull down the entire economy by causing massive loan defaults. There is a reason Berkshire Hathaway has been slowly selling off its BYD shares.
          1. Trees&Trunks July 6, 2025 at 4:40 am

             Or they could keep the overcapacity just lke Russia did in order to be able to ramp up production when really needed.

             Western consultants came to Russia and tried to convince them to close entire factories in the monogorod: (one city built around one factory with everything from salaries to child care to sportclubs to schools being financed by the factory.

             I don‘t know how it went: if it was too expensive to do away with the old factories and the oligarchs were too busy sending every kopeik abroad sonthey didn’t „optimize asset-bases“ or if there were any defence-thinking around this or a combination of many factors. Anyway, Russia outproduces the entire West now and the West has „streamlined“ all assets and supply-chains tonthe point where we can‘t build defence-stuff.

             I can‘t find the articles describing this. They are buried under pages of pages with „companies not leaving Russia“, „Russia running out of [insert the item of the day]“
    3. Glen July 6, 2025 at 4:00 pm

       I know quite a few younger professionals here in the PNW that would more than welcome some housing deflation. Younger couples where both have good jobs (went to college, got STEM degrees) and are starting families, but cannot afford a house of any sort.
19. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 10:09 am

    “Mounting unrest in Romania over austerity measures”

    Not surprised in the least. When Nicușor Dan “won” the Presidential elections a coupla months ago, he made his speech of acceptance in front of a crowd. But instead of thanking his supporters or showing off his family or giving commiserations to the losing candidate, the first thing he said was that he was going to have to impose austerity on Romania because of the economy. It was like a slap in the face for Romanians who were already aware that the guy they really wanted was sidelined by the Romanian establishment with the help of the EU. And that is why his plan ‘received positive early feedback from the European Commission.’
    1. Kouros July 5, 2025 at 1:59 pm

       I have former colleagues that are cheering up. And I keep calling them names and describe how they and their ilk (i.e. fathers) have sold the country down the river since December 1989. And that wanting Calin Georgescu in jail is a confession, that they in fact should be in jail.
20. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 10:48 am

    “You Can Now Rent a Flesh Computer Grown in a British Lab”

    Might be a bit of a worry that. Imagine that you had one and hooked it up to a speaker system only to hear the words ‘Ki-i-i-i-l-l-l me!’ That would be nightmare fuel that.
21. Tom Stone July 5, 2025 at 11:23 am

    As best I can determine Donald Trump sees the world as being divided into two groups, those that behave with fawning subservience to the Man God has chosen to make America Great Again and mortal enemies who are defying God’s will.
    Awhile back there was a link here to “Narcissistic Collapse” and what we are witnessing seems very close to what that describes.
22. ITreniDiTozeur July 5, 2025 at 12:05 pm

    “More than 80% of UK farmers worried about climate crisis harming livelihood, study finds”

    Any community where the state and local authorities are not turning over huge swathes of land to smallholders and supporting them to establish highly diverse perennial crops, permaculture style, is stuffed. The steps required to build strong communities that can weather climate change should constitute the most visible activity around. Instead watch the traffic pile up behind a house-size tractor as it rumbles through the village and the local dairy farm takes over the next valley’s herd to try to make the finances add up. (We really might be stuffed.)
    1. ITreniDiTozeur July 5, 2025 at 12:14 pm

       To join up the thinking, of course farmers also need to be weaned off their current damaging methods. The case needs to be made that the state can spend deep into a deficit with no problems as long as the spending is productive and socially beneficial.

       Kinda wish Comrade Corbyn had gone down fighting to make this case clearly rather than hiding the MMT-adjacent thinking in the subtext of policy proposals and nice books edited by John McDonnell while in public leaving offerings at the altar of Fiscal Responsibility
23. Expat2uruguay July 5, 2025 at 12:12 pm

    Disaster Looms As French Uranium Mine in Niger Faces Bankruptcy

    Yes, the resource sovereignty movement in Africa is definitely a disaster for France and the West in General, as reported in a comment that I made on May 22 at this site. But one man’s loss is another man’s gain, and if you’re interested in what Africa is doing with the gains from resource sovereignty, I share a recent video that talks not only about Niger, but also Burkina Faso, Mali and their collaboration as the AES, the alliance of Sahel States:
    https://youtu.be/Ig5w52Yk7y0
24. Jason Boxman July 5, 2025 at 1:03 pm

    China Has Paid a High Price for Its Dominance in Rare Earths

    It’s almost like modern life is highly destructive to Earth.

    Dust and groundwater contaminated with heavy metals and radioactive chemicals pose a health threat that the authorities have been trying to address for years.
25. Tom Stone July 5, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    I spent a few moments this morning considering what Trump will do in the next Month or so and it seems very likely that he will revoke Mamdani’s Citizenship and not at all unlikely that he will do the same to Musk.
    Happily Musk has assets that can be seized once it is determined that he poses a potential threat to the National Security interests of the United States.
    I do wonder if that might catch the attention of Thiel and our other benevolent job creators…
    1. ChrisFromGA July 5, 2025 at 2:46 pm

       I’m not focused on Orange Julius because whatever he does, there is no force to oppose it. Having jammed through a big, beautiful piece of crap, he’ll probably feel extra emboldened over the next month or so.

       We might want to focus on Musk because, as horrible of a person as he is, he might be effective with his call for a third party. That is probably the only hope. Gutless scoundrels like Lisa Murkowski need to lose their seats. Until sellouts and frauds like the “Freedom Caucus” (Thomas Massie being the exception) feel pain for their actions, and all lose their seats, there isn’t going to be anyone capable of stopping anything Trump does.

       I hope Elon sticks around and spends his millions and billions to destroy what’s left of the GOP. Something tells me he’s a lot more popular than people think (he may not be as popular as Trump, but that doesn’t mean he’s not more popular than weasels like Mike Johnson.)
26. Es s Ce Tera July 5, 2025 at 1:21 pm

    re: France and Switzerland shut down nuclear power plants amid scorching heatwave

    Another, very different reason why nuclear plants are not viable? The argument used to be that where the sun and wind were variable, depend on the weather, nuclear could provide stable power. Yet here they’re being shut down because they’d be contributing to the climate change.
27. DJG, Reality Czar July 5, 2025 at 1:21 pm

    Today’s must-read. Douglas Moench. War on America’s Radicals.

    Excellent summing-up of the situation by Moench: “Rather, the ritualistic scapegoating of Mamdani across the US press arises because everything about the man stands outside America’s now-entrenched LASP boundaries: he’s not Anglicised morally and doesn’t pretend otherwise; he’s not Anglo-liberal in the “classical” free market sense; nor is he “Protestantised” in terms of the moral economy.”

    I think that in my own case, one push factor, not major, in the sense that I am motivated by the pull factors, is that all my life the more than obvious U.S. “entrenched LASP boundaries” become a plain old pain-in-the-ass. The assumption of U.S. Protestantism as the teleological end of religion — and the sneering at all others. The absurd ideas of the importance of Anglosphere culture and of its validity. The worship of markets because of the decay of Calvinism into a cargo cult.

    All the way down to people claiming that they couldn’t learn to pronounce my surname — which isn’t Mamdani.

    So the essay describes what Mamdani is up against, and it also describes ingrained U.S. behavior that USanians have almost no ability to analyze — or willingness to change. It’s the proverbial fish swimming in water and not recognizing the existence of water, all the while intoning thirty-three verses of Amazing Grace.

    Read it all. The factors described by Moench indicate to me that politically (the Greedy Monoparty) and culturally (Heck, he’s one more beige-colored upstart) Mamdani may not stand a chance.

    PS: One bone to pick with Moench. There finally is a Buddhist in Congress. Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. But she is from Hawaii, where being a Buddhist isn’t exactly exotic. Estimates of the numbers of Buddhists in Hawaii go up to 10 percent of its population.
    1. Mikel July 5, 2025 at 2:40 pm

       Chris Hedges and Kshama Sawant also recently discussed what Mamdani is up against:
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FU7vtb2_5Y/

       Sawant offers support, but something that really nags at her: That he’s a radical who ran unopposed for election in the NY State Assembly.
       Maybe somebody more familiar with NY politics has can better explain how that happened.
28. Jason Boxman July 5, 2025 at 1:27 pm

    From Justice Dept. Explores Using Criminal Charges Against Election Officials

    Imagine if we had, wait for it, paper ballots hand counted in public, as our election system.

    It also orders the secretary of homeland security to “review and report on the security of all electronic systems used in the voter registration and voting process.” That assessment shall include “the security of all such systems to the extent they are connected to, or integrated into, the internet and report on the risk of such systems being compromised through malicious software and unauthorized intrusions into the system.”

    Seems reasonable.

    Of course not a single word about the source code for these voting machines being made publicly available, as it all should be. Diebold wouldn’t like that, would it?
    1. cfraenkel July 5, 2025 at 1:59 pm

       Honestly, I’m more concerned about ‘such systems being compromised through… authorized intrusions into the system’.

       Since it seems like they were designed to enable such, reading between the lines….
29. Es s Ce Tera July 5, 2025 at 1:39 pm

    re: Botshit Gone Wild Gary Marcus. Important.

    Indeed, many examples of botshit. And when we couple this with Ed’s rant a few days ago about the deteriorating experience of anything digital, and then the so many ills of society being due to tech, one wonders where this is all leading.

    Are we about to collectively realize the pre-digital world was so much better, technology is the tempter, the path to sloth? As the Amish and Mennonites have always known?
    1. Giovanni Barca July 6, 2025 at 8:21 pm

       The Amish are awfully slothful about cleaning up their horse droppings.
30. Robin Kash July 5, 2025 at 2:05 pm

    Maybe I missed the parts in in America’s War on Radicals in which LASP is substituted for WASP where he describes (1) the grotesque grip of Jewish neocons on US foreign policy; (2) the coalescing of AIPAC with (white, Protestant) Christian Zionists; (3) domination of the SCOTUS by Catholics; (4) the coalition of Catholics with white segregationists to promote private schools; (5) the continuing decline of rural/small-town America (largely white and residually Protestant) in favor of urban elites; (6) the utter disappearance of the Protestant establishment so well cased by E. Digby Baltzell in his 1987 book; (7) that the critique of Zohran Mamdani is largely from Jewish quarters; (8) that Mamdani and his supporters are “radical” only in the same sense that Sanders and AOC might once have been characterized thus.
    Given such considerations a careful reader may be excused for believing this piece one of deflection from the corporatist, financialized, duo-political realities that dominate the US, including NYC.
    1. DJG, Reality Czar July 5, 2025 at 3:27 pm

       Robin Kash:

       (point 1) you mean like Jake Sullivan, Tom Cotton, Lindsay Graham, and Hillary Clinton? None of whom are Jewish. And who can forget Kamala Harris lying about Russia / Ukraine and about working day and night for peace in Gaza?
       (point 3) Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. There are various reasons for the Catholics on the Supreme Court. The idea that they are all zombies put in place by the Pope to suborn the Stars and Stripes is a tad rich. Most of them come from thoroughly assimilated and puritanical wings of Catholicism — highly regarded for their willingness as pseudo-LASPs to shill.
       (point 4) Catholic schools, though, are not segregated, even though the voucher-mania is misguided.
       (point 6) Utter disappearance? Paul Fussell remarked that many of the richest families with tons of inherited wealth are careful to remain hidden from public view. One doesn’t hear often from the Mars family, does one? And then there is the Bush family, among others. And people pretend that Anderson Cooper somehow doesn’t come from inherited wealth and its many benefits.
       (point 7) Critique of Mamdani. Didn’t you note that vile performance by august white lady Kristin Gillibrand? She is no exception. Then there is the bouncing Hakeem Jeffries.

       Undoubtedly, U.S. realities are distorted by the criminal concentrations of wealth, the cowardice of the court system, and the greed of the Monoparty. But cultural and social factors do explain what happens in the voting booth.
       1. Robin Kash July 5, 2025 at 7:12 pm

          (Point 1) Read Noam Chomsky. (Point 3) Zombies? Please! I don’t believe I suggested that the Pope was involved. (Point 4) The alliance is built on “private schools.” Follow the money. (Point 6) Read Pareto on the circulation of elites. (Point 7) Follow the money.
       2. jsn July 5, 2025 at 7:44 pm

          Personally, I find recognizing that we have an oligarchy as the result of the SCOTUS extra-legislative conversion of a republic into a market has much more predictive power than the LASP narrative, which seems more plausible as an ex post facto rationalization.
31. Kouros July 5, 2025 at 2:18 pm

    A very long article on Moldova. I have a strong sense of rotten fish here.

    For me one of the key indicators was missing to translate the 3rd point of the presidential decree that establishes that the use of fire arms is permissible only after all other means have been exhausted and the life of citizens or officers is put in danger.

    Yes, clearly is a lot of corruption in Moldova, as in Romania. Those people, the lot of them, have little sense of sovereign/independent thought, with the western bling and PMC wooden tongue eradicating any residue of common sense.

    In Moldova, with maybe up to 30% of population Slavic, mostly located in Transdnistria, there is also the ethnic divide, that I find it strange not being mentioned in the article. While all the cloack and dagger and dissapearences and impunity of scions of elites rings true. Ethics and morality were long ago deaded and buried in Romania. But the whole article is a bit on the nose and I smell some of that perfume that John Helmer described Mr Putin is using:
    “for Putin, a chord of metallic freshness, tart and dynamic, with the warm breathing of sandal and cedar, the smoke of the vetiver and expensive leather. …The president’s perfume was placed in a box in the form of an ancient chest, and a bottle was placed in the form of an old flask with a spray gun… I [Zhanna Gladkova] hear from rumours that Putin enjoyed my fragrance before meeting with the heads of state…mixing grapefruit with bergamot.”

    The Romanian elites were historically, at least after 1600s, lazy, greedy, cruel, and totally parasitic in nature. They would sell their own people down the river, to anyone, for personal gain and acceptance by Europeans (in the past by Ottomans), their “betters” (which they then laugh at and snigger at in closed quarters).
32. IM Doc July 5, 2025 at 2:52 pm

    I have been hearing from folks in the ground in the Texas Hill Country. It apparently is as bad as it looks. Maybe worse.

    I know on this site that Amfortas lives in that general area and hoping for all the best for him.
    1. CanCyn July 5, 2025 at 3:22 pm

       Thanks IM Doc, I am worrying about Amfortas too. Hopefully we’ll hear from him soon.
       1. AG July 5, 2025 at 8:36 pm

          Yes my first thought too…
       2. johnnyme July 5, 2025 at 11:04 pm

          He gave a brief update in yesterday’s Dimash post.
    2. jsn July 5, 2025 at 7:58 pm

       Yes, my 80 year old aunt (who’s astonishingly fit and durable) texted me this,

       “Power was off from 6:20 am – 8:45 pm. ___, ____ and my neighbor, ____, were at the river trying to start assessing the damage and start clean up. ____ found a man’s body where our properties meet. So sad. All fences are gone including part of the hayfield fence. The river got up almost to the big oak in front of my house. Even viewing the colossal mess to clean up, I know that we’re so blessed to all be safe. Don’t want to put forth an attitude of doom and gloom. Just a little overwhelmed right now.”

       Her cattle (about a dozen) are missing, may turn up downstream, she sent a picture from the big oak looking at the 80 acres down hill from her and it is all water, probably 20’ or so at the deepest , scrub oaks and cedar completely under water. Water’s going down quickly now.

       Had my mother’s 94th birthday dinner at 6:00 on the 3rd with her in Center Point, about three miles down river from where she lives and got flooded in just a few hours later.
    3. sharron2 July 5, 2025 at 8:46 pm

       Mason County received 16+ inches of rain the night before. Their situation is probably quite dire. Watching from the Dallas Fort Worth area. I went to Mystic Camp as a young girl. It is such a beautiful place, but extremely hilly with dense cedars. Hopefully he can post soon. I am sure infrastructure is damaged.
33. bobert July 5, 2025 at 3:18 pm

    Apropos the links regarding AI, I found this job ad on Craigslist:

    Memory Developers : AI Robotics Training (Remote/Part-Time)
    compensation: $30-60 per hour of uploaded and approved video data
    employment type: part-time
    experience level: entry level
    job title: Memory Developer : AI Robotics Training
    READ IN FULL

    About Us
    We’re more than an AI robotics startup—we’re on a mission to transform everyday living by bringing the world’s first consumer robot into homes. We believe that innovation happens when talented minds come together to push boundaries, and we’re looking for passionate individuals to help us build this future. As a Memory Developer, you won’t just collect data—you’ll shape the “memory” of our robot and play a vital role in training the AI that powers it. This is your chance to collaborate on something truly groundbreaking.

    *Note that the term “memory” in this context is unrelated to human memory, brain function, or anything psychological.

    Location
    – NO INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS. Absolutely NO ONE outside the U.S.
    – Fully remote. Located in Mountain View, CA.

    Role Overview
    – Part-time, flexible schedule: record 1-2 hours of video data each day from your home (must have a full kitchen and reliable internet).
    – Pay-per-task model:
    – $30/(hour of approved data) during the 1-week screening period using your own phone.
    – Earn up to $60/(hour of approved data) for more complex tasks after screening.
    – Fast payments, within 2-3 business days via Stripe.

    What You’ll Do
    – Record motion capture videos of common household tasks to train our AI models. After the screening period you will be using our supplied equipment. Examples include arranging shoes, picking up random objects, or folding a t-shirt.
    – Collaborate closely with our team—your submissions will directly shape the behavior and learning of our robot.
    – Receive continuous feedback to ensure high-quality data and improve performance over time.
    – Protect data privacy by signing an NDA.
    – Note that this is NOT a software developer or coding role.

    What We’re Looking For
    – Detail-oriented: Every video counts—precision and quality is key.
    – Reliable: consistent in daily task completion.
    – Self-motivation: Excellent time management.
    – Growth mindset: We value people who embrace feedback and continuously improve.
    – Strong communicator: Clear and prompt responses are essential.
    – Enthusiasm for technology and robotics.
    – A home with a full kitchen, DISHWASHER and strong internet (required).

    Why Join?
    – Pioneer the Future: your work will directly shape how our robot interacts with the world.
    – Flexible Schedule: Set your own hours while contributing to cutting-edge AI.
    – Supportive Environment: Regular feedback and team collaboration.
    – Growth Opportunities: Potential to advance & review other’s submissions / other leadership roles.
    – Impact: Every video you record brings us closer to our shared vision.

    Ready to Shape the Future of Robotics?? Apply via link below ONLY. Thanks!
    1. Jason Boxman July 5, 2025 at 3:31 pm

       For more on “growth mindset” cult, checkout The Cult of Microsoft from Edward Zitron.
34. Geo July 5, 2025 at 4:31 pm

    From “Botshit Gone Wild”:

    Laid-off workers should use Al to manage their emotions, says Xbox exec

    Have a good friend who has gotten really reliant on AI. Going through a breakup and said he’s been using ChatGPT to counsel him on how to talk with his partner and remedy their issues. I have no idea if it’s been helpful or not but feels like a bad idea. Even if it is helpful in the short term or helps remedies certain issues the idea of turning to a bot for psychological and social troubles seems like a perfect way to develop antisocial skills.

    At best it feels like a modern techno version of “Cyrano de Bergerac” (or the enjoyable Steve Martin starring film “Roxanne”).
35. Skookumchuck July 5, 2025 at 5:13 pm

    Yves,

    A couple of things about Faraday bags: 1) in order to be effective the bag must be sealed; and 2) they’re not forever. Faraday cages DO leak a little depending on their construction. Usually that’s not a big deal, or if it is then we’ll take a lot more care in construction (and that is referencing an actual cage). With fabric Faraday bags, the mesh layer needs to be sealed all the way around. Zippers are convenient but they’re not usually bonded to the mesh in the assembly process. Large flaps that fold down are better for sealing RF in/out, but they’re gonna take up more real estate in your pocket or bag.

    We use Mission Darkness bags. They are well constructed and sturdy and have flap closures. The manufacturer also tells you that the material will wear out over time depending on how much wear and tear it gets. They suggest testing by doing things like turning on your phone, putting it in the bag, sealing the bag, and calling your phone from your landline or a friend’s phone to see if it rings. Likewise with key fobs for cars; put the fob in the sealed bag and try to start the car.

    If the test ever fails; time to get a new bag. Hope that helps!
36. polar donkey July 5, 2025 at 5:47 pm

    I saw this interesting article about families in the Hamptons hiring sorority members from Southern Universities, especially Ole Miss. The Hamptons folks seem to love Southern manners.
    https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a65255473/the-hamptons-southern-sorority-girls-nannies-explained/
    1. Kouros July 5, 2025 at 6:37 pm

       In maybe not too distant future they might end up getting people on life-long contracts from the south…
       1. Mikel July 5, 2025 at 6:54 pm

          Yes, there were some cringe moments in the article like “who speaks in a mysterious (Southern) accent about fascinating and faraway places like a sorority house and college in Mississipp.”
          On the glass half full side…the people making the job references stepping out just a bit from the East Coast Ivy school bias.
    2. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 8:13 pm

       I can actually see the logic in all this, especially as they may not to want to hire people with visas that may entail a visit by ICE. Certainly a southern accent would be a plus as it would be a novelty. Wonder if the kids will pick up a southern accent going forward, y’all.
    3. Norton July 5, 2025 at 8:22 pm

       Southerners will tell you about the importance of manners and breeding. Older ones may even tell a Yankee that societal cohesion began to break down when people stopped saying Ma’am and Sir.
       The Ole Miss gals hired in the Hamptons bring charm and a lack of tats and piercings.
       1. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 8:38 pm

          And being from the South would suggest a conservative outlook which would be in alignment with their own.
          1. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 9:15 pm

             A look at the Hamptons over time-

             https://www.loveproperty.com/gallerylist/472977/archival-images-reveal-high-life-in-the-hamptons-playground-of-americas-e
37. skippy July 5, 2025 at 7:08 pm

    Lots of anti Trump posts and comments on X wrt the Texas Flood – Golfing.

    I would highlight this one though:

    The reason Trump defunded the National Weather Service leading to the deaths of all those girls in the Texas flood is because PROJECT 2025 THOUGHT WEATHER PREDICTION SCIENCE WAS TIED TO EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

    x.com/Mikel_Jollett/status/1941626046521962925

    This becomes a circular firing squad as the usual types are saying the NWS is at fault due too inaccurate forecast/late advice. Seemingly unaware that their ideological agenda is paving the way for more of this, not just this instance but … every socioeconomic thingy one can imagine …
    1. The Rev Kev July 5, 2025 at 8:17 pm

       People were saying not long ago that trashing the National Weather Services would get people killed but it didn’t take long. But for reasons of ideology? Because it is effecting “American prosperity”? Wonder how many times more this is going to happen while on Trump’s watch.
       1. skippy July 5, 2025 at 8:31 pm

          The ism I refer too, is as multivariate is its origins, concocted out of whole cloth, funded and advanced by Elites, which at the end of the day is all about the natural order[tm].

          As RUEcon below notes, USians consumed[tm] the narrative and its rusted on now. Meanwhile to the East pluralism/dualism with the State comes first and foremost. Its going to be an interesting few years ahead as the narrative becomes harder to maintain and how that plays out.
    2. Norton July 5, 2025 at 8:39 pm

       Coming soon will be more stories about the weather modification weaponry, on the heels of Paradise, Maui, a palate cleanser hurricane in western North Carolina and then the two LA fires.
       A motive for targeting Kerrville is nearby reported lithium deposits.
       Older readers may read Kerrville, then think of Karen Silkwood and Kerr-McGee, about 50 years ago.
       There is always a story, conspiracy or not.
       1. Norton July 5, 2025 at 9:00 pm

          Florida just enacted SB 56 to ban weather modification. Tennessee has also done that. May be known as geo-engineering. Not just good old cloud-seeding anymore. I expect to learn more about the state of play, beyond the Bill Gates brain fog to block out the sun.
    3. sharron2 July 5, 2025 at 9:11 pm

       June 6th the Texas Tribune (Austin Tx newspaper) had an article about the severe staff shortages of up to 22% and how it would affect the upcoming hurricane season that impacts the Texas coast. Some of the regions no longer have 24-hour staffing and the head meteorologist left during the DOGE cuts. On the 3rd of July My husband, a retired marine corp pilot, looked at the low-pressure area south of Kerrville and stated it was extremely slow-moving front and a lot of water would be dropped in that area. Gov Abbott hasn’t said a work about requesting FEMA assistance!
    4. Jason Boxman July 5, 2025 at 9:23 pm

       I can’t find any evidence this on Internet Searches, but I recall reading about the lack of sufficient funding for our weather service even before Trump assumed the office.

       All I could find was this from a 2012 (during Obama) page:

       In 1992 NASA’s budget for geosciences was $2 billion, ten years later, despite inflation, its budget is currently $1.5 billion. Currently, a collective of 90 Earth-sensing instruments are part of the of NASA’s weather-forecasting fleet. That number could fall to as few as 20 by 2020.

       It’s not only about forecast. Weather satellites are crucial to gathering data for complex climate and weather models, which help pinpoint and predict storms in advance. Such models, for instance, picked up on what Sandy was going to do 8 or 9 days in advance. Typically hurricane models can predict them with about 5 days in advance, a huge leap from 3 days in advance a decade ago.

       Sure, weather satellites are still being launched, the best example being the recently orbiting Suomi National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (or NPP), but still not frequent enough. While the advancements top of the notch instruments like those on the NPP are invaluable, the truth of the matter is weather satellites have a short life-span and cost a lot of money to maintain, despite representing a fraction of the cost that goes into a spaceship launch.

       Aging satellite fleet could leave weather forecast in the dark
38. ChrisRUEcon July 5, 2025 at 7:48 pm

    Why Hasn’t the American Proletariat Overthrown the Dictatorship of Capital?

    It. Me.

    The synchronicity is strong with this one. It has literally taken all my self control to not post something on a *cough*cough* certain social *cough* network *cough* this weekend because of course, a few people in my circle of acquaintances have posted about the #BBB.

    And this article is exactly in line with what my response to them is … WTF are you waiting on to revolt?! And the answer is in the article as well … many of the people in those circles will not experience much pain (yet), so it’s more tribal virtue signaling, TDS and meme-resistance. My analysis is not exactly dialectical – I call it “A tale of two ism’s“.

    No need to even name them, really … USians were told one was good, and the other was bad. One was going to bring freedom and prosperity, the other: tyranny and authoritarianism. But funny things happened on the way to freedom and prosperity. The USian pluto-kleptocracy couldn’t contain their greed, so they sent most of the manufacturing and associated jobs to the bad ism … LOL

    No need to fear, though … the indoctrinated mythology described in the article ensures that critical thinking is devalued and even punished. The cognitive dissonance of the US ruling class literally enriching their “good ism” selves off the “bad ism” can’t even be processed by many USian minds. And so the downward spiral toward the extreme socioeconomic polarization of society continues … unabated.

    Hope everyone enjoyed some fireworks! More to come …

    Independence Day TL;DR – y’all chose the wrong ism.
    1. ChrisRUEcon July 5, 2025 at 8:01 pm

       “The Good Ism“

       Exhibit A (via X)

       S. Kelton: Richmond Fed president asks business leaders about Trump’s tariffs and learns that firms are “raising prices not because they have to, but because they think they can get away with it.”
       1. skippy July 5, 2025 at 8:38 pm

          Michał Kalecki.
          1. ChrisRUEcon July 5, 2025 at 8:43 pm

             Yerp. And later, Abba Lerner (seller’s inflation).

             Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

             But hey! At least we got demuckracy, and good-ism!
    2. Jonathan Holland Becnel July 5, 2025 at 10:40 pm

       A crisis of Revolutionary Leadership.

       Indeed.

       I guess I find where I’m lacking is Labor Organizing at Work. That’s like guaranteeing my termination in the service industry down in New Orleans. So I gravitate towards having townhalls and barnstorming and giving speech’s in public.

       Capitalism will keep making paupers out of us so we just gotta keep grinding and educating the newly aware!

       Been trying to get this Locals Project off the ground with classunity.org. Trying to use a class based economic message and do campaigns in Labor, Electoralism, Mutual Aid, Education, and Entertainment and get our members to go talk to people on the ground.

       Online Organizing has its limits especially when you’re doing IRL stuff that’s all volunteer AND BEING MARXIST too.

       I guess I’m just helping set up a network and we let each other know what actions with what political orgs are happening.

       I’m also really interested in developing this alt gdp idea that Michael Hudson talked about in his Patreon talk along with some other concepts meant to educate and inoculate against the business press. He recently did a panel with Steve Keen on the David Graeber Institutes YouTube channel where they laid out a couple of ideas too.
       1. skippy July 5, 2025 at 11:38 pm

          GDP was a simple econometric tool which one could, with many others, arrive at a conclusion about how things were going. It was never intended to be a brass ring by which the whole economy is driven by – old NC posts on this imo.

          First and foremost is GDP has no distribution vectors, hence a nation can have high GDP and yet total social dysfunction, due to it all going to the top percent of a population. None of that productivity [how that is measured is a point of contention] is going back into critical/social goods or needs, just redeployed into more financial products which just juice them more e.g. feed back loops for the elites and their lifestyles/political funding.

          Tis funny that Libertarian President Javier Milei just got IMF’ed …

          “Argentina needs the financial firepower to bolster depleted foreign currency reserves that are in the red on a net basis and have been falling in recent weeks, amid sticky inflation and a country risk index that has started to rise again.”

          https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-eases-fx-controls-major-policy-shift-ahead-imf-deal-2025-04-11/
          1. ChrisRUEcon July 6, 2025 at 1:04 am

             > … and a country risk index that has started to rise again

             [Emphasis mine]

             Staring at my 2014 end of term paper from graduate economic development class:

             “Against the backdrop of this kind of economic assault, it is no surprise that countries like Argentina are made to endure “managed pegs” of their currency to maintain a value attractive to foreign investors, and keep going through currency crises.”

             I mean, at what point does Argentina just become the 51st state, or the next Puerto Rico?
             1. skippy July 6, 2025 at 1:38 am

                Bail out of foreign bond holders again?
                1. The Rev Kev July 6, 2025 at 2:15 am

                   It’s the only way to save “our” democracy.
                   1. skippy July 6, 2025 at 2:34 am

                      Of money …
                      1. ChrisRUEcon July 6, 2025 at 3:51 pm

                         “All of the above”
          2. Jonathan Holland Becnel July 6, 2025 at 11:12 am

             Thank you for the advice on GDP, Skippy!
       2. skippy July 6, 2025 at 1:02 am

          https://x.com/BladeoftheS/status/1941485162229055822/photo/1
39. Santiago B July 5, 2025 at 7:51 pm

    Scanning news sites and social media from back home in Central Texas, where the major flooding is happening, there’s a mix of criticism of Trump’s cuts to the NOAA and NWS.

    https://www.meidasplus.com/p/texas-officials-blame-agency-gutted

    https://www.kxan.com/investigations/federal-forecast-concerns-surface-in-texas-deadly-flooding-debate/

    And typical alt-right conspiracy talk about Democrats “seeding the clouds” presumably for some sort of revenge against little kids in camp. Same kind of talk I saw during the Hawaii and LA fires.

    MTG seems to be getting in her swipes too along those lines: https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1941482077729255695?
    1. skippy July 5, 2025 at 10:18 pm

       The suspension of disbelief is strong in some … after that anything is possible …
    2. ChrisRUEcon July 5, 2025 at 11:00 pm

       #JFC that #MTG tweet … LOL

       Familybloggin’ hell …
       1. skippy July 5, 2025 at 11:45 pm

          Yes she [JFC] painfully shows complete ignorance about all that was wrought by industrialization and the AG green revolution under the auspices of corporatism with a hands off government – because personal profit.
    3. Skippy July 5, 2025 at 11:20 pm

       Lmmao – “My name is Augustus Doricko. I’m the CEO and founder of Rainmaker. We’re a cloud seeding company that is enhancing precipitation via advanced radar and also drones.”

       https://x.com/HustleBitch_/status/1941577060889264303

       So its the ev’bal Dems and not the AGW driven good times knocking on ones door. Better yet its the hard right that has always pushed the denial/skeptic agenda with corporate backing. Only lost the plot when Corp thought WOKE/Idpol was a money maker … due to consumer spending choices/preferences and front running it.

       Saw X link awhile back which I thought summarized the situation well. The author argued the CO2 fixation was wrong because it did not address/frame the issue properly e.g. choices should be based on future life i.e. so called green solutions can make things worse. Not that I view it as just an increase in energy on the orb and its dynamics/feed back loops.

       So just like with markets some want to smooth them out and end up doing just the opposite e.g. the Big Beautiful D#!K Bill with a 1K starter kit for kids in the S&P 500. Man what head shrinking for a kid, life is about some notional value on some stnok exchange and that is the most important thing in your life. Voting preferences and all other considerations are cortex injected before you can even ride a bike. Just the psychological dynamics blows me away …
       1. ChrisRUEcon July 6, 2025 at 12:56 am

          LMAO

          ” … just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.”

          I take it back … #MTG2028 … :)
40. Srukuls July 6, 2025 at 12:50 pm

    Great interview with Steve Keen. Not sure why he has no shoes or sox on.
41. stukuls July 6, 2025 at 3:12 pm

    Why do people like Juan Cole use AI for images? Total disrespect for artist. Shameful.

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