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Archery grandmaster Lars Andersen shoots 7 consecutive arrows through a 10 mm keyhole.pic.twitter.com/u0txDShH1K
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 3, 2025
Bezos predicts that millions will live in space kind of soon TechCrunch
Physicists maneuver DNA molecules using electrical fields, offering real-time control Phys.org
The Fatima Sun Miracle: Much More Than You Wanted To Know Astral Codex Ten
Have we passed peak social media? Financial Times
COVID-19/Pandemics
Vaccinated but Still Got COVID? A New Study Helps Explains Why SciTech Daily
COVID-19 and the United States: Governance, Corruption, and Social Fragmentation Portola Planet
Climate/Environment
Meat Is a Leading Emissions Source – But Few Outlets Report on It, Analysis Finds Sentient Media
Antarctica sees similar climate change effects as Greenland: Study Phys.org
South of the Border
Venezuela accuses US of planning to impose ‘puppet government’ in country Andolu Agency
Venezuela as America’s next foreign policy disaster Asia Times
China?
Today, the tallest bridge in the world was opened. The craziest thing is the coffee shop on the bridge.😲 pic.twitter.com/rDfybmtat3
— Sharing Travel (@TripInChina) September 28, 2025
China is making big aircraft carrier moves. Here’s how its flattops stack up against the US Navy. Business InsiderChina to launch commercial underwater data center — facility expected to consume 90% less power for cooling Tom’s Hardware
Is China Winning the Race for Robotics? AI Insider
Inside Tibet’s Digital Prison: PLA And Police Merge To Enforce China’s Grip – Analysis Eurasia Review
India
India’s tech talent pipeline is sputtering The Register
India–U.S. Relations: Between Breakthroughs and Breakdowns Modern Diplomacy
Africa
Is Africa the New Luxury Travel Frontier, Why Are So Many Travelers Choosing Safaris in Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia? Travel and Tour World
Trans Africa Campaign calls for visa-free travel across the continent The Independent Online
European Disunion
Europe’s Defense Push Has Money—but No Mandate International Policy Digest
Populist billionaire and Trump supporter Babis cruises to Czech election win CNN
Curbing powers of human rights court won’t solve migration issues, says Council of Europe chief Euractiv
Old Blighty
The extinction of British liberalism UnHerd
UK Government Dismisses Public Outcry, Pushes Ahead with Controversial Digital ID Plan Reclaim the Net
Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran
🇮🇹This is Italy today — not the UAE or Saudi Arabia (God forbid).
Over 2 million people protested across 100+ Italian cities on Friday, coinciding with a one-day general strike in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the Global Sumud Flotilla. 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/vlc0rnbwLS— SilencedSirs◼️ (@SilentlySirs) October 4, 2025
How Fury Over Israel’s Qatar Attack Pushed Netanyahu on Gaza NY TimesDozens killed in Gaza despite Trump’s call for Israel to halt bombing Reuters
The Trump Gaza Plan Could Work, With or Without Hamas Politico
Israel’s army announces shift to defensive operations in Gaza amid Trump plan, local media reports Euro News
Drop Site Urges the Immediate Release of Global Sumud Flotilla Participants, Including Drop Site Journalist Alex Colston Drop Site. NC anticipated that even with Sumud passengers and crew allegedly only being detained, they would be roughed up and that could include torture.
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia strikes hit two passenger trains in northern Ukraine France 24
Ukraine war briefing: China providing Russia with intelligence on missile targets, Ukrainian official claims The Guardian
Trump Has Been Bamboozled About Ukraine’s War Prospects Larry Johnson
Ukraine Strikes Russian Missile Corvette 1,000 km Inside Homeland in Bold Lake Assault United 24 Media
Ukraine and Russia exchange strikes in escalating attacks on energy sites TRT World
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Digital ID threatens privacy and security: experts warn The Valley Vanguard
Location-tracking apps: A harmful invasion of privacy or a great tool to keep loved ones safe? SBS News
Imperial Collapse Watch
DAVID MARCUS: Portland’s dystopia delusion coming to a city near all of us Fox News
Triangle food pantries fear government shutdown could strain resources, spike demand WRAL News
Trump 2.0
Trump Just Issued Two of His Most Dangerous Directives Yet Zeteo
Trump’s Blueprint to Crush the Left Draws from Decades of Counterterrorism Policy Drop Site
Senator Elissa Slotkin just asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth if he’s been given the order to shoot at unarmed protesters.
Hegseth struggles to simply answer the question, and instead goes on the attack. Slotkin is having none of it. pic.twitter.com/yIRa5cVPfU
— Irlandarra (@aldamu_jo) October 4, 2025
First Circuit Rules Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Executive Order is Unconstitutional Reason.com
After Trump’s Medicaid Cuts, Patients at Rural Maine Clinics Feel the Fallout New York Times
Musk Matters
45 Elon Musk DOGE staff still on White House payroll and exempt from shutdown Cryptopolitan
Tesla and xAI Staff Are Fleeing as Musk Becomes Increasingly Erratic Futurism
Elon Musk Plans Optimus Robots for Mars by 2026, Experts Warn of Challenges WebPro News
Man buys used Tesla only to discover it’s banned from Supercharger network CBS
Democrat Death Watch
Democrats are fretting about N.J. governor’s race Axios
Commentary: Who can save the Democratic Party? Yakima Herald Republic
Immigration
Trump authorises National Guard deployment to Chicago despite objections Al Jazeera
Trump administration offers migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to home countries Spectrum News 1
Over 40,000 Non-ICE Officers Have Been Diverted to Support Immigration Crackdown, Report Finds The Latin Times
Our No Longer Free Press
Hot Type: ‘What the Hell Are We Doing Here?’ Byline Supplement
Deer: Speechless Freedom Beavercreek News-Current
Mr. Market Is Moody
Gold rally spells trouble for the dollar UnHerd
With the US government dark, alternate sources show a sluggish September for jobs Reuters
AI
The AI bubble is 17 times the size of the dot-com frenzy — and four times the subprime bubble, analyst says MarketWatch
AI has designed thousands of potential antibiotics. Will any work? Nature
AI Endangering Tourists by Sending Them to Nonexistent Landmarks in Hazardous Locations Futurism
Has the AI apocalypse arrived? Not yet, new study suggests The Hill
The Bezzle
UK fraudster to plead guilty in NY court for massive fine-wine scam Euro News
Guillotine Watch
A ‘sky dining’ restaurant has opened in Puri!
Dine on a suspended platform, over 100 ft above the ground, held up by a crane.
Would you dare to try it!! #Puri #Odisha pic.twitter.com/mEJ1KvpC9j
— Manas Muduli (@manas_muduli) March 3, 2025
Exciting Himachal Pradesh! 🇮🇳
It’s thrilling ,World’s tallest hanging restaurant in Manali@thehomestays
— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) July 10, 2022
Antidote du jour (via)
And a bonus. Chuck L: “AI or not, too good not to send:
Bear ran a red light in Moscow but refused to stop for police. pic.twitter.com/BuOuArOMki
— Chebureki Man (@CheburekiMan) October 4, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
150 comments
Comments are closed.
Happy Lunar-Autumn Festival weekend to everyone who celebrates (or to Normie-American, fall full moon time—the moon was glorious in my neck of the woods)
If you want Trump to cause a real revolution, he should follow my wishes—-move USA Thanksgiving to October, like Canada Thanksgiving
The weather’s better, and USA Turkey Day is too close to Christmas!
Thanksgiving comes and goes, with nary a loss to the 1,500 or so wild turkeys that call Tiny Town home. They simply refer to it as Thursday.
A flock of a couple dozen squatters on the all cats and no cattle ranch filed a quitclaim deed and got it notarized, nobody expecting fowl play in such a fashion.
They’ve given us 30 days to get our stuff out of the house.
Then we’d have all those classic movies aka Planes Trains and Automobiles, or classic TV episodes* to reshoot or to reboot, and heck that suits Hollywood fine for sure. Reboot of anything once popular in the 80s or the 90s is in that wheelhouse.
For my money it doesn’t get much better, or funnier, than the Turkey Drop episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. ” my god they’re dropping the turkeys…”
“As God is my witness, I swear, I thought turkeys could fly” 😂
Wait, I thought wild turkeys could fly!? (Or, was it geese?) J/k
wild turkeys can fly rather well…just the more domesticated they are, the more that theyve forgotten that they can.
and breed bred for giant breastmeat cant, due to being…umm..unbalanced.
my remaining turkey(Tom) only flies when he gets spooked.
y thoroughly domesticated geese(chinese weeders and african, well mixed, now) need a running start.
after i put the sheep up, i let the geese into the road(lotsa good grass along the dirt road)…and they invariably get all excited and fly down towards mom’s, then turn around and come back.
the ducks are the bst flyers i have, tho.
the girls spend the night on roof of bar(and the palapa over my barstump…got duckshit on my head at 4am whilst drinkin coffee(sigh))
they really dig roofs…cleaning gutters, to boot(!?)
Lazy is what wild turkeys can be called. If there is no need, they rather not. They can be quite quick running and dodging between the trees being hard to follow with the eyes.
It’s interesting to have a flock of wild turkeys leave the nest every morning by dropping from the tree branches onto the house’s roof and then lumbering from the roof to the ground. And at dusk taking long runs, one by one, to hurl themselves into the air and then into the tree.
Ancient Chinese proverb says that it’s better to drink coffee with duckshit on head, than with duckshit in coffee.
Wise ass as valuable as wise head
Wild turkeys do indeed fly. Domestic turkeys however have been bred to be terrestrial plodders. Similar to what is happening to Terrestrial humans with their “smartphones” and constant focus on “social media.”
Homo sapiens domesticus.
(In consideration of all the gender terminology drama presently roiling what purports to be our ‘culture’ today, that should be: Homo sapiens domesticum.)
Homo formerly sapiens?
“Populist billionaire and Trump supporter Babis cruises to Czech election win”
Not so much being a Trump supporter but telling his voters that he wanted to concentrate on Czech issues such as restoring pension benefits, cutting taxes, undoing unpopular austerity measures, and reviving subsidies for students and seniors while the other guy was saying what the country needed to do was to send more money to Zelensky. Hopefully the EU will not try to annul these election results.
And also hopefully he actually intends to keep his promises!
Come on now. You have Cyn in your avatar name. He is a politician. Nuff said.
He is a billionaire. Billionaires always choose money. EU threatens his money, he will bend over and let Ukraine have it all.
Ha ha. Should have used the sarc tag. The billionaire thing gives it away. If that guy is really a man of the people, I’m moving to Czechoslovakia
Sorry. I do get your sarcasm; no tag needed.
Also, that does depend on his definition of “people”; common people, chosen people, wild people, domesticated people, etc. etc.
Seriously, I do note that in general, politicians from “old money” have better track records in governing when given the chance. The nouveaux riches on the other hand…..
Stay safe up there in The Great White North.
This is his second term. Did he do any of this on his first?
Trump?
Actually he kind of did, although it can be argued it was due to being in coalition with social democrats and propped up by communists, who pushed for increase in pensions, etc. Now his only chance to form government is with right wing parties (the social democrats and communists dropped from parliament last time and are out this time too).
That bear video is the antidote I didn’t know I needed, thank you Haig.
In Russia, that video clip is known as ‘Tuesday.’
Monday is motorcycle day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsl-jKOVw3o
Sunday is showtime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1zv8t0TZas
True confessions of a consumer…
I bought a Pet Rock when I was 14, it was a 70’s thing-you wouldn’t understand. When Pets.com came along around the turn of the century, I resisted temptation along with the other dot.coms destined for Palookaville. I guess the bubble bursting was bad for the Bay Area, but I didn’t feel a thing-even though at one point I was considering investing in anvil.com stock.
As far as I know, AI has had almost no impact in my life, and yet the national economy is now based on it, if you were to follow stock evaluations.
I had no idea the immensity of the AI bubble, on top of everything else frothy and headed for a tumble or two.
When I was a kid, with 3 pieces of Bazooka Joe gum, I could blow a bubble within a bubble, within a bubble.
But i’ve got nothing on goings on, so widespread.
That Pet Rock craze was something. There was a place advertising back then where you could send your pet rock on holidays and if anything happened, they had a geologist on 24-7 call out-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock
I always wondered that tamogotchi thing was (is?) a modern version of yhd pet rock, although I thought the nice thing about the rock was that you didn’t need to feed it.
I first heard about the tamagotchi in the late 90s via an interview with a Japanese artist.
The artist was expressing some concern about the younger generations who had embraced the tamagotchi, openly worrying that in the future “they may only become inflexible office workers”.
Something about that phrase “inflexible office workers” stuck with me. Lol
“…it was a 70’s thing-you wouldn’t understand.”
I’m so old that I do indeed understand. I have a herd of pet rocks of various shapes, sizes, and geophysical provenances. But just laying about here and there as is their wont, they cost nothing. Caught in the wild they are easily tamed, requiring little in the way of care and maintenance, and they can trigger memories of other places and times past. But I’m sure you know all this.
I did not get a Pet Rock but they came in a lovely box and the care and feeding instructions were hysterical.
With the loyalty and unconditional love of a dog, and the independence and attitude of a cat, they offered a great choice for companionship for busy people.
Reggie, my Pet Rock, greatly outlived the parakeet from K-Mart to be named later, that is if there was more than only a day together for us, very much toes up in its cage the morning after purchase. Quite still.
Pining for the flashing blue light on aisle 7 no doubt.
Our Welsh Border Collie actually caught two budgies in the yard of the house on Miami Beach and bought them indoors and laid them at Moms feet in the kitchen, alive. Tribute to ‘She Who Feeds’ no doubt. Both birds went on to live quite a while as pets indoors.
The lovely box and care and feeding (and naming) instructions were, as I recall, what you were paying for. I recall many of them asking me to give them a home, but … well, the blacklight section of Spencer Gifts was beckoning in its bright and shiny way.
Of course if you are going to own pet rocks, it would be preferable to only have small ones-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZvFxEn5k8 (4:46 mins)
I never bought one because I didn’t want to deal with cleaning up after them; all that gravel and sand.
In 1972 the Signetics Semiconductor company announced the Write-Only-Memory.
Uses were listed as “First in, never out Buffers” and “Don’t care buffer stores”.
I requested a designers kit, and a box arrived with a pair of disguise glasses, a fortune cookie, a data sheet and a sample part labeled “NFG”.
As I recall, Signetics fell on hard times later and their corporate sense of humor disappeared.
The 1970’s were a different time.
A popular series of that era I guess like the mid to late 70s, Little House on the Prairie…but if we update the series to a futuristic America it’ll be “Little AI House in the Silicon Valley”. Market bubbles are like Fight Club, going on as long they have to.
I collected Hot Wheels myself as a kid. Had fun with some of those older Hot Wheels brand wind up, plastic loop tracks that would spit out the smaller coupe or sedan at a furious pace. As the loquacious Ricky Bobby would say, we wanted to go fast.
Re: AI/Mo Gawdat video
I couldn’t last more than 3 minutes without feeling nauseated. What a bunch of drivel!
The Yale-Brookings study cited in The Hill directly contradicts his claims. As far as “making calendar entries,” I can tell you that the first time “AI” screws up staging an important meeting with C-level folks, or a sales meeting, it will be thrown out the window faster than Randy Moss racing down the sidelines with the football towards the end zone.
Question: do these AI proselytizers actually believe what they are saying or is it just snake oil? More and more people are questioning the hype, but $$$ is still being made.
I think it’s both – some are just cynical snake-oil salesmen, but others seem to have a religious fervor about their proclamations, i.e. they are true believers.
I sent this o a pal who is trying to grok A I :
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/10/the-ai-bubble-and-the-u-s-economy-how-long-do-hallucinations-last.html
This is what he sent back:
Here’s a summary by a new AI browser (Comet) that I use now about this article. I asked how valid is this article and how what it said:
” Summary:
Most of the core claims in the article—about an overhyped economic bubble, persistent technical and factual limitations in leading AI models, and concerns about investment outpacing real-world returns—are generally valid and supported by recent expert opinions, industry analysis, and market data. There is broad consensus among technologists, economists, and even some AI industry leaders that the speculative investment in AI currently exceeds its proven utility, justifying caution about both its technological promises and economic impact.
That said, there are also positive cases and ongoing research in AI—particularly in specialized, targeted applications—so the critique is especially relevant when addressing general-purpose GenAI/LLM claims, but not necessarily all uses of AI.
If you want specific details on any one claim or a deeper dive into a particular assertion, let me know!”
My turn back at him: Garbage at the speed of electrons. I read electricity demand was up 45% in the last three months. Not all of it Air Conditioning, but certainly a LOT of Hot Air!
I have a feeling that money is being PAID. Remember how doctors/hospitols were being paid if they administered out vaccines?
AI is potentially an evolution in the quest for better information technology.
It may help those not enjoying google search and wikipedia, but it is scarcely a marginal (may not be positive) effect on “business” or government IT value added!
To create ROI, not even considering how quickly the investment is gutted by the next craze aka Moore’s law, IT spending (demand?) needs to explode!
If you are referring to the same Yales-Brooking study article in the Hill that I have read, it also says ‘the authors said their analysis is consistent with emerging evidence suggesting AI may be contributing to unemployment among early- career workers’ and ‘separate research from Stanford University has found that employment among early career workers (ages 22-25) in the most AI-exposed occupations has dropped 13 percent since the widespread adoption of generative AI’. Arguably these are still early days.
The crucial questions IMO are not ‘where are we now?’ but ‘where are we going and at what speed?’
When I started my career over 50 years ago my first employer had what for the time was a massive data base. It was maintained by a thousand employees using a card-index filing system in a building dedicated to it crammed with filing cabinets on multiple floors. Last I heard they had been replaced by a computer system managed by a handful of people. Happily for me I am long retired so do not expect to be in the front line of further change but my lawyer daughter tells me she is already using AI to speed up her work.
Please don’t be complacent. There is always change. The key questions IMO are the timescale over which the change will take place and the extent of it.
Sorry if I came across as a curmudgeon. Yes, we should not be complacent and just assume that this will all collapse like a house of cards. Too much big money is behind it. However, I have had it with the AI hucksters and pimps.
LLMs, being at their heart just statistical synthetic text extruding machines. aren’t suited for tasks that require originality or creativity. And society doesn’t progress without someone challenging the status quo – whether it’s a Steve Jobs, and Einstein, or a young Linus Torvalds.
If these LLMs were so great at coding, why hasn’t Microsoft or Google unleashed them on their own code bases and refactored/rewritten the Windows OS, Azure, or Google Cloud with them? It certainly isn’t a resource problem, as these Magnificent Seven companies.s have more money than God and enough computing resources to do it. Funny how they push the Kool-Aid on everyone else, but won’t drink it themselves.
I am worried about junior programmer roles, as the temptation to cut costs will be too great for the Wall St. crowd. Realize, though, that they’re “eating their seed corn” here. The senior engineers will not be replaced, as they’re too valuable. But someday, they’ll retire, and there will be nobody to backfill them.
“I am worried about junior programmer roles, as the temptation to cut costs will be too great for the Wall St. crowd. Realize, though, that they’re “eating their seed corn” here. The senior engineers will not be replaced, as they’re too valuable. But someday, they’ll retire, and there will be nobody to backfill them.”
That is precisely what already happened with some firms that outsourced entry-level and “menial” IT jobs to India. No more learning the ropes by maintaining existing software, or preparing test suites. After a while, all those people with “value-adding” roles like project manager or chief engineer retire, but there is nobody to replace them. At this point insourcing IT specialists from India becomes inevitable…
In my industry – insurance – it was the middle to senior level staff that was replaced in a lot of instances. They would keep a few around to keep the systems “running” but that was about it. Over the last 20 or so years most of the work has gone to India so there is no need for junior or senior staff in this country.
Companies not wanting to train junior engineers predates AI by some margin, so this situation:
already exists in a lot of places.
US businesses never see it as their problem, figuring they’ll just hire immigrants if needed, and the US government wasn’t interested either until fairly recently.
Thank you for your reply. I agree that I am sure there is a great deal of hype going on.
I guess as usual humanity is groping its way along – forwards, backwards, round in circles?
I have zero relevant expertise but understand that those people who have some knowledge agree that LLMs on their own are not the way forward. From what little I do understand, I believe you are absolutely right about their considerable limitations. Speakers who might have some insight seem to think AI will have to be developed along other paths if it is one day to deliver on the more extravagant promises made by those promoting it.
For those who, like me, are total ignoramuses here, the most impressive speaker I have yet found on these matters is Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called ‘godfather of AI’. There is what I think a good interview with him by Steven Bartlett (Diary of a CEO), but it is 90 minutes long.
For those who do not have the time, a brief summary of Hinton’s views:
1. Any people who tell you they know what is the future of AI is either fooling themselves or trying to fool their audience.
2. ‘Superintelligence’ (when computers become better than humans at everything) may arrive in 20 years (please note the conditional mode of the verb), perhaps 10.
3. There are others who think it could arrive sooner.
4. There is a non-negligible possibility that AI could be dangerous for humans. Hinton is devoting himself now to trying to ensure that developments in this area are managed with appropriate caution.
Hinton strikes me as an impressive man, calm, rational, measured. He obviously has some brains (Nobel Prize for Science).
Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” would be appropriate here.
Going back to the root of the term “robot,” Czech for ‘worker,’ one could make the argument that AI is but a version of robot.
See: https://www.etymonline.com/word/robot
Thus, Capek’s play “R.U.R.” can be seen as a cautionary tale.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.
Time to hunt up my copy of the “Star Dot Star Codex?”
Ethymological root is work (rabota) and, beside worker, one of its derivatives is slave (rab/rob). Robot is worker, and also a mechanical slave of sorts.
trivia 1
One of the focal points of fighting in Zaporozhie region was the Rabotino/Robotine/Robotyne village.
trivia 2
Song The Robots, by Kraftwerk, has a part in Russian that says
which translates to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_8Pma1vHmw
> Please don’t be complacent. There is always change. The key questions IMO are the timescale over which the change will take place and the extent of it.
There is always change. And there are things that stay the same.
I periodically post this in tech-related forums…
An excerpt from Tony Hoare’s 1980 Turing Award speech, ‘The Emperor’s Old Clothes’, about an event from the early 1960’s…
“At last, there breezed into my office the most senior manager of all, a general manager of our parent company, Andrew St. Johnston. I was surprised that he had even heard of me. “You know what went wrong?” he shouted–he always shouted– “You let your programmers do things which you yourself do not understand.” I stared in astonishment. He was obviously out of touch with present day realities. How could one person ever understand the whole of a modern software product like the Elliott 503 Mark II software system? I realized later that he was absolutely right; he had diagnosed the true cause of the problem and he had planted the seed of its later solution.”
My interpretation is that whether shifting from delegation to programmers, or to compilers, or to LLMs, the invariant is that we will always have to understand the consequences of our choices, or suffer the consequences.
Fellow Chris, I listened to the whole thing because that was an excellent example of what these fools believe. This supposedly brilliant person has no idea if the different AI tools he refers to use different training sets. He has no idea if the vetting he asks one to do is correct. He has no idea if his research is based on accurate information or hallucinations. He has no idea if the results are repeatable. I’m doubtful he actually follows that approach as described or if he is just selling that approach of using nested AI to make his company seem like every older investors idea of a smart business.
The best person to use technology to solve a problem is the person who could solve the problem without using the technology. Because if you don’t know how to approach the problem and challenge a solution, how can you possibly interrogate the results something like AI gives you?
The deeper the video goes, the more nauseating it becomes. This guy has certainly welcomed his AI overlords. As an artist whose work has been data scraped by LAION-5b and Meta twice, I’m going to spare my blood pressure the words it would take to describe my disgust with his attitude in that video. Having been affected negatively by AI, I will heartily welcome the massive explosion of the AI bubble.
Their vision of what will happen when AI rules leaves one dumbfounded; it really looks as if those guys do not know what real life is.
There is just one tidbit where they are sort of right: the recommendation to become a plumber. I would generalize the tip to “learn to maintain and repair physical things” — with an emphasis on repairing; I fear there come times when there will not be that many funds and physical resources to build new things, but there will be a dire need to maintain and repair existing ones.
Temperamentally, I’m a Luddite. I don’t keep my life on my iPhone and I use a way old mobile for MFA. I have no great trust in the concept of “truth” unless something is demonsrtably untrue. The only truth is the knowledge of what is false, and even that may turn out to be incorrect.
The point is, like it or not, AI will be used by business, the military, governments, researchers and individuals in pretty much every aspect of life regardless of the quality of the output. What Mo Gawdat does is simply describe a process which he finds useful and judging the quality of the output is a matter of commonsense.
Given this degree of inevitability (and I wish I were wrong), it is a question of exploring how the process or elements of the process can be replaced, changed, adapted or developed to, hopefully, minimise garbage output and maximise relevant quality output. Empiricism rules. OK?
“Russia strikes hit two passenger trains in northern Ukraine”
Yeah, about that. The Moon of Alabama did an article on this strike and much to my amazement, most Ukrainian claims turned out to be bs-
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/10/ukraine-russian-hit-a-freight-train-passengers-hurt/
Funny that the comments hit upon the first thought I had that the passengers weren’t your average civilians. That it was a freight train with one passenger car only increases my belief that if any casualties beyond train personnel were like grandmas and kiddies they were unwilling human shields, but it is more likely military traveling with the “freight”.
I noticed that the article was very artfully worded: the train(s) were never described as civilian, but a Ukrainian official was quoted to imply that it/they were. Of course, military personnel travelling in a passenger train car are “passengers,” too.
That MOA worth a look.
Perhaps this is the form of “intelligence” the AI crowd have in mind. Unfortunately for them our “adversaries” have it too.
For those interested in discussions about nuclear on NC, I came across Admiral Rickover’s Admiral Rickover’s ‘paper reactor’ memo from 1953. He may have been a son-of-a-bitch but was droll and on point here.
In the Journal of Reactor Science & Technology back in the day.
I missed this. Good call.
‘Irlandarra
@aldamu_jo
Senator Elissa Slotkin just asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth if he’s been given the order to shoot at unarmed protesters. Hegseth struggles to simply answer the question, and instead goes on the attack. Slotkin is having none of it.’
Slotkin was really ripping Hegseth a new one because he refused to answer a simple question about the Rules of Engagement. Turns out that Slotkin is actually a heavyweight whereas Hegseth is more a fake it til you make it sort of guy-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elissa_Slotkin
Of course there is always the thought that Hegseth was really riled because it was a women that was nailing his hide to the barn.
Yes, and I’m sure Slotkin was none too pleased with Hegseth’s “manly” anti-woke lecture to the Generals the other day either. I guess CIA Democrats are good for something – standing up to macho frat boy pretenders who are even worse.
So she tanned his hide when he lied, Clyde,
And that’s it hanging on the shed.
Rolf Harris – Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport – 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5jIgBgBaLo
I asked an Australian friend why that song isn’t the national anthem yet.
Apparently Rolf Harris had some, uh, issues.
Also, “let me Abos go loose, Bruce” doesn’t have the thrilling ring to it as “for we are one and free”
Here is how the esteemed young Senator did with Saagar and Krystal on the Gaza genocide and other issues. Hegseth is comparatively a pussy cat. I see his type in the gym all the time, but without the large Crusader tattoo.
Still germane, that video is from Hegseth’s testimony before the Armed Services Committee on June 18. Here is CBS reporting on it.
I enjoyed the last exchange starting with “Senator, you should be careful the books you read…”
Theoafocracy
Be fair. He may be stupid but that doesn’t mean he’s a misogynist as well.
The Tallest Espresso
Stairbucks?
If I fell off and plummeted, would I end up as a Flat White?
You can go to washroom there, as opposed to those Indian restaurant table cranes…
I guess that is the difference between Chinese and Indian economies as well…
Asking for a friend but is downtown Portland really as described in the article above? Granted this coming from Fox News but I get the sense there is more a maybe so than maybe not to these types of anecdotes. Can’t say I ever planned on a visit. It does sound like a Dickensian tale.
Regarding the homeless and also the unhoused, well that’s really grown prevalent it seems over the past 15 years. Even in the smaller cities where I’ve called home these last 9 to 10 years it is easy to find. Depending on whose party one supports those tented enclaves are either a Trumptown or a Bidenville…but the roots of it really date to the GFC and the ensuing foreclosure wave based on fraudulent mortgage servicers and mortgage documentation errors.
A govt employee person I know said the hotel’s street level windows were smashed by a demonstation during her brief Portland stay. My own experience of Oregon was also brief, but even in the smaller towns an unusual homeless presence was seen at the McD. Just as many of California’s wealthy have moved one state north many of its homeless seem to have done the same.
Meanwhile there’s the embarassing history of a different Oregon that in its early days banned black people. This accounts for the BLM demonstrations a few years back that had hardly any African Americans. It could be that we here in SC have a better read on race relations than very white Oregon.
However when Fox News goes on about this they leave out the part about how their favored policies contribute to the poverty and homelessness that seems so concentrated on the west coast. The entire channel is a nosegay.
I’m not sold on the concept of “favored policies” contributing to homelessness. Can you pass any information on said policies? One thing I do know for sure, and most people would agree, what contributes to homelessness on the west coast is the temperate weather. Even in Oregon, the western half especially, it only freezes a week or two each winter and even less so, is covered in snow.
What contributes the most to homelessness is the same in Oregon as it is everywhere else in the U.S., which is housing cost. Portland, like Seattle, or major cities in California, tries to sustain a local economy built for the professional class, leaving everyone else downwardly mobile.
The short answer is “no”. Attacking Portland and Seattle has been a favorite trope of right-wing media for years. Sinclair, for example, aired the Seattle version of today’s Fox essay in 2019, “Seattle is Dying”: https://komonews.com/news/local/komo-news-special-seattle-is-dying
I assume right-wing media goes after NW cities because socialists and lefty voters actually do get some policies into law, on occasion, especially in regards to policing and housing. The “threat of a good example” must be attacked before residents of other cities get any bright ideas…
The unfortunate truth of life in NW cities is that these sporadic (somewhat) socialist policies are enacted within the continuing dominance of neoliberal City Councils and (usually) Mayors. For example, Social Housing laws are passed by the voters, and then the neoliberal majority on the City Council kneecaps its funding. Additionally, our leaders’ fealty to large tech companies has led to massive influxes of highly paid workers that have helped to push rents beyond the breaking point of too many long-time resident’s budgets. (Yes, the weather is milder on the West Coast, but nearly 90% of our cities’ homeless resided in the same county before losing their homes and ending up in shelters or on the streets.)
You may be shocked to hear it, but Fox’s version of the reality on the ground doesn’t pass the smell test.
I don’t know about Portland, but I live near Seattle, and what Marcus says is true here. 30 years ago I loved going into the city; now I’ll do it only if absolutely necessary. As for kneecapping funding: please post numbers on the amount of taxpayer money spent on housing and the net amount spent per person helped, in order to demonstrate this kneecapping.
I’ll give you a headstart: In 2023, Seattle passed a $970M housing levy. That’s well over $1,000 per resident, and far more per taxpayer. There’s more, but I think that makes the point.
I infer you thought that you had played a trump card (with no supporting links, which we normally require) with your closing factoid. You actually proved hermeneut’s point. $1,000 is the functional equivalent of zero in terms of the cost of building apartments. Even if you assumed only 1 in 100 needed “affordable” housing, that only gets you to $100,000. And ultimately, the issue is the lack of “affordable” units. I assume that Seattle is like NYC, in that development money has long gone to “luxury” projects, and that even before you get to developer behavior, NIMBY-ish is another big obstacle to putting up multi-family projects for middle to lower-income tenants.
The average cost of building an apartment in a US city is $250 to $450 per square foot, with high priced cities even higher, and Seattle presumably is higher. That’s >$225,000 for a small one BR (500 square feet) and >$40,000 for a small 2BR, say for parents with one kid.
Moreover, I assume a city budgeting for construction would face costs beyond the cost of constructing the apartment costs, such as needing to do planning studies, and fighting over its exercise of eminent domain, which would lead to additional cost and delay.
One reason partly completed buildings are left abandoned for years is the bank that foreclosed also faces costs in clearing the site, which can be high. So using abandoned building projects would not be a cost saver.
Finally, these figures assume market rate housing and as indicated, cover only construction. These units would likely need rent subsidies, adding to costs, as well as annual expenses for property management and maintenance.
If two million Americans went on strike to protest the genocide in Gaza, would American newspapers mention it?
Only the ones with unionized workforces.
What’s the difference between a country led by engineers and one led by lawyers? The former builds the world’s tallest bridge; the latter dismantles its judicial system.
–Bezos predicts that millions will live in space in ‘couple of decades’—
Those dudes….Bezos and Musk…. they are real keen observers of the obvious…geniouses I tell ya….
maybe I am wrong but, I swear, we have been living in space on this rock ever since I can remember.
It will need to be millions because the human body does not fare well in zero gravity, as ISS studies have shown.
Scientists predict that in few years ISS will reach Bezos.
Karelia is not “1,000 km inside homeland” if you measure from Finland/NATO, as one should.
At least I learned that one can navigate from the Baltic sea all the way to the Caspian sea through rivers, lakes (like the Onega lake), and canals that can accomodate a 75mx11m large ship.
I of course knew about the large Russian rivers, and that very long canals had been dug in Soviet times, but I did not realize they were all that interconnected. In Western Europe, the comparable waterway would be the one linking the Rhine, the Main-Donau-Kanal, and the Danube, allowing one to travel by boat all the way from Rotterdam to Constanta on the Black sea.
That fact is arguably the main reason why Russia came to be in the first place (regardless of what role, if any, one assigns to the Scandinavians in this process). Such smaller wooden ships could be dragged overland without any canals. That hurdle out of the way, traders and raiders (often the same people) could move quickly between the Baltic, the Black and the Caspian seas, letting wealth and power concentrate at key points along the routes.
Also worth noting: canals have crisscrossed China since the Middle Ages or earlier (depending on how much crisscrossing you are talking about). As of 7th or 8th century, you could take a boat from Gansu, at the northwestern edge of historical China to Guangdong, via the Yellow River, the Grand Canal, the Yangzi, and various canals connecting the rivers of South China, then the Pearl, without touching the sea water.
This wouldn’t be the first time Ukrainians have openly staged terrorist attacks from Finland, iir,–drone attacks against Murmansk (I think) and nearby almost certainly came from Finland.
Unless, that is, the “Ukrainian” attacks are bring carried out by Finns or Estonians. Perhaps Ukrainian cities of Turku or Reval need some reminders which country they are in…
He was born a little baby on the Minnetonka Trail
At six months old he’d done three months of bible study entailed
Here at the bully pulpit in his diapers and his little bare baby feet
All he said was “Folks, my name is Outlaw Pete.”
I’m Outlaw Pete!
I’m Outlaw Pete!
Can you hear me?
At twenty-five an Iraqi tour-no big deal
And he rode around and ’round on heaven’s wheel
Father Jesus, I’m an outlaw woke killer and a PT freak
And i’m down on corpulent corporals, my latest grief
I’m Outlaw Pete!
I’m Outlaw Pete!
Can you hear me?
They cut his Gitmo tour of tears across the countryside
And where he went, when convicts were kept and died
One night he woke from a vision of his own death
RPG hit his Humvee and didn’t detonate, no last bequest
Married a Minnesota girl and settled down to divorce her
After admitting to 5 extra marital affairs-no fair
I’m Outlaw Pete!
I’m Outlaw Pete!
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Out of the East on a mission came Caine, Dan
His heart quickened and burned by the need to get his man
He found Pete peacefully pontificating on Fox
He said, “Pete, you think you’ve changed, but you have not.”
He said you’re cocky, pulled the trigger and uttered ‘let it start’
He drew a knife from his boot and pierced liberalism through the heart
Dan smiled as he watched the New Deal dying in the sun
And whispered in Pete’s ear, “We cannot undue these things we’ve done.”
You’re Outlaw Pete!
You’re Outlaw Pete!
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Outlaw Pete, by Bruce Springsteen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRA6lWzCpCQ&list=RDQRA6lWzCpCQ
“Who can save the Democratic Party?”
Matthew Yglesias (who has about as much political nous as a pithed frog) assures us that the solution to the consequences of “triangulation” is — wait for it — more triangulation!
Vomit worthy radical centrist bilge …
I couldn’t believe what I was reading either. The paean to charter schools… Will no one think of the charter school advocates? When will their suffering end? Matty Yglesias is the best example of why we don’t have a Democrat party anymore. All that’s left are three CIA stooges in a trench coat that was made overseas because the market told them that was the best value for shareholders.
And the description of how Trump just walked in…? My god. Is that really how party insiders think that happened? Trump eviserated the entire establishment by coming at them from the Left. He shredded political orthodoxy and said things that you weren’t supposed to be able to say, like the war in Iraq was a mistake. He started a movement that millions immediately became infatuated by, which lead to a complete overturning of Republican leadership, and defeated experienced campaign operators funded by billions of dollars with the complete support of the media: “America First”.
I can’t wait to see what else these brilliant think tanks that Matty says he is part of will do. I’m sure he is hoping donors will send them money to light on fire just like the ones that were kicked over by Trump in 2016 and 2024.
The left-wing faction of the party is taking advantage of the discrediting of the national leadership to grow its own ranks. Realistically, however, it’s hard to see how becoming even more left-wing will improve the party’s fortunes. A better idea is to revive the once-vibrant moderate wing of the party.
matty and co. can only be failed.
The first step is realizing who you are matt. A moderate republican.
Go make the republican party better, it’ll be easier if not as profitable.
and…
“There are encouraging signs that this revival is underway. In just the last few months, there has been the launch of Majority Democrats, an organization of elected officials and aligned operatives dedicated “not just to winning the next election, but ultimately breaking the stalemate that has defined our politics for three decades.””
DCCC vetted scoundrels are republicans otherwise they wouldn’t have their positions now would they?
He sees hope, I see nope.
Moving left is the only thing the Democrat party won’t do. And yet the “Can the Democtats be Saved?” is an evergreen topic. I wonder why that is…?
lol! Yakima Herald
Both Parties Are Resigned to Deadlock as Shutdown Takes Hold (NY Times via archive.ph)
(bold mine)
We shall see. Democrats did run Trump through in the previous 35 day shutdown, and then Biden opted to keep building The Wall during his regency, the very reason Democrats shutdown the government by their own words in the first place.
What a stupid party.
The Democrats will never cease to double down on being irrelevant.
“Tesla and xAI Staff Are Fleeing as Musk Becomes Increasingly Erratic”
Musk is erratic at the best of times but he may be under some pressure now. Tik Tok use to be the only social media in America that was Palestinian and anti-Israel but because of China!China!China!, the Chinese have sold a version to the US where it is now basically being run by Israel and who are eliminating Palestinian voices and posting how Israel is so great. But it is not over yet. The Israelis are now setting their sights on Twitter where – some – free comment is still allowed to run. No doubt the Israelis will accuse Musk of running a cesspool of antisemitism and will get Congress to once again act to force Musk to sell Twitter to basically Israel so you can see the pressure that he will be under.
How exactly will US and non Us versions of TikTok interact after this goes through? My understanding is that only the US version, presumably catering only to the US market, is bring sold? If the non US users keep doing ehat they do, will US TikTok block non US TikTok content that’s unapproved?
“AI has designed thousands of potential antibiotics. Will any work? Nature”
In a similar vein, using AI to find effective off-label use of existing medications: The Medical Matchmaking Machine Radiolab (1 hour audio with transcript).
Not only is this a ripping good yarn, but in the interests of full disclosure of a favorable bias, I have personally experienced substantial benefit from off-label medications prescribed by the Stanford ME/CFS clinic, their utility having been discovered only after years of trial and error.
Guillotine Watch looks cheap, and more like Darwin Award Watch.
…its all fun and games until the cable snaps and the dining terrace has the aerodynamics of a Pet Rock
>Man buys used Tesla only to discover it’s banned from Supercharger network
What advice would you give him?
I wonder if his state’s lemon law would be of any help.
Don’t buy a piece of junk Tesla? But on a more serious note, most likely the only option is to pay to get it back on the network.
Buying a Tesla now is just asking for issues…
So he bought a CARFAX report, which doesn’t include the vehicle history… or it does include it, but he stopped reading after the word “clean”.
Either way, I’m gonna assign at least some blame to the victim here. It’s been reported a lot that Teslas are difficult and expensive to repair, so any accident is a red flag.
Sell it for whatever loss he has to take and chalk it up to lessons learned.
According to what I can find a “salvage” title just be disclosed by the dealer.
If his paperwork doesn’t show it is salvaged then it’s not.
Then I guess it’s a fight with Tesla?
Never buy an EV, Lease the thing for three years and let a car salesman foist the “used” battery on someone else!
Although I read somewhere a Chinese EV maker is looking at an easier replacement battery…..
China is probably the only country that can force its EV industry to adopt a standardised range (two sizes enough?) of swap-in batteries.
This will completely change the sales model for EVs, because now the life of the powertrain and power electronics become the weak point, not battery life/range/size and I for one would want a 10 year warranty.
Hegseth is …. words fail me, at least words that pass the NC guidelines. I would direct him to a scene in the movie The Jerk in which it is explained to Navin(?) Johnson the difference between s–t and shinola as a model for answering an either/or question. Slotkin did a service, not that it will make a difference. Hegseth responds to His Master’s Voice.
I kept waiting for him to lose it and roar “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!”
Especially after she called him a ********************
Best…H
“The AI bubble is 17 times the size of the dot-com frenzy — and four times the subprime bubble, analyst says”
So if the whole thing blows up, will Trump try to save the AI bubble like he has saved Argentina. He has caused so much to be invested in AI that it might become a matter of pride for him. And if it meant adding a few more trillion dollars to the national debt, I am sure that he would consider it a worth while investment.
I doubt Trump could save things even if he wanted to. Even after the Fed “saved” the housing industry, the US economy was still a wreck for years…
I don’t see much real interest in “saving” anything. Breaking and disruption rules for all parties involved. the wall st. silly con valley nexus will love them some AI/drone swarm/data center…oops I mean electric grid infrastructure “improvements”, long sought by the likes of sempra,will lead the markets into the stratosphere it don’t matter none what we the people want. Housing costs will be maintained and the min wage will stay 7.25/hr. The MIC is no doubt rolling in new orders, Insurance premiums are set to continue skyrocketing. Sooner or later crude will bust out.
Nope.
If Trump and his family/cronies are on the “sell side” of crypto, he may look at crypto buyers as suckers unworthy of any salvation.
This part about the Wicksell misallocation chart featured in the article:
“.That’s how you get this chart on misallocation — a lot of variables, but think of it as the misallocated portion of gross domestic product fueled by artificially low interest rates.”
There are pleas for more of the hair of the dog that bit ’em.
fueled by artificially low interest rates in the absence of lending volume credit controls.
Nothing wrong with “artificially” low interest rates (the natural.rate of interest is zero… Warren Mosler) if the credit function is not controlled by rentiers.
re: China is making big aircraft carrier moves. Here’s how its flattops stack up against the US Navy. Business Insider
Sorry but this is spitballing and offering almost no evidence.
The first 2 or 3 paragraphs are about 3 aircraft carriers so far.
Almost everything else is about launch mechanisms and airplanes.
And how great the US Navy is.
What the hell.
And in the last quater this:
“(…)
There are expectations that China will expand its carrier fleet further, and its massive shipbuilding juggernaut has the momentum to build that. But there’s a technological hurdle it may seek to overcome beforehand to facilitate its blue-water ambitions.
(…)”
Expectations? Like by whom?
All the while everybody (sane and honest) has understood the end of that era.
BS-ing the public into more funds for non-existent Navy yards? Or is it the assumption to “PR-ing” China into bankruptcy by attempt to catching up on a hopelessly outdated concept?
Or are the Chinese building “carriers” fit for purpose, such as helicopter carriers to support amphibious landings, raids, adventures etc. etc.? As the US has learned, carriers are also very good “soft power” projection tools. Nothing says “friendly regime” like a carrier parking itself off the coast of a region devastated by a natural disaster to supply assistance quickly.
Naval assets are not solely military tools.
Take a page from Mao and call these new Chinese naval assets “Flattop Doctors.”
Correct. That theoretical possibility however is not discussed in the text at all although that would be the main target for any author, besides it has already been reckoned with in the US 50 years ago. Vulnerability and out of proportion costs were foreseeable. I am not well informed enough to make a serious claim on those small concepts re: China. But maybe it´s not even possible to predict as Chinese are looking how things play out themselves first in terms of warfare and R&D.
Andrei Martyanov comments on US aircraft-carriers repetedly in his books, as e.g. in “Disintegration” (2021):
“(…)
In 2015,while discussing what was then an acute issue of a practical platform for the
U.S. Navy, and in particular the role of aircraft carriers—a foundation of
the American naval might—retired Commander Jim Griffin quoted the
opinion of a Retired Captain Robert C. Rubel about aircraft carriers:
“[They] are large and imposing… they provide excellent visuals.” While
there is no denial that modern aircraft carriers are magnificent and imposing
ships, one is forced to question both validity, if not sanity, of an argument
in favor of spending astronomical sums of money on visuals, when already
by 1980s those ships could not survive even a real, conventional war with
the Soviet Union.
(…)
The U.S. aircraft carrier today is a gateway weapon system—
a gateway towards escalation possibly to the nuclear threshold because in a
conventional war they would be detected, tracked and destroyed before
providing any serious impact on operations against such nations as Russia
or China. One can only speculate on the scale of the domestic crisis in the
U.S. upon their receiving the news of a destruction of a whole CBG.
This is not a new issue. Former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral
Elmo Zumwalt was already contemplating this horrifying scenario in the
early 1970s.
(…)
The American super-carrier died as a viable weapon system designed
for modern war with the arrival of long-range supersonic anti-shipping
missiles. As I have contended on record for years, the arrival of hypersonic
missiles has changed warfare forever and made the 100,000-ton
displacement mastodons of the U.S. Navy obsolete and very expensive
sacrificial lambs in any real war.
(…)
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was explicit when he defined
the role of aircraft carriers: “We don’t need aircraft carriers, we need
weapons to sink them with.” This foreshadows the removal of the U.S.
Navy’s Carrier Battle Groups from the littorals and remote sea zones of
states which will be or already are recipients of advanced air-defense
systems, combat aircraft and long-range anti-shipping missiles. For now,
the range of anti-shipping missiles is limited to 300 kilometers due to
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an informal political
understanding among states that seeks to limit the proliferation of missiles
and missile technology.
(…)”.
i.e it´s all rigged.
Consider what China will do with aircraft carriers and where…..
I doubt China will send them toward Aden where US had to deploy land based fighters in Djibouti, or toward Hormuz where US carriers cannot go.
I suspect China’s carriers will be used west of the Japan to Guam line. Where they are covered by preponderance of land based supports.
US carriers lost relevance when anti ship missiles exceeded the range of its strike aircraft. Which is rather short with the F-35 gas burner.
The other issue with carriers is refueling and rearming are ponderous limiting the sortie generation to a few per day.
Think about a carrier battle group that can get at most 20 attack sorties off per day?
Why the USN needs Maverick!
I live in Portland and have for a good part of my life. It definitely took a hit in 2020. The core downtown has not recovered. It’s empty of its vitality. I worked in downtown at the time, but like many, with the onset of the pandemic, were encouraged to work from home. It turned out it was a preferable alternative for many if not most. Unfortunately even businesses and retail shops required to shutdown because COVID but were able to reopen found there was no one coming back to regenerate the once vibrant downtown daytime community, and and they too had to close, creating a downward spiral.
There are homeless and homeless camps in every part of the city, but that said I don’t feel unsafe anywhere I go, and I’m an old man, hardly intimidating. But outside of the core there are new restaurants popping up, the cafes and dinners are packed and reservations are necessary for most restaurants old and new. Its a city that is trying to address issues of building truly affordable housing, and trying to find ways of paying for infrastructure through a more equal an fair tax structure. Its going through challenging times like most cities in this country, but the city is hardly a dystopia.
I spend much of my time in coffee shops around the city (probably too much) and they continue to be the salons of political discourse and social commentary. For now it appears people tend to be tolerate of whats happening (or not) happening in Portland and taking a wait and see attitude given the new city government and a our new republican administration. Portland is a blue city, but its not socialist, not by a long stretch. The papers are portraying the 4 socialist city council members as taking over the government. They have a difficult row to hoe. Portland maybe democratic but like the party its overall thinking continues to pulled to the right not the left. It can be very DEI supportive but its a city and a state with a entrenched capitalistic mind set, a real systemic change will, not surprisingly, be hard fought.
Finally,the article is very much a FOXNEWS propaganda piece. He had an preconceived point to make and then found “evidence” to support it.
I was born in Portland, and although I don’t live there, I have family there, and visit about once a month. It’s a nice town, but like any larger city I’ve been around there can be higher crime areas. It’s not “war ravaged” or burning down. (I would hope that would be in the national news if it was happening.)
JG’s comments on homelessness certainly ring true, but I also see much the same up where I live in Puget Sound even in my small town (and my small town is not what I would call DEI friendly). There are more homeless. This was pretty rare before the GFC, but has become more common especially as JG notes during COVID. I rode my bike to work thru Seattle for over a decade, and it was easy to see the growth.
So I wonder, is deploying the National Guard or active military an example of America First? Because it doesn’t seem like it’s going to help fix any real problems. And most of America’s large cities have problems. This is not a Portland problem, or an LA problem, or a DC problem. It’s a national problem.
Perhaps a bit of a diversion, but this is a good example why I only read the NYT for comic relief. Here’s their recent headline: A Pacific Gateway Shows the Kremlin’s Grip on Russia’s Vast Expanse.
In a country where power is highly centralized, Moscow sets the tone for Vladivostok, 4,000 miles away, complicating longstanding ambitions to make it a trading powerhouse.
Imagine the title as written this way: A Pacific Gateway Shows Washington’s Grip on America’s Vast Expanse.
In a country where power is highly centralized, Washington sets the tone for Seattle, 2,000 miles away, complicating longstanding ambitions to make it a trading powerhouse.
Such subtle propaganda and nudging. So sad how the US has been dumbed down and pays for subscriptions to this drivel.
A collection of anti-US/Israel quotes from leaders of countries in South America is the main feature of this reporting by Ben Norton from Geopolitical Economy Report YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/mik74Pri9bY
“Ben Norton shows how Latin American governments are standing in solidarity with Palestine.”
Description includes chapter titles with timestamps so that you can easily find your way around.
This is what Pandemic denialism gets you. A 20 minute read, quoting heavily, because COVID outcomes can be bad.
It’s Just a Virus, the E.R. Told Him. Days Later, He Was Dead. (NY Times via archive.ph)
This is what we’ve taught everyone; Thanks Biden, thanks Walensky, thanks Cohen
I wonder why this might be?
Yes, it isn’t COVID, but this culture that getting infected with some virus is no big deal, treating COVID as no big deal certainly cements this misunderstanding
Maybe that struggle is because it isn’t “after COVID”?
And garbage EHR systems contributed to the death
Well, COVID is a vascular disease, perhaps one too many COVID infections? To my shock, they did look, and it. isn’t good.
COVID wins?
(massive emphasis mine)
So we’re deep into year six of the Pandemic.
And we absolutely are not learning
Sure, it happens, but COVID also damages the immune system; COVID related? Who knows. You definitely cannot rule it out. Particularly after likely 3-5 years of repeat infections.
This timeline is stupid.
Well quoted. The worst aspect of denialism is continue to “do nothing”, and “you’ll be fine” … because: “you’re vaccinated”; “COVID is over”; “vaccine kills more than the disease does”.
I continue to: nebulize with HOCl for myself and family; mask at the grocery etc; avoid crowds; and test! Test! Test! I never assume that any respiratory symptoms are “just a cold”.
Testing has become even more of a debacle under Trump, if that’s possible.
Those that adopted PlusLife, the highest regarded NAAT (molecular) testing device in the COVID safe community, is not authorized for use in the US and is now actively on a recall with the FDA. Customs is seizing these. For those that have them, it’s a game of whack-a-mole trying to get tests imported into the US. The manufacturer won’t ship to the US, and people are using a kind of round-robin third party shipper workaround to not always honest intermediaries that then transship to the US.
It’s making a difficult situation even more insufferable.
Meanwhile, the only US approved NAAT testing device, that company is out of tests for the Metrix. It uses the inkjet printer model, where the device is cheap, and the tests are ~ 50% of the cost of the device per-test. And they’re now out of tests!
As far as I know, you can still order a test from LabCorp and get the real PCR deal, but you gotta order it, do the test, then ship it back. Not really credible for frequent testing, and much more expensive than even Metrix.
What an unmitigated debacle.
Things are getting bleaker, if that’s even possible. Only good news, Novavax is here and available at Publix even in western NC.
Hegseth could take some lessons from a boss I once had named Steve Bull.
After nearly 45 minutes of trying to get a yes or no answer he responded with “Well, Tom, so far that looks like a pretty definite maybe…but I am not entirely sure”.
On another note the poems I grew up with were “If” and “Ozymandias” but the one that keeps coming to mind these days is “Common Form”.
“If any question why we died”
I have long thought that “Common Form” was Kipling’s own coda to “If”.
Very strange article.
It seems to be reporting as a fact the fantasy that AI systems will be taking over software development roles. As a result, Indian companies, who have made a business of filling entry level software positions with young Indians, have decided to cut back on their business in response to something that has not actually happened, but is AFAIK only a fantasy/rumor in the western executive suites.
The pervasiveness of AI propaganda cannot get any more intense, apparently.
>Trump’s Blueprint to Crush the Left Draws from Decades of Counterterrorism Policy
Javier Milei might disagree with this definition.
Blunder-ful tonight
It’s late in the evening
He’s wondering which war to start
He guzzles a Pepsi
And rips off a long, wet fart
And Marco asks him, do you feel alright?
And he says yes, I feel blunderful tonight
We go to a party and everyone turns to see
This rage-posting cretin that’s walking around with me
And then I ask him, “Do you feel all right?”
And he says, “Yes, I feel blunderful tonight.”
“I feel blunderful because I lack all forms of self-control
And the wonder of it all is that you all know I’m the world’s
Biggest a-hole”
It’s time to bomb Rome, now, and he’s got an aching thumb
From tweeting all evening, can we be this dumb?
And then I tell him, as I turn out the lights (on civilization)
I say, “My Donald, you were blunderful tonight”
Oh yes, my Donald, you were blunderful tonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprwkbzUX6g&t=99s
i am reluctant to assign homework, but i need advice:
which linux mint should i download on this here 2 GB stick?
cinnamon, xcfe, or mate?
i dont really speak tech, so all their descriptions dont really help.
https://linuxmint.com/download.php
i keep my music on the laptop, and pictures, and do all my writing there…and watch netflix.
aside from that, its for the web.
no massive games or ai experiments or spreadsheets etc.
lol.
nevermind…need a bigger stick(trying to get Tam’s laptop up and running, so i can just leave one in the house, and one at the bar. Tam’s was a school computer, that they let us have bc she paid bills with it, etc. But it just stopped 2 year later…as near as i can tell, bc some license ran out.
also gonna be looking for one of those lil external hardrive things for the music files(200GB).
Hi Amfortas;
If you do decide to give Linux a try, Zorin is worth looking at. Zorin is kind of a windows user interface that sits on linux/ubuntu. It makes it pretty easy to use. I’ve been using it for a few months. No more microsoft spyware for me.
https://www.howtogeek.com/what-is-zorin-os/
Regarding the expired microsoft programs on Tam’s machine; if you can connect it to the internet you can then download free Libre Office. With Libre Office you can open up old windows programs like Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc. Also create the same. Good luck.
Hasta
It may depend on how powerful your laptop is. Cinnamon is I think the most resource-intensive; it runs just fine for me on a Lenovo T420 from I think 2013, with an i5 processor and 4G memory. Which is not a hot rod by modern standards.
I’ve run the LMDE version for a while; it’s supposed to be a little trickier, but avoids Ubuntu. You should use the classic version instead at first.
(You beat me with your reply. In any case, enjoy!)
XFCE would be lightweight, and best for an older device or just to help conserve battery. Any of them should be fine for your uses, and I’d wager that they’d come with everything you need included.
I haven’t used Mint, or any of the versions they list (I use KDE Plasma on Gentoo, which is too techy for sure) but I’d check if the thumb drive would be a “live” image. That would help if there are problems later,and you could use it to get a stable Linux setup on any PC without installing things, as long as its compatible with the hardware. If it can, I’d go for 16-32GB on the card and use it as a mini backup.
Antix Linux:
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=ratings&distro=antix
has no systemd
a bit spartan in its appearance but not in function.
Over 40,000 Non-ICE Officers Have Been Diverted to Support Immigration Crackdown, Report Finds The Latin Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When ICE occupies Sportland in February @ Levi’s stadium, wouldn’t that be the greatest employee perk ever, looking for undocumented while quaffing $29 beers on the government expense account.
…do you get to wear a mask inside the Superbowl?
https://www.mikehampton.co.uk/p/questions-and-answers-with-putin-after-his-valdai-speech-2025-fyodor-lukyanov/
First impressions: Because officials, politicians, and assorted apparatchiks in the West find it difficult to acknowledge or understand alternative sides of a debate, negotiation, etc, Putin’s carefully weighed comments can carry more diplomatic appeal to many listeners or readers. However, as far as convictions, those are mainly expressed when discussing Russia’s sovereignty and particular issues around social values.
while waiting for crittertime, and now, waiting for My birds to finally go home, ive been readin through Putin’s remarks at Valdai, as well as the Q&A, afterwards.
and man!
i cant think of an american politician in my lifetime like that(and ive been aware of politics since Carter)
Ron Paul sometimes had the knack for the moral argument(as in political economics as a moral philosophy)…but not the gravitas and apparently well-readedness of this guy.
fucker pulled out a book and quoted Pushkin, FGS,lol.
a post card from the Wilderness Bar.
a letter sent over faceborg messenger, to a chick that i’m innerested in in town…and who contacted me, first, no less:
+
This’ll be weird, prolly:
im really bad at all this.
In my very infrequent visits to bars and whatnot, I am always amazed(have been my whole life, really) at what actually seems to work with picking up womyn,lol.
In a word, “Assholery”.
I noticed this in fucking Junior High.
It was a large reason that I got into sociology and psychology and even anthropology.
45 years of such on again, off again(but steady and plodding) study…i still have no idea.
Womyn protest that they like kind and nice guys…and then run off with the worst womanizing jock they can find.
And keep people like me around as shoulders,lol.
To help them with the fallout that inevitably ensues.
My advice…never taken, notably…has always been,”welp, quit falling in love with assholes”.
Seems rather obvious,lol.
All 3 of my major relationships began quite by accident…and, significantly, perhaps…after I had given up, and come to accept my hermithood. 1st and the last(Tam) literally fell into my lap(Paula by accident, Tam, I think, on purpose)
so I really do not understand all this courtship thing.
Add in the fact that I cannot read people and am terrible at small-talk.
I can go on for days about horticulture, nutrient cycles, cooking, history, political economy,philosophy, poetry, literature(i have a library), comparative religion, psychology, and jess on and on.
I do try to attenuate the flow from that firehose…and I can listen like a stone.
Fifty years ago, this what i’m doing right now, would have been called,”writing a letter to a girl i’m interested in”,lol.
And I aint offerin assholery.
In fact, it’s oppsite.
All I got is good food, good company, interesting stories, a good ear, in an amazingly beautiful place, and with a Vibe that is calm, cool and peaceful.
–Josef
you never know.
we might fit like a glove, you and i.
stranger things have happened in my life
This must be the stupidest government shutdown ever.
First of all, the Democrats aren’t thinking strategically. Letting the Obamacare subsidies expire is the right move for them, politically. The GOP then owns that. Then the pain hits next year just in time for the midterms.
Let’s say that they get the GOP to agree to extend them, in exchange for perhaps cutting some of the rich people’s welfare, like six-figure income individuals getting a subsidized Obamacare plan and paying next to nothing. That will be a hollow victory … and let’s the GOP off the hook.
And the GOP is just plain corrupt and stupid as well. Somehow, despite the fact that the Democrats precipitated the shutdown, polls show that the public blames the GOP. They ought to be running ads pointing out the Obamacare subsidies benefit rich couples over the poor. Only Massie and Senator John Kennedy seem to get it; meanwhile, Mike Johnson looks weak and craven by dodging the Epstein files discharge petition after shutting down the entire House until Halloween, for all we know.