2026-04-26

etc

• The US imports 82% of its large power transformers. How it got there, and what it will take to rebuild the capability.

  The working conductor in a high-voltage winding is Continuously Transposed Cable, or CTC. It is a bundle of five to eighty-five individually enameled rectangular copper strands, woven together so that each strand rotates through every radial position along the length of the cable. The rotation is called Roebel transposition, patented by Ludwig Roebel in 1912. Without it, each strand would experience a different loop voltage due to the leakage flux field, and connecting them in parallel at the winding ends would drive circulating currents large enough to dominate the load losses. With it, flux linkage equalizes across every strand, and those currents collapse below half a percent of load current. The manufacturing tolerances are unforgiving: enamel concentricity within 2 microns, strand height within 8 microns, and transposition pitch never exceeding 120 times the strand width. A disc winding for a 500 kV transformer is built by hand.

Horseshit

• BMW is one step closer to selling you a color-changing car

• Hotels are slashing World Cup rates as FIFA cancels rooms

• 2026 Hugo Nominees

• 2 Men claimed a record by driving an old 3-wheel car length of Africa

• Amnesty International calls on states to stop predatory, anti-rights order

• The Stress of Elite Chess Is Wearing Down the Game's Champions

• A real-life Kraken stalked the seas of the late Cretaceous

• From car and phone to tractors, populist wave to end 'captive' repair economy

• Could the Oldest Human Story Really Be 100,000 Years Old?

  The legend is linked to the Pleiades, a set of stars that many cultures call the “Seven Sisters”. But look at them with the naked eye and you’ll only see six; so where’s the seventh star? Turns out, there are actually seven stars, but two of them are too close to be distinguished nowadays. However, 100,000 years ago, they would have been clearly visible as distinct stars. So, a group of researchers now believes that the “Seven Sisters” name and legends are at least that old.

• How do goats handle free fall? Food and fun: No sex please, we’re on Mars! Inside the simulated red planet mission.

• The Stanford Freshmen Who Want to Rule the World

• Is the World Ready for a Car Without a Rear Window?

celebrity gossip

• Sam Altman Wants to Know Whether You're Human

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• I Didn’t Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Embracing the ‘News Avoidance’ Pandemic

  I scanned the page and there the good doctor confirmed my suspicion: “When we ask people why they are actively avoiding news, they’re saying a few key things: they are put off by the repetitiveness of the news agenda, they feel worn out, and they feel that the news is bad for their mental health,” the blurb read. She had described me to a tee.

• Timothy Leary–1960s Acid Guru–May Have Been Among the CIA's Greatest Assets

Musk

• Elon Musk's near-daily online posts about race are turning off some fans

• Musk Drops Fraud Claims Against OpenAI, Altman Ahead of Trial

• How Elon Musk Used SpaceX to Benefit Himself and His Businesses

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Most electric vehicle owners are those with higher incomes and higher levels of education.

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• 42 lost pages of the New Testament manuscript discovered

• Why Silicon Valley Is Turning to the Catholic Church

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• "Game-changer" breast cancer study retracted as researcher out of his post

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Global Telecom Exploitation by Covert Surveillance Actors

• Farewell ISDN, Ham Radio and Old Network Drivers: Linus Merges 138k LOC Removal

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Jeff Bezos is raising his game in space

• Well, this is embarrassing: The Lunar Gateway’s primary modules are corroded.

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• OpenAI's Sam Altman writes apology to community of Tumbler Ridge

  • Altman apologizes: OpenAI failed to alert police before fatal Canada shooting

• You probably wouldn't notice if an AI chatbot slipped ads into its responses

• Anthropic admits it dumbed down Claude when trying to make it smarter.

• AI Is Cannibalizing Human Intelligence

Neo Gambling / Crypto con games

• Senators Would Be Barred From Using Prediction Markets Under New Bill.

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Two Big Loan Defaults Add to Pain in Private-Credit Funds

• Intel soars on signs AI boom for CPUs is here

• Berkshire attracts interest as it slips further behind the S&P 500

• TSMC Says ASML's Latest Chipmaking Gear Is Too Pricey to Use

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• USAID funneled $27 million through the Tides Center, with some of it going directly into the Southern Poverty Law Center

  For years, the liberal left inside the federal government hijacked nonprofits as pass-through vehicles; a legal loophole to launder taxpayer dollars into partisan left-wing networks like SPLC. Tides operates as the perfect hub: it receives massive federal grants, buries the ultimate recipients behind multiple layers of 501(c)(3)s, and quietly re-grants the money to activist allies.

  • Now ask where the "Militia Movement" came from and how it got funded. There 8was* a grassroots fringe, but it had nothing to do with the professional poseurs that the news stories loved to talk about. None of this shit is new.

• How SPLC’s $520,000-per-year CEO helped turn civil rights group into a ‘partisan smear machine.’

• Government watchdog urges FAA to address Boeing MAX engine issue

• Why Maine's Governor Just Killed a Pioneering Data Center Moratorium

Trump

• Trump rushed out of dinner amid reports of shots fired

  President Trump was rushed out of the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night after several loud bangs were heard, and the Secret Service officers with guns drawn sprinted through the aisles to reach the president. According to the White House press pool, a group of reporters who travel with the president, a member of the Secret Service shouted, “Shots fired.” The event resumed after a brief disturbance, and Mr. Trump wanted to return to deliver his remarks, according to a senior administration official. The press pool said the president had not left the hotel.

  • Trump Evacuated After Shots Fired at DC Event; Shooter Detained

Left Angst

• Why Trump wants to spend $1B on Great Salt Lake

  a man from New York City didn't conveniently stumble upon a big, dying, salty lake located in the arid mountain west. The issue landed in front of Trump because someone in his inner circle gave him a nudge, which led to a meeting and the chance to do something no country has ever accomplished – the successful restoration of a terminal saline lake.

• The rhetoric of war has changed. Not for the better

• Colorado citizens pay with rights, xAI pays nothing, long live democracy

• Conspiracy about missing/dead scientists from online forums to the White House

• Why the Washington Post Lost in Virginia

  There were many losers in Virginia’s vote to approve a gerrymandered, Democratic map. President Donald Trump kept his super PAC wallet closed, quietly angering Republicans. Four members of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s GOP majority now face near-certain defeat in November. And Virginia Republicans, who wanted to prove that they could win again, proved that they can’t. Democrats feel more conflicted about another loser: The editorial board of The Washington Post. The publication was an early critic of their power play, publishing take after disappointed take about the “brazenly dishonest” campaign for “fair” elections.

• Trump alum helps Israel mount AI influence campaign

• Trump ousts National Science Board members

  • Trump fires all 24 members of the U.S. National Science Foundation

  • Trump Fires the National Science Board

  • Trump fires all 24 members of the U.S. National Science Foundation

• Trump's Health Agenda Inspires Steak 'n Shake's Makeover

  Steak ‘n Steak is revamping its ingredients and cooking methods in a move it says aligns with the Trump administration’s health agenda, an effort the chain’s new chief Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) officer said Saturday is intended to restore “glory days of fast food.” “Our message is simple,” Michael Boes said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “We want Americans to eat food, and we’re going back to the glory days of fast food when that occurred.” Boes, who previously served as senior adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was tapped earlier this week to oversee an ongoing effort to position the restaurant as what executives have described as a “good differentiator” in fast food. The chain captured national attention last year when it switched from using vegetable oil to beef tallow to cook fries. Other changes include offering cane sugar Coca-Cola beverages to customers and switching to 100% Grade A Wisconsin butter and a2 milk products.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• NATO eyes Saab GlobalEye to replace AWACS planes in historic shift from the U.S.

• Iran caused more extensive damage to U.S. military bases than publicly known

• Who's developing Golden Dome's orbital interceptors–if they're ever built

• Space Force awards up to $3.2B for Golden Dome interceptor prototypes

World

• UK to permanently ban future generations from buying cigarettes

  • The U.K. Smoking Ban Is Illiberal

  • "Illiberal" at the least. Criminalizing youth only makes the young hate the old...

• In Search of the Missing Artist

• Under Blackout Threat, Wikimedia Reaches Compromise with Indonesia

• Bangladesh's gig workers are stuck in gas lines as Iran-U.S. war strains supply

Iran / Houthi

• Trump calls off Witkoff, Kushner's trip to Pakistan for US-Iran talks

  President Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday he canceled U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's trip to Pakistan. The U.S. delegation was preparing for a second round of negotiations with Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

• US says it's hunting for explosive mines in latest push to open Hormuz

• Iran's IRGC warns it may cut undersea internet cables in Persian Gulf

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• The eerie abandoned vehicles in Chernobyl's 'dead zone'

China

• Political Discontent in China Is Associated with Isolating Personality Traits

Health / Medicine

• Aspirin can reduce the risk of cancer – and we're starting to understand why

• WHO approves first Malaria drug for babies

• A Common Diabetes Drug May Hold the Key to Stopping HIV from Coming Back

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Europe–not US–first to authorize Moderna's combo mRNA flu-Covid vaccine

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• These Volcanoes Are Undead

• A catastrophic climate event is upon us. Here is why you've heard so little

  • It is not possible to avoid daily displays of "climate doom" if you re exposed to any form of media.

• Scientists are worried about Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slowing

• Humpback whales are forming super-groups

• Boulder's water supply hangs on for now amid historic drought conditions