toucana

Part of a recent viral anti-Musk guerrilla poster advertising capaign on London Transport’s Underground tube trains and bus shelter poster sites, organised by the dissident ‘Everyone Hates Elon’ group in UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJ2PpbXXuk

A sunrise photo of the TOL animals awakening - taken just a few minutes ago by my wife who often goes out there at dawn.

You could hardly make this up, but it appears to be true ... According to this AP report, one of the very first of over 26,000 images flagged for immediate deletion by the Defence Department is this photo of Captain Paul Tibbets standing in front of his B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay which dropped the first atomic bomb in history on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. https://apnews.com/article/dei-purge-images-pentagon-diversity-women-black-8efcfaec909954f4a24bad0d49c78074

I had already corrected that typo before you posted.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/french-politician-claude-malhuret-rips-elon-musk-as-a-jester-high-on-ketamine/

There are a number of other sources for this news item, some of them pay-walled, but this one seems to be both accessible and reasonably accurate https://discoveryalert.com.au/china-discovers-limitless-energy-source-thorium-sparking-global-interest-2025/ Basically the Chinese authorities claim to have found a 1 million tonne deposit of thorium at the Bayan Obo Mining District complex located in Inner Mongolia, not far from Baotou City ( 包头市 ). They claim that this could supply China’s enegy needs for the next 60,000 years. The discovery is said to be part of an extensive geological survey that has mapped 233 thorium-rich zones across the country. Thorium (Th - 90) is a naturally occurring radioactive element that offers a much denser energy yield - up to 500 times more than conventional Uranium 232. Thorium fuel can be used in tandem with an advanced molten-salt-reactor (MSR) technology. In MSRs, thorium is blended with lithium fluoride and heated to approximately 1400°C. This molten mixture is then bombarded with neutrons, triggering nuclear transmutation that leads to the creation of uranium-233, a fissile isotope capable of sustaining a continuous nuclear reaction. One of the foremost challenges lies in the extraction and processing of thorium. The complex nature of mining and refining thorium requires state-of-the-art technology and significant capital investment.

If you are taking a higher level exam in maths, physical chemistry or biology then there is very little that is subjective in the assessment taking place. Your answers are either right or wrong. If you get more than a certain percentage of the answers wrong, then you will fail the exam. The same is true if you are taking a viva-voce language test - you can either speak the language and perform translation accurately in it or you can’t. Ditto if it’s a history exam or an economics term paper. You either know the factual basis of the subject well enough to write an reasoned and well informed paper - or you don’t. If you are an engineering apprentice in a trade with a high premium on practical experience and in-field training, then the same applies. You will be judged on your proven ability to do the actual job in hand. To anyone who lives in the real world and has real life experience of training, mentoring and assessing students and apprentices, there is no great mystery about any of this.

And how would you assess work performance, professional competence, or individual learning progress without a test or metric of some description ? Karmic vibration ? Body aura ? Telepathy ? Or do think that just any random person who pleases should be allowed to rock up and become a brain surgeon, or an airline pilot, or an engineer running a large nuclear reactor ?

This is the most detailed reporting I can find: https://therecord.media/hegseth-orders-cyber-command-stand-down-russia-planning The scope of this instruction is unclear

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) is the largest company in Taiwan, and the most valuable semiconductor company in the world. Taiwan’s worldwide exports of integrated circuits amounted to $184 billion in 2022, and accounted for 25% of Taiwan’s GDP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSMC The status of TSMC as a world leader in Fabless manufacturing, operating as a ‘pure play’ company specialising in the semiconductor foundry industry, has in the past given Taiwan what some critics call a “Silicon Shield” against the threat of invasion or blockade by China. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250225-trump-s-chip-tariff-threats-raise-stakes-for-taiwan As Taiwan produces more than half the world’s chips, and most of the really advanced ones too, there has always been strong bi-partisan support in the US Congress for Taiwan - to protect it as a critical part of the global IC supply chain, and to prevent those resources from being expropriated by China. A week ago Trump announced tariff plans that would include a 25% levy on imported chips which are used in everything from smart phones to missiles. The problem here is that TSMC don’t ship that large a proportion of their output directly to the USA. They are a semiconductor foundry business who supply chips in bulk to other manufacturers in every part of the world - including Apple who actually do much of their product assembly in China. A key factor would be whether levies are applied only to chips being shipped to the United States, or also on chips in finished products. Trump’s tariff plans are predicated on “redressing trade imbalances” and “encouraging companies to move manufacturing back to the United States”. As it happens TSMC has been opening up new semiconductor foundries around the world - including one in Arizona in 2024. But it’s a slow process that takes years to accomplish. The real dilemma that TSMC faces however, is that moving their semiconductor foundries out of Taiwan and into other countries dilutes the value of the “Silicon Shield” that has helped to discourage China from invading Taiwan in recent years. Moving their foundries to the USA could simply encourage Donald Trump to throw Taiwan under the bus by allowing China to invade it. The other part of Trump’s plans for Taiwan seem to involve the usual gangster-style grift of demanding that the Taiwanese “pay” for the “protection” they receive from the United States.

The trifecta would have been FDR saying to Churchill - "Why aren't you wearing a suit ?"

People living near Lands End Cornwall UK have been advised to buy earplugs due to a lighthouse’s broken fog alarm https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdelld75wgro The Longships Lighthouse has been sounding a loud beep every 13 seconds for the last week after a visibility sensor malfunctioned. Trinity House who manage all of England's lighthouses say they are aware of the fault, but are waiting for a spare part to arrive. The lighthouse which dates from the later 19th century has been unmanned ever since automation was installed in 1988. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longships_Lighthouse The previous pneumatic supertyfon foghorn was removed at the same time, and replaced with an electric audio emitter linked to a visibility sensor. An article in Ocean Navigator explains how these work:

Just when you thought the limits of self-parody had been reached… https://news.sky.com/story/trump-shares-ai-video-of-gaza-vision-featuring-golden-statues-bearded-belly-dancers-and-netanyahu-on-a-sunbed-13317241

Yes that was him. I heard that creating this sculpture from the remains of the Cedar tree took the better part of six months back in 2016. There are some photos of the work in progress in this article: https://www.bristolcourses.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/The-Cedar.pdf

The Praetorian Guard was said to have been responsible for the overthrow, abandonment, or murder of 15 out of the first 48 Roman emperors who governed Rome between 27 BC and 305 AD. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-praetorian-guard/ Originally adopted as the personal bodyguard of Emperor Augustus in 27 BC, they were finally disbanded by Constantine The Great in 312 AD who also destroyed their barracks at Castra Praetoria - the only military stronghold allowed south of the Rubicon on the road to Rome. During this period of influence, the Praetorians were directly responsible for murdering such notorious Roman emperors as Caligula (41 AD), Commodus (192 AD), and Elagabalus (222 AD) - said to have been the first openly transgender Roman emperor. After murdering the emperor Caligula in 41 AD, the Praetorians initiated the custom of usurping the authority of the Senate, and unilaterally proclaimed Claudius as the new emperor - a practice which continued for centuries. https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/the-emperors-fatal-servants/

In 1906, an American writer and investigative journalist called Alfred Henry Lewis (1855-1914) said in an article printed in the March edition of the Cosmopolitan Magazine - “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy” https://barrypopik.com/blog/every_nation_is_about_nine_meals_away_from_a_revolution This mirrored a sentiment which originally appeared in an article printed in the Denver (CO) Post 17 October 1896 - “Further Facts in the Case of Mark Hanna,” pg. 6, cols. 6-7

Unfortunately Americans are not very good at writing amendments to the Constitution. https://cornerstonelaw.us/22nd-amendment-doesnt-say-think-says/ The 12th Amendment ratified in 1804 stated that no one who was “constitutionally ineligible” to *become* president should be elected as a Vice President. It doesn’t however explicitly say that a person who couldn’t lawfully be *elected* to the presidency cannot be elected to the vice-presidency either. (Constitutional eligibility only requires a person to be a natural born citizen and to have attained 35 years of age). https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C5-1/ALDE_00013692/ The text of the 22nd Amendment ratified in 1951 only bars a termed-out president from becoming president again in one particular way - by a presidential election. But that is only one of *four* different ways in which a US citizen can become President. The 25th Amendment ratified in 1967 stated that the Vice President becomes the acting President if the President is unable to continue their duties, resigns, or is removed from office. Taking all of these together - the problem is that the texts of the 12th and 22nd Amendments do not preclude the possibility of a person who has already served two terms as a President from becoming a Vice-President; and the 25th Amendment states that the Vice-President automatically becomes the acting president if the incumbent dies, or is removed from office, or is otherwise unable to discharge their duties. So there is in theory a path whereby one person could serve three terms as POTUS. After first serving two terms, they arrange to get themselves elected as Vice-President to a new POTUS, who then promptly resigns and lawfully hands the Presidency to their VP as a third term.

Members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team have exposed sensitive information about the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) - a secretive US intelligence agency responsible for running America’s highly classified satellite reconnaissance system. https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-doge-shares-classified-215645625.html The new DOGE.gov website only went live on Wednesday claiming to give Americans the ability to “trace your tax dollars through the bureaucracy.” The website was supposed to exclude data from U.S. intelligence agencies, but has instead published highly classified information about the staff and resources of the NRO which DOGE should never have been able to access in the first place. Meanwhile, the Trump administration fired 300 staffers from the NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration) without realising they were responsible for managing America’s strategic nuclear weapon stockpile. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5298190/nuclear-agency-trump-firings-nnsa Finally - during a Tuesday ‘presser’ in the White House Oval Office, Elon Musk claimed that his DOGE team had found evidence of “150 year old people” receiving social security payments. A COBOL programmer subsequently made this comment on X:

You didn’t supply any scientific, clinical , or other medical evidence to support your own characterisation of ketamine as a “very helpful and viable treatment option for many millions of people”. Absent that, I would refer you to: https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/ips/ketamine-trd/risks-benefits/ Right up front this document says: It concludes: Under the sub-tab ‘Less Common side-effects' it lists: vivid dreams, hallucinations , and also adds this warning: Under 'Long Term Theoretical Risks' this paper lists: dependence, tolerance, bladder damage, cognitive impairment and personality change - all with reference to recreational nasal doses of over 1g daily. Given these caveats I don’t think I’m being remotely flippant or dismissive about the risks of self-medicating with ketamine - especially in the case of an absurdly wealthy and over-powerful oligarch like Elon Musk who has openly admitted that he is microdosing with ketamine to treat a significant personality disorder.