Links 8/25/2025

Subscribe to Post Comments

35 comments

1. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 7:17 am

   ‘DD Geopolitics
   @DD_Geopolitics
   Aug 24
   🇷🇺 A Ukrainian drone was shot down near the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, according to plant officials.
   The drone exploded on impact, damaging an auxiliary transformer. A fire broke out but was quickly extinguished. ⚠️ Reactor Unit No. 3 was reduced to 50% capacity. No casualties reported.’

   And to no one’s surprise, the IAEA refused to say where the drone came from that attacked that nuclear power plant. But agency director-general Rafael Grossi stressed that “every nuclear facility must be protected at all times”. Well, unless they are in Iran that is. Grossi is a man of negotiable criticisms.

   Reply ↓
2. Wukchumni August 25, 2025 at 7:18 am

   ‘Do not come’: 50 mph dust storm, high winds threaten Burning Man crowds SF Gate
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Methinks this might be the death knell for Burning Man or to quote the raven in the antidote-nevermore.

   It was on shaky financial grounds heretofore, and another mudfest is upon us, albeit different in that the rain that came in 2023 was when everybody was already set up in camp and you could wait it out.

   There was a punishing dust storm that ripped up everything the day before the gates opened, and then rain yesterday when everybody could enter. Supposedly a 10 hour wait to get in. I picked a good year to be on injured reserve lemme tellya.

   More rain is forecast, and there is little chance of flooding, but it turns into a sticky mess where you descend 7 inches into the muck with every step.

   In 2023 I was ensconced in a friend’s RV with a toilet in it, and we went nowhere, watching movies all day the day after the deluge. It dried out in a couple days, and we didn’t suffer much, but if you were in a tent and didn’t have a Luggable Loo to do your business, the port-a-potties were about 283 feet away, and might take you 20 minutes to walk there.

   That said, i’m a little remiss from missing out on the fun, having been replaced on the roster by my friend’s 18 year old son.

   Reply ↓
3. hayrake August 25, 2025 at 7:26 am

   In Luna Leopold’s book, “A View of The River” (copyright 1994) he seems to be acknowledging what the Stanford study found when he wrote:

   Not only is meandering the predominant pattern, it exhibits in its details the role that energy utilization and dissipation play in governing channel morphology. These aspects include:
   1. The relation of meander wave length to channel width and its curvature
   2. The relation of radius of curvature to energy loss by friction
   3. The relation of the shape of the meander curve to the distribution of energy utilization
   4. The relation of energy utilization to distance along the meandering channel.

   Reply ↓
   1. Steve H. August 25, 2025 at 9:40 am

      > Stanford Study Overturns Long-Held Belief About Plants and Rivers SciTech Daily

      >> If indeed carbon-loaded floodplains were laid down far more extensively over history, scientists may need to revise models of major natural climate swings over time, with implications for our understanding of ongoing climate change.

      I’ve been sieving as part of my backyard alchemy. The silt layer is always black, as the degrading litter decreases in size much faster than the minerals. Silt is twixt sand (which carries water up by capillary action), and clay. Clay is where the Hjulström curve changes direction, as intermolecular forces overcome the gravity effects on particle size. So the plant material feeds the silts faster than geological processes.

      Note that those carbon silts can fly away as methane and carbon dioxide, leaving no trace but the geomorphed terrain.

      Reply ↓
   2. Rod August 25, 2025 at 10:37 am

      Having driven a bit in that part of the country, I can hardly imagine a creek in that part of Nevada cited in the article-even seasonal.
      Paddling the fast water provides a visceral understanding of these concepts stated by Leopold.
      A lot of western North Carolina rivers were scoured by Helene then ravaged by the US CoE as they dredged channels.
      Many are studying on the future comeback.

      Reply ↓
4. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 7:56 am

   ‘Péter Szijjártó
   @FM_Szijjarto
   Stop attacking our energy security! This is not our war!

   Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦
   @andrii_sybiha
   I will reply in a Hungarian manner.
   You don’t need to tell the Ukrainian President what to do or say, and when. He is the President of Ukraine, not Hungary.
   Hungary’s energy security is in your own hands. Diversify and become independent from Russia, like the rest of Europe.

   Turns out that Hungary’s energy security is not only in it’s own hands but so is the Ukraine. How so?

   Hungary exported by far the most electricity, accounting for 39 per cent of the Ukrainian imports, followed by Slovakia with 23 per cent, Romania with 18 per cent, Poland with 14 per cent, and Moldova with 5 per cent.

   https://ceenergynews.com/electricity/neighbour-export-electricity-ukraine24/

   So the Ukraine is attacking the energy supply for Hungary & Slovakia when at the same time, those two countries supply over 60% of the Ukraine’s electricity needs. How long till Péter Szijjártó says ‘No electricity for you!’ The EU will bitch about it but I note that a non-U State is attacking the energy needs of 2 EU member States but has said zip about it whereas Trump has.

   Reply ↓
5. Steve H. August 25, 2025 at 7:59 am

   > Eating the Engram Wild Information

   >> Memories, Levin argues, aren’t about fidelity; they’re about salience.

   I was speaking with G. Spencer-Brown about memory, he said “It’s in the Blood!”, and spoke of the immune system being memories, non-genetic, passed from mother to child in the womb.

   Memristors have disappeared from, while his turn was most salient.

   >> In Levin’s view, life’s most interesting trick isn’t memories themselves, … but the slug’s capacity to reinterpret them in a new context.

   > salience(n.) 1814, “fact or quality of leaping;” 1841, “quality of standing out, state of projecting or being projected;” see salient (adj.) + -ence.

   The previously linked Cialdini video resonates here, the pre-suasive cue setting the frame, into which the subsequent actions are influenced ‘on the fly.’ The principle scales.

   Reply ↓
6. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 8:05 am

   “Allegiance to Whom? And Lavrov Speaks . . .’

   ‘US Army Sergeant Jonathan Estridge, a 20-year military veteran, says he is under investigation for sharing anti-Israel posts on social media. He says he was told he is being investigated as a “national security threat.” Sgt. Estridge is correct when he says he swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. There is nothing in the oath that US military personnel are required to swear an oath to protect Israel.’

   Well a Trump spokesperson did say that America was the best country in the world – after Israel. One sided loyalty to Israel is now official government policy to the point that Israel’s interests are now placed ahead of American interests. I don’t think that that was what MAGA supporters voted for.

   Reply ↓
   1. Wukchumni August 25, 2025 at 8:15 am

      …who knew it stood for Make Amaleks Go Away

      Reply ↓
   2. leaf August 25, 2025 at 8:25 am

      As Trump put it so nicely on CBS, “Well they did sign up for it actually, and this is what I campaigned on.”

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 8:27 am

         Can’t wait for Trump to reclassify the files on the USS Liberty attack and say afterwards ‘What files?’

         Reply ↓
   3. ilsm August 25, 2025 at 8:52 am

      How many US soldiers in the US Army THAAD battery operating in IDF country are getting bronze stars for the 12 day war they helped “win”?

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 9:05 am

         Medals you say? Did you hear what Hegseth said the other day?

         ‘Pete Hegseth
         @PeteHegseth
         Aug 22
         Border medal, yes.
         New medal, no.
         We have proudly revived the 1918 “Mexican Border Service Medal” — same mold, same ribbon, same name, same service.
         We look forward to pinning the award on brave border soldiers soon…’

         https://xcancel.com/PeteHegseth/status/1958950756498722966

         Everything old is new again. Good for any US soldier that might be sent into Mexico like they were a century ago.

         Reply ↓
         1. Wukchumni August 25, 2025 at 9:28 am

            War medals were one of the ‘smalls*’ I dealt in, and American war medals were about useless in terms of collector value as none of them were named, aside from Purple Hearts**, and every GI Joe got the same ones based on what theater they were in, and a standard group of medals a WW2 vet got were worth $10 retail altogether in the marketplace, ho hum.

            The most valuable one-the Medal of Honor, couldn’t be sold in the USA, against the law.

            Now British and Commonwealth war medals were a vastly different story, as it was a long tradition dating back from the Napoleonic War, and each medal was struck in silver (until WW2) with the name, rank, serial # and unit of the recipient, making it pretty easy in this day and age to see what they did in the war, and if it was extra gallant, why the medal is worth that much more in the marketplace.

            Victoria Cross is the ultimate award medal, and if you got one @ Ypres it’s a yeah whatever event, whereas if you got one for leading the Dam Busters Raid, it might be worth 100x as much going under the auctioneer’s gavel

            It seemed to me in the 1980’s when I was in merry olde quite a bit hunting down aged round metal discs, that there was more of a market for UK/Commonwealth war medals and more interest, than for UK coins among the populace.

            * something of value you could hold in your hand

            ** thinking the invasion of Japan was gonna result in a shitlode of injuries, the government made millions of unnamed Purple Hearts that later made their way into the aftermarket, when I was a kid you could buy one for ten bucks-no injury needed

            Reply ↓
      2. rasta August 25, 2025 at 9:06 am

         Bronze Star of David or inverted pentagram?

         Reply ↓
7. Wukchumni August 25, 2025 at 8:07 am

   Abrego Garcia’s attorneys say government trying to coerce him to accept guilty plea or face deportation to Uganda ABC News
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Once in a blue moon i’ll field an incoming call trying to sell my wife something, and rather cheerfully i’ll explain how she was deported to North Korea, and even give them her phone number: PYG-3579 (to further the ruse that all they have is party lines there, aside from party lines ruling the place) so they can contact her, and yes, I think she might be interested in what your selling.

   When I was on the verge of teenagerhood, Uganda stood for everything bad in the guise of 1 man: Idi Amin…

   And now we’re deporting people there, thanks to everything bad in the guise of 1 man.

   Reply ↓
8. Neutrino August 25, 2025 at 8:13 am

   La Fontaine wrote fables about many animals. Here is a famous one about the interaction between a raven and a fox.

   II.–THE RAVEN AND THE FOX.[2]
   Perch’d on a lofty oak,
   Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese;a
   Sir Fox, who smelt it in the breeze,
   Thus to the holder spoke:–
   ‘Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven?
   Well, your coat, sir, is a brave one!
   So black and glossy, on my word, sir,
   With voice to match, you were a bird, sir,
   Well fit to be the Phoenix of these days.’
   Sir Raven, overset with praise,
   Must show how musical his croak.
   Down fell the luncheon from the oak;
   Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:–
   ‘The flatterer, my good sir,
   Aye liveth on his listener;
   Which lesson, if you please,
   Is doubtless worth the cheese.’
   A bit too late, Sir Raven swore
   The rogue should never cheat him more.

   [2] Both Aesop and Phaedrus have a version of this fable.

   Reply ↓
   1. Judith August 25, 2025 at 9:32 am

      There are many Haida stories about the trickster Raven. I like the Bill Reid version “The Raven Steals the Light” with his wonderful illustrations. (His sculpture “Raven and the First Men” at the UBC Museum of Anthropology is magnificent.)

      Reply ↓
9. AG August 25, 2025 at 8:20 am

   re: Philippines geopolitics

   Wrangling oligarchs in Neocolonized Philippines and their Catastrophic Subservience to Washington
   by E San Juan Jr
   15/07/2025
   https://countercurrents.org/2025/07/wrangling-oligarchs-in-neocolonized-philippines-and-their-catastrophic-subservience-to-washington/

   Reply ↓
10. Wukchumni August 25, 2025 at 8:25 am

    Good on ya Aussies for all that boffo protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and just think how things might’ve gone if the Kimberley Plan had been put in place?

    The Kimberley Plan was a failed plan by the Freeland League to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe in northern Australia before and during the Holocaust.

    With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization was formed in London in July 1935, to search for a potential Jewish homeland and haven. The League was a non-Zionist organisation and was led by Isaac Nachman Steinberg.

    In late 1938 or early 1939, the pastoral firm of Michael Durack in Australia offered the League about 16,500 square kilometres (6,400 sq mi) in the Kimberley region in Australia, stretching from the north of Western Australia into the Northern Territory. The League sent a Yiddish poet and essayist Melech Ravitch to the Northern Territory in the 1930s to investigate the region and to collect data on topography and climate.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Plan

    Reply ↓
11. .Tom August 25, 2025 at 8:38 am

    > Exclusive: Ghislaine Maxwell was honored at a prestigious Clinton event years after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced CNN

    While the Clinton-Epstein-Maxwell fundamentals may be familiar this is worth a read in order to remind oneself how the USA has a class of wealthy untouchables. Look at them all hobnobbing, smiling and looking over their shoulders.

    It reminds me of the abuse scandals in Hollywood and fashion. Everyone inside knows how it works and then finally a public scandal breaks out they contain it by sacrificing some individuals in a big public show and closing the holes.

    I wasn’t able to read Whitney Webb’s One Nation Under Blackmail (too hard to follow, way worse than a Russian novel) but I’m sympathetic to the general idea.

    Reply ↓
12. LawnDart August 25, 2025 at 8:52 am

    I apologise for commenting on one of yesterdays links, but this morning I came across an article that could provide a healthy, if ugly, contrast. Yesterdays link:

    Elon Musk Says Success Comes Down To ‘Simple Math.’ Putting In 100 Hours A Week Means You’ll Achieve Twice As Much As Those Working 50

    A rebuttal:

    The Selection Effect: Exporting Burnout as Best Practice

    In tech, a small but vocal segment of leaders has built careers evangelizing extreme work philosophies. These are the conference speakers, book authors, and Twitter personalities who preach work-to-burnout, no work-life balance, and “always building.” Their message spreads through buzzy books, viral posts about fourth consecutive all-nighters, and companies announcing their adoption of these practices for algorithmic engagement and social proof.

    The problem isn’t that these practices don’t exist…

    Two powerful incentives drive this distortion. First, companies that do adopt extreme practices have strong reasons to overclaim their prevalence. If employees believe every other company operates the same way, they’re less likely to complain or leave. “Why would you quit? This is just how tech works.” It’s a classic anchoring strategy that makes unreasonable demands seem reasonable by comparison.

    Second, founders and leaders gain significant personal benefit from burnishing their reputation as extreme operators. Achieving “terminal velocity clout” provides insurance against whatever happens to their current company. If enough people think you’re smart and important, you’ll land on your feet regardless of business outcomes.

    Reply ↓
13. Wukchumni August 25, 2025 at 8:52 am

    There once was an undocumented man from Nantucket
    Who had been there so long, where he thought he’d end up kicking the bucket
    Masked ICE officers said with a grin
    As they duly took him in
    Now documented and in custody in the sin bin

    Reply ↓
14. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 8:58 am

    “Private equity ate my cats’ lunch”

    ‘Private equity is a parasite on the already unwell body that is consumer capitalism.’

    Almost there but not quite. A more accurate term for private equity would be ‘Chop Shop Capitalism’ because that describes what they really do. They take over a company, chop it and and sell off anything valuable and then get out of dodge leaving all the debts with former customers and employees. If they only did this to sick companies that would be one thing but they are targeting healthy companies as well.

    Reply ↓
    1. rasta August 25, 2025 at 9:17 am

       Which is reminiscent of organ transplantation business. They can get much more value out of a healthy subject, than the one that’s sick.

       Reply ↓
       1. Trees&Trunks August 25, 2025 at 9:39 am

          How could one phrase a law banning PE & VC?

          Reply ↓
15. DJG, Reality Czar August 25, 2025 at 9:17 am

    The Ghislaine Maxwell saga. CNN, Honored at Clinton Global Initiative dinner… and much, much more.

    It is worth your while slogging through this article for the gossip and the sheer number of details on the links between Maxwell, Epstein, and Bill & Hill. And Chelsea’s matrimonial merger!

    Note: “Maxwell’s ties to the Clintons extended well beyond CGI events. As far back as 1993, photos show Epstein and Maxwell visiting then-President Clinton at the White House.”

    No wonder there is the painting of Bill Clinton in the blue dress at Epstein’s cottage in Manhattan.

    And BlueMaga thinks that Trump is going to have problems with all of the revelations…

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 9:31 am

       I always thought it weird that you had the Pope personally bless Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell who had flown in on a private jet for the occasion-

       https://www.instagram.com/p/CWkYi_sDloY/

       Reply ↓
       1. DJG, Reality Czar August 25, 2025 at 10:14 am

          The Rev Kev. Why I can be a mangiapreti.

          Instant saint and drama queen JP II Wojtyla, who did permanent damage to the church in Latin American, particularly Brazil.

          Photo with the two perps: Not unexpected. Given some of the rumors / partially proved assertions about a disappearance at the Vatican, they may have been there for other reasons than a simple blessing:

          https://www.vanityfair.it/article/caso-orlandi-fratello-emanuela-vaticano

          Reply ↓
    2. .Tom August 25, 2025 at 10:14 am

       Yes, it’s a good article. Wealthy untouchables united by blackmail.

       Let’s suppose that the highly ambitious and successful are not allowed into the upper levels of the club unless there is suitable blackmail on file. So on this qualification there was no problem letting Trump in to the club and to become it’s titular leader. Why then did Trump promise to spill the Epstein beans in his 2020 campaign? My hypothesis for this head scratcher has two parts: 1) Trump is a vessel. He believes nothing, says what his fans like to hear, and experiments so the campaign platform emerges by trial and error. He discovered that his fans want justice for the Epstein-tainted. (So do I.) 2) He and his entourage were not able to think strategically and tie together all the pieces to predict that he had a problem. (His staff are sycophants who likely didn’t know what was on the record and Trump forgot.) The problem only became obvious to Trump when it came time to fulfill his campaign promise.

       Reply ↓
16. Munchausen August 25, 2025 at 9:21 am

    Russian state TV, citing a Polish source, claimed Estonia is allegedly preparing a preemptive strike on Russia. Kremlin media are now promoting the idea that Tallinn has shifted to “active deterrence” and is ready to strike first if threatened by Moscow. Russian propaganda used…
    — WarTranslated (@wartranslated) August 23, 2025

    Chihuahua barks that someone reported about someone reporting chihuahua barking earlier.

    Reply ↓
17. Irritable August 25, 2025 at 9:41 am

    Nothing in links about this, but hilarious enough to make a comment on…

    In TPTB efforts to derail Mamdani, the latest BREAKING NEWS to make him the WORSTEST EVER candidate for New York’s mayor is that he released a misleading exercise video.

    Reply ↓
18. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 9:50 am

    ‘tim anderson
    @timand2037
    Aug 24
    Hundreds of thousands took part in huge rallies for Palestine in all Australian major cities today, the biggest in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This one is Brisbane.’

    The Hasbara is not working anymore. You can’t hand-wave starving children away and claim that it is pre-existing conditions. Everybody can see what they are doing.

    Reply ↓
19. QABubba August 25, 2025 at 9:56 am

    Re: “Astronomers” and “FRB’s”.
    The first FRB was discovered in 2007. I have always been of the firm belief that ‘Black Holes’ didn’t exist in the universe until the astro-physicists did the math that said they existed, and then they appeared to fulfill that prediction.
    If I’m correct, they have job security. No telling what they will create next.

    Reply ↓
20. The Rev Kev August 25, 2025 at 10:10 am

    “Sumer, which gave us ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’, rose as a result of rivers, tides and sediments”

    ‘But the Mesopotamian delta was anything but. Its restless, shifting land demanded ingenuity and cooperation, sparking some of history’s first intensive farming and pioneering bold social experiments.’

    Maybe that is the key. If you just had fertile flatlands, then farming would have fallen into a regular rhythm with no need to make any changes in their agricultural practices with one year just like the last and just like the next. But having to learn to be adaptable with different people having to cooperate to feed all their people, that this laid the bedrock for this civilization as it bred a way about thinking about problems that their flatland cousins never had to experience except in times of drought.

    Reply ↓