2025-03-05
history of glow paint, military starship, remembering Tom Wolfe, Tesla terrorism, educational oversight, puppet Democrats, defining "offensive cyber", Canada tariffs, Hungary's veto, pumping oil
etc
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The story of Radium Dial and USRC doesn't end in the 1920s---of course it doesn't, luminous paints having had a major 1970s second wind. Both companies survived, in various forms, into the current century. In this article, I will focus on the post-WWII story of radioactive self-illumination and the legacy that we live with today.
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Storm closing in on Southern California could bring 'weak tornadoes'
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Flights to Reagan National Airport in D.C. received false collision alerts
Horseshit
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One woman's fight against VIP schemes fueling the US sports betting boom
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Why Quantum Engineering Is Emerging as a Distinct Industrial Sector
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The weird historic traditions around Pancake Tuesday in Ireland
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Compulsive shopping is surging: what makes people buy loads of stuff
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They lost their families in a plane crash – then came the online hate
The Jeju Air plane, which was returning from Bangkok, Thailand, crash-landed at Muan International Airport on 29 December and exploded after slamming into a concrete barrier at the end of the runway, killing 179 of the 181 people on board. Police investigations have identified and apprehended eight people who have been accused of making derogatory and defamatory online posts. These included suggestions that families were "thrilled" to receive compensation from authorities, or that they were "fake victims" - to the extent that some felt compelled to prove they had lost their loved ones. Authorities have taken down at least 427 such posts.
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Military Starship: How SpaceX Is About to Make America Globally Dominant
Starship makes possible a world where the U.S. can deploy an entire armored division anywhere on Earth in under an hour, and supply it entirely from home. "Hegemony" doesn't begin to cover it.
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20k-year-old evidence of ancient 'vehicles' discovered in New Mexico
celebrity gossip
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Keeping Up with the Zizians: TechnoHelterSkelter – The Manson Family of Our Time
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Who’s Afraid of Tom Wolfe? - Common Reader
Wolfe would write his blurb far better, sweeping angst and desire into trends we have yet to name. He grasped the various ways we see and think, transcribed our slang, and spelled out the sounds that surround us. With a few choice words, he could nail a scene, a trend, or a decade. Sharply aware of class divisions, subcultures, and self-anointed elites, he pitted us against each other with such wit, we barely minded. I have spent my adult life grateful to this man for loosening and livening up journalism, freeing us from that damned “inverted pyramid” (which frontloads all the facts in an ugly crush on the assumption that no one will read to the end) and the obligatory “nut graf,” placed early to tell ’em what you’re gonna tell ’em. He preferred suspense. An elegant trickster, he bent journalism toward the rhythms of literature. Now I am wondering if, in the process, he killed democracy.
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Trump’s People Are Playing a Dangerous Game › American Greatness
AG Bondi and FBI Director Patel’s handling of the Epstein files reeks of weak-kneed bureaucracy—Trump may need to remind them how to "get 'er done" or show them the door.
AG Bondi and her underling, FBI Director Kash Patel, in whom we have all held such high hopes, are being thwarted by dastardly recalcitrant FBI leaders in New York. Seriously? Here’s a tip to AG Bondi and Director Patel: You are not doing your boss, President Trump, proud. In fact, if you don’t change your ways fast, you might represent for him the best opportunity to impress the rest of the populace with a post on Truth Social directed to you both that reads: “You’re fired!” Harsh? Maybe. But how about you stop making public pronouncements about your displeasure with FBINY, send five FBI SWAT teams up to the New York office, seize all FBI files related to Epstein, and if a single Bureau employee so much as raises a tiny whisper of protest, sack him/her on the spot? Sounds like a plan to me. Because, you know what? Your pusillanimous weak-kneed kowtowing to Deep State Blob-dwelling rogue FBI honchos in New York is precisely what we—the American People—have come to expect and despise about feckless Republican politicians whom we have elected over and over again in hopes of achieving a different result.
Musk
Electric / Self Driving cars
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
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McKinsey's Analysis of the Gender Pay Gap: A Case Study in Data Exploration Gone Wrong
the most glaring problem with this analysis: It cobbles together a dataset of “professional profiles” which lack the two of the most central datapoints to studying the gender pay gap issue:
- Actual GENDER of the individuals whose profiles are being analyzed
- Actual PAY (compensation) for those same individuals
To compensate for the missing data, the team uses a machine-learning model to infer gender; and attempts to join the de-identified “professional profiles” to salary data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics… which is impossible to do at the individual level.
- Better methodology would not support the narrative they needed, tho. This is modern Science: you find some numbers to justify your hypothesis and continuing grant applications.
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Modular Phone Concept Is Xiaomi's Plan to Kill the Camera Bump
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Small study suggests dark mode doesn't save much power for human reasons
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PassMark reports that Nvidia's decision to terminate 32-bit CUDA compatibility also affects legacy OpenCL code. While we don't have an official statement, the firm's tweet indicates that Nvidia has outright dropped 32-bit OpenCL support. Given the widespread Blackwell shortages, the PassMark team has been unable to procure an RTX 50 GPU for testing.
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Zachtronics designers return with a new puzzler set in 1980s Tokyo
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NYT vs. Sullivan: Will the Landmark Defamation Ruling Survive?
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Obligatory for the legal profession afaik: FSF Use Microsoft Word and Docx to Submit Its Amicus Brief
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Radeon RX 9000 GPUs officially support UEFI systems only, AMD says
It is important for your PC to be configured for UEFI Mode to ensure optimal compatibility, performance, and user experience with your AMD Radeon™ RX 9000 Series and newer graphics cards.
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Activision "AI slop" Guitar Hero advert is market research for a fake game
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Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges
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Oscar Ratings Tank with 18 Million Viewers — Third Lowest Ever
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Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying
It is developed to run on an Orbic mobile hotspot which is available for $20 or less at the time of this writing. We have tried to make Rayhunter as easy as possible to install and use, regardless of your level of technical knowledge. We hope that activists, journalists, and others will run these devices all over the world and help us collect data about the usage and capabilities of cell-site simulators.
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YouTube cracks down on gambling videos trying lure viewers to unapproved sites
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Crypto con games
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Tether and Circle are battling to win the US stablecoin market
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Things to know about Trump's plan for a 'crypto strategic reserve'
- How much "crypto" does the government hold right now? How long have they been holding it? Is the "reserve" more of a plan for selling some of it?
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Chinese Billionaire Pumps $30M into Trump's Crypto Scheme: SEC Drops Charges
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Buying a $250 Residency Card from a Tropical Island Let Me Bypass US Crypto Laws
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IMF deal to ban public sector 'Bitcoin accumulation' in El Salvador
Economicon / Business / Finance
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
Trump
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Trump To Address Congress As Dems Plot Disruptions With 'Eggs, Noisemakers & Props' | ZeroHedge
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Secretary McMahon: Our Department's Final Mission | U.S. Department of Education
We must start thinking about our final mission at the department as an overhaul—a last chance to restore the culture of liberty and excellence that made American education great. Changing the status quo can be daunting. But every staff member of this Department should be enthusiastic about any change that will benefit students. Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make the best educational choices for their children. An effective transfer of educational oversight to the states will mean more autonomy for local communities. Teachers, too, will benefit from less micromanagement in the classroom—enabling them to get back to basics.
Democrats
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Musk, Sen. Lee: Who's Writing Dems' 'Puppet' Script?
The videos each open with Trump saying, during the 2024 presidential campaign, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” Then, each Democrat reads the identical words: “S**t that ain't true. That's what you just heard. Since day one of Donald Trump's presidency, prices are up, not down. Inflation is getting worse, not better. The cost of groceries, gas, housing — yeah, even eggs — is getting higher,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren says in her video. In Schumer’s video, he adds “of essentials” after eggs. In Booker’s video, he added “rent” after housing. I guess they thought we wouldn't notice what they were if they made tiny tweaks to the script. Perhaps they were hoping for an Oscar nomination?
Left Angst
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British nuclear weapons can protect Canada against Trump, says Trudeau party candidate
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Zuck Around and Find Out: Mark Zuckerberg and Meta's MAGA-Masculinity Crisis
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From MAGA to monarchy: How tech billionaires are engineering American autocracy
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US CHIPS Act Office Loses Two-Fifths of Staff to Trump Purge
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Robert Higgs coined the term regime uncertainty to illustrate the challenge faced by business under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, when a flurry of unpredictable legislation such as the expansive and often unclear mandates of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), attempts at court packing, abrupt tax increases, and shifting labor policies, meant businesses couldn’t reliably forecast returns or risks. Uncertainty magnified bad policy causing investment to collapse and remain unprecedently low.
We are now at a greater level of uncertainty than anything over the last 40 years, barring the worst weeks of the 2008 financial crisis. Investment has begun a modest decline. Some, very preliminary data (take with a grain of salt) are already predicting a recession. Tariff policy, in particular, is bad economics and even worse foreign policy. Even if Trump’s tariff strategy stabilizes, global responses—and their ripple effects—remain unpredictable and with potentially very severe downsides. This uncertainty could spark an economic downturn, jeopardizing the administration’s otherwise strong policies.
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Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights
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Doge wants to charge one federal agency millions of dollars for its work
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People Are Paying Millions to Dine with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
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Trump may have talked America into recession before trade tariffs even imposed
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Trump purge hits CHIPS Act office, two-fifths of staff to be terminated: Report
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British nuclear weapons can protect Canada against Trump, says Chrystia Freeland
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Trump orders swathes of US forests to be cut down for timber
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U.S. Commerce to Overhaul 'Internet for All' Plan, a Potential Boon for Starlink
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The FDIC Is Being Dismantled–Most Won't Realize Until It's Too Late
- Anyone recall the 2023 "Silicon Valley Bank" thing? Where the FDIC explicitly explained that laws be damned we bail out who we like to the amount we like?
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In New Administration, Supplement Makers See Chance to Cash In
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Elon Musk urges Trump to 'think about' pardoning George Floyd's murderer
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Some D0g3 Staffers Are Drawing Six-Figure Government Salaries
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U.S. State Department Shuts Down Pollution Monitoring Abroad
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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US-Ukraine Deal: Trump Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine After Clash With Zelenskiy - Bloomberg
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US and Ukraine prepare to sign minerals deal on Tuesday, sources say
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Trump administration drawing up plans to provide sanction relief for Russia
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DHS says CISA will not stop monitoring Russian cyber threats
So what kinds of Cyber Command operations against Russia would be halted under the order from Hegseth? As noted above, NSA espionage operations against Russia are not impacted by the order. But one thing that could be impacted are operations Cyber Command has conducted on behalf of Ukraine during its war with Russia. wrote a story back in 2022 about the kinds of offensive cyber operations Cyber Command was likely conducting to assist Ukraine. These are actions that would not qualify as a use of force or an armed attack as defined by international law, since U.S. policy on Ukraine since the beginning of the war has been to not become directly involved in the conflict or engage in any activity that could trigger Russia to respond in a way that pulled the U.S. into the conflict. So what operations might Cyber Command be conducting against Russia that could be halted by this new order?
Under U.S. military doctrine — outlined in Cyberspace Operations Joint Publication 3-12 — offensive cyber operations are “missions intended to project power in and through foreign cyberspace” in support of combatant commanders or national objectives. This activity can include cyberattacks that target the cyber capabilities of an adversary or cause “carefully controlled cascading effects” in the physical realm — for example, to affect weapon systems, command-and-control capabilities, or logistical operations. These are the kinds of actions the U.S. is likely not doing against Russia because they would mean the U.S. is directly involved in the conflict – though it's possible the U.S. has provided Ukraine with information about vulnerabilities in Russian systems that could help it conduct such operations on its own.
But more likely the offensive operations the U.S. has been doing are cyber exploitation missions — these are operations to collect intelligence and to conduct other actions that do not create "effects” but may help prepare for future military operations that do produce effects. This could be reconnaissance, for example, aimed at mapping computer systems and architecture or probing systems to uncover vulnerabilities that might be used in a cyberattack against Russia. The operations could also include attacks intended to have an effect on Russian systems, without actually damaging them now.
World
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Canada to Cut Off Electricity to US States: 'Need to Feel the Pain'
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How did South Korea start producing more babies after long decline?
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WhatsApp firearms trade thrives in India, Digital Witness Lab finds
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Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows
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3 Yrs on, Ukrainian evacuees help ballet project grow in Japan
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US servers in Singapore fraud case may contain Nvidia chips, minister says
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MEPs push to strip Hungary’s veto as Orbán defies EU strategy on Ukraine - Brussels Signal
Left-wing MEPs have called on Brussels to revoke Hungary’s veto power as its Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to join the bloc line on the Ukraine war during the ongoing special European Council Summit. Leading the charge was German Green MEP Daniel Freund, a longtime Orbán critic, who has demanded the European Union invoke Article 7 to punish Hungary for its refusal to back a joint declaration on Ukraine. Article 7 allows Brussels to suspend a member state’s EU voting rights if it is deemed to be violating the bloc’s values.
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Father tries to block daughter's euthanasia in landmark Spanish case
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India: Beverage giants mulling legal action against government's PET packaging bottles
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I'm not tech-savvy but with in hrs I could buy a illegal knives on social media
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Australia, with no auto industry to protect, is awash with Chinese EVs
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
China
Health / Medicine
Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp
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Measles Doesn't Just Make You Sick. It Resets Your Immune System
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the people who came up with the idea have admitted (in print!) that it was performative, "made up on the spot": The math behind social distancing: The rules that influence epidemic behavior
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New infections in animals should heighten concern of human H5N1
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
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Wildfires are making their way east–where they could be much deadlier
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A waste dump is constantly on fire in London. Why will no one stop it?
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Palm phytoliths in subarctic Canada imply ice-free winters 48M years ago
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Solar crushed 2024, but emissions were up as industry used more natural gas
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Climate change is set to increase city fires around the world
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Small German town starts testing geothermal power utilizing new techniques
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The Costs of Reliance’s Wildlife Ambitions | Pulitzer Center
Led by Anant Ambani and supported by the Indian government, Reliance’s effort to shelter abused elephants has transmuted into an enormous wildlife centre – raising concerns over the sourcing of some animals as well as over India’s wildlife management.
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cute pix: Scientists aiming to bring back woolly mammoth create woolly mice
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Big banks abandoned a voluntary climate alliance. Now, critics call for new laws
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Accidental discovery depolymerises commercial plexiglass
They eventually worked out that the hydrogen atom transfer was being triggered not by the catalyst but by chlorine radicals released from the 1,2-dichlorobenzene solvent. The researchers confirmed this by showing that it also worked in other chlorinated solvents such as 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, but not in non-chlorinated solvents. At 150°C, the researchers achieved full depolymerisation of almost all types of PMMA they tested, regardless of the specific synthesis method and end group, simply by using 415nm LED light.
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Flea treatment-tainted pet fur lining songbird nests may be killing chicks
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We adjusted our site set-up so we could try a new approach. By shortening the hose, increasing its diameter, and using a slippier material, we were able to reduce that resistance. Suddenly the friction loss was low enough that the truck’s internal pressure alone was enough to push the bio-oil through—eliminating the need for a pump entirely.
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Largest iceberg grounds near sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia
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The conservative Supreme Court aligned with liberal San Francisco on Tuesday, ruling that federal environmental regulators overstepped their authority by attempting to impose vague limits on how much raw sewage the California city may pump into the Pacific Ocean.