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| Damaged Military Vehicle |
Convergence Calling by James Howard Kunstler
And also hence, the synchronized idiocy on display in France, Germany, and the UK. They were all-in on the neo-con scheme that is now falling apart and its failure has driven them plumb crazy. As the US drops out of the stupid proxy war, they declare their intention to take it from here and go beat-up Russia. Their war-drums are teaspoons beating on so many quiches.
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| The US Special Forces Extreme Techniques to Perform Halo Jumps |
Why am I thinking about Starship Troopers? Because the Air Force is building a new missile base on Johnston Island:
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| A mockup of the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program. © Air Force art. |
But the Starship is designed to carry people. It's going to be a little tougher on people than an airliner, but soldiers are pretty tough, so it shouldn't be a problem for them.
Landing in remote regions occupied by enemy forces might be a problem though, so we might want to drop our troops in, like paratroopers. We don't have a technique for doing that from orbit, at least not yet, but Starship can manage reentry, and at some point it's velocity will be low enough that troops could safely exit the vehicle, so we would have Starship paratroops, i.e. Starship Troopers.
It's going to be a few years before we get to this point, but it's undoubtedly coming.
Johnston Atoll is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean:
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| Johnston Atoll |
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| Johnston Island inside Johnston Atoll |
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| Johnston Island |
Came across the phrase 'trust, but verify' in David Warren's column this morning, where in he tells me that in Russian, it rhymes. Does it? So I checked, and it does, sort of (follow the link and click on the loudspeaker icon to hear it). Wikipedia even has a page about it wherein we find:
Suzanne Massie, an American scholar, met with Ronald Reagan many times between 1984 and 1987 while he was President of the United States. She taught him the Russian proverb doveryai, no proveryai meaning 'trust, but verify'. She advised him that "The Russians like to talk in proverbs. It would be nice of you to know a few. You are an actor – you can learn them very quickly." The proverb was adopted as a signature phrase by Reagan, who used it frequently when discussing United States relations with the Soviet Union.
The Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs and sayings. . . . Vladimir Dal was a famous lexicographer of the Russian Empire whose collection was published in Russian language in the late 19th century as The Sayings and Bywords of the Russian People*, featuring more than 30,000 entries.
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| Google Doodle for Valdimir Dal |
I don't remember ever hearing about this Vladimir Dal before, but it seems Google put up a doodle of him in 2017.
We have numerous sayings / phrases we use in American English, but I don't know that any of them rise to the level of 'proverbs'. But all this reminds me of the Star Trek episode where Captain Picard ends up in personal combat with a man-sized dinosaur because nobody in their crew recognizes that the aliens speak in proverbs.
* the book, in Russian, is available from Amazon.
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| Pleasant Beach Scene |
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| A few seconds later |
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| M88 Hercules |
The soldiers' armored vehicle was discovered submerged in 15 feet of water and so far teams have been unable to get inside or pull it out.
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| Pabadre, Lithuania |
JMSmith talks about how prestige colors our perceptions:
The Halo of Prestige, Where Did It Go?
Very few people know that the word prestige first indicated a conjuror’s trick. The word was rarely used in English before 1800, but when it was used it had a meaning identical to the Latin præstigum, a magical illusion. A writer in 1777 for instance speaks of “expert jugglers and prestige-practicing impostors,” and the word prestige long continued to mean merit that was apparent and not real.
The modern sense of prestige is said to have begun with Napoleon Bonaparte because the first Emperor of the French was in the minds of his countrymen and others so much larger than life. No one doubts that Napoleon was an extraordinarily talented man; but it is equally doubtless that Napoleon’s talents were greatly magnified by the magical illusion of prestige. Such magnification is the essence of prestige. It is the magnification of prestige that makes a great general appear invincible in the public eye.
Prestige magnifies a good man into a saint, a good scientist into a genius, a good athlete into the greatest athlete of all time.
You can read the whole thing here.
The were a couple of movies about magicians that came out in 2006. One was The Prestige and the other was The Illusionist. The Prestige gave us an explanation of the term, but at the time, because I had never heard of it used that way before, it sounded like nonsense.
And then there is the word prestidigitation, which refers to sleight of hand or legerdemain, meaning the quick, skillful manipulation of objects, often used in magic tricks or illusions. |
| Laura Loomer with Ark of the Covenant replica |
Construction of this replica consumed 2700 hours of labor and six pounds of gold. Gold is currently around $3,000 an ounce. Figuring $100 an hour for labor, means this replica cost around $500 thousand.
I didn't not find any solid information on this, it's all just rumor.
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| Voltaire Quote |
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| Troy-Bilt 21 inch Lawn Mower |
Bought a new lawn mower last week. I have a small lawn in front of the house and another small lawn in the back of the house. The house is built on a hill, so the backyard is one story lower than the front. Once upon a time there was a path going down the side of the hill so a lawn mower could be wheeled up or down the hill, but a while back we put in some fancy stone stairs right over this path, so no more wheeling the lawn mower up and done the hill. Lawn man didn't care, he had a partner, so the two of them could easily carry the lawn mower up and down the stairs.
But now Rob's partner is moving on, Rob is cutting back, and so carrying the mower is no longer viable. For a long time I've been trying to think of a solution, like replacing the wooden steps on the other side so they incorporated a ramp, or making some kind of removable ramp that could be laid over the stone steps, but all these seemed like a lot of work (which meant expensive, like a couple of thousand dollars), so nothing ever came of it. But now push has come to shove and I realized simply buying a lawn mower and keeping it in backyard would solve the problem.
About a month ago I dialed up Craigslist and saw several ads for used mowers that looked like a good deal. I fiddle farted around and didn't do anything about it, and the next week when I went back all the good deals were gone. So I go to Home Depot and Amazon and found several mowers for under $400. Then I remembered Home Depot had sent me a coupon for 10% off, so I went with them.
There are cheaper mowers available, but I've found that the cheapest item is not always a good deal. Spend a little more and you are likely to get much better quality.
I thought about an electric mower, but the electronics and the battery scare me. Electronic circuits are generally very reliable these days, but if they fail there is usually no recourse than to replace the whole circuit, and it will likely cost as much as the mower. Same deal with the battery, except that it will almost certainly die before you want it to, which means buying an expensive replacement battery. Probably cost near as much as the mower in the first place. After all, tool companies practically give away the tools in order to sell you a battery.
Anyway, this mower with a cover and the discount was less than $350. It only took me nine years to arrive at this solution. Very sad.
EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/IMtMFNRf6h
— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) March 25, 2025
You can say that again.
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| Anti-Hamas protests in Gaza (Photo by AFP via Getty Images) |
I was beginning to think that this was never going to happen.
Rare Anti-Hamas Protests Erupt In Gaza As Residents Call For Peace by Kassy Akiva
Of course, you can't tell if this protest is 'organic' or paid for by some freedom loving psychopath, but I'm encouraged.
I'm looking at Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox by Lina Khan and I come across this sentence:
"Second, because online platforms serve as critical intermediaries, integrating across business lines positions these platforms to control the essential infrastructure on which their rivals depend."
"integrating across business lines positions these platforms to control the essential infrastructure"
Eventually I realize that "integrating across business lines" is a noun. The sentence might have more easily made sense if those words were hyphenated, like this:
"Second, because online platforms serve as critical intermediaries, integrating-across-business-lines positions these platforms to control the essential infrastructure on which their rivals depend."
Once I finally deciphered it, I can no longer see what was so confusing about it.
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| La Hague, France (left) & The Hague, Netherlands (right) |
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| La Hague Nuclear Recycling and Reprocessing Plant |
I read the teaser for a transcript of Matt Taibbi's interview with Walter Kirn. They mentioned some people I had heard of, some I hadn't and some I wasn't sure about, so I looked them up. I didn't read the whole thing because I either need to subscribe or install something on my phone. I'm not going to subscribe because I have too many subscriptions all ready, and I'm not going to install anything on my phone because it came already loaded with a bunch of crap that I don't want, need or use. Matt Taibbi has appeared here before.
Walter Kirn - is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. He is the author of eight books, most notably Up in the Air, which was made into a film of the same name starring George Clooney. - Wikipedia
Up in the Air - Ryan Bingham works for an American human resources consultancy firm specializing in employment-termination assistance. His work constantly takes him around the country, conducting company layoffs on behalf of employers. Ryan also gives motivational speeches, using the analogy, "What's in Your Backpack?" to extol living free of burdensome relationships and material possessions. - WikipediaMatt Taibbi: "Right. Look, there was a very recent... Well, let’s talk about the comeback. One of the few magazines where it’s still important to be on the cover in America is People Magazine. And Luigi recently got on the cover. Okay, it’s not People Magazine, but he was on the cover of InTouch Magazine, Luigi Mangione."
Bill Burr - William Frederick Burr is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, actor, writer, and director. GoogleWalter Kirn: . . . Bill Burr already said, “Free Luigi,” on a YouTube video about a week-
Matt Taibbi: Oh, did he?
Walter Kirn: Yeah. About a week ago, he suddenly turned in the most inorganic planned way, went, “Free Luigi.” The creation of a political American revolutionary. You know what? He’s obverse Oswald. Oswald was an assassin who became a villain. This is a villain assassin who’s becoming a hero. They dressed him like in the same sweater that Oswald used when he was actually shot by Jack Ruby. They have cited and alluded to and sampled, let’s say in the language of rap and recording, every major American sort of anti-establishment rebel in building this character. The reason I knew he was going to come back from the moment he came out was that he was an obvious op against the oligarchs, Elon in particular. So they gave him some space to be in jail for a while, but now as his trial approaches, we’re going to see this stuff ramp up, we’re going to see an intense sort of almost Beatlemania meets Charles Manson-style cult of personality around him. And that’s what he is to me, is Beatlemania versus Manson. If you did an AI study of American anti-heroes, you would come up with Luigi.
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| Route of the Ben Lomond |
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| Hell for You |
"gravity is kept switched on at all times"
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| Map of the Don Catchment showing the River Don, the city of Sheffield, and the distribution of weirs. |
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| War is Peace Freedom is Slavery |
Europe Goes Full Totalitarian And Puts The Entire Western World At Risk by Brandon Smith
Introduction:
It’s happening again. Europe is once again going totalitarian and this time there’s a decidedly familiar communist stench. The outcome was predictable for many of us in the alternative media and the situation is only going to get worse in the next few years, but what does this mean for the rest of the world? With the European elites casting off their humanist masks and going outright Orwellian, what kind of chaos can we expect to unfold?
First and foremost I want to point out a key piece of irony here – For decades in the US we heard the tiresome argument that our 2nd Amendment gun rights are meaningless because they are “unnecessary in maintaining our freedoms”. Anti-gun rights activists and politicians commonly used Europe as their sterling example:
“If gun rights are so important for freedom, then what about the Europeans? They have strict gun laws and they’re not losing their rights…”
As Americans who understand what it means to fight a rebellion against tyranny and win, our response to this claim has always been the same: “Just give it time…”
Of course, we were right and they were wrong. I’m sure a large number of people among the 95% of EU and UK citizens that are disarmed are probably wishing desperately for firearms right about now. The reasons why are numerous and horrifying.
He goes on about how European governments are crying for war which reminded me of a couple of memes I saw recently:
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| Why is it always you three? |
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| March through Poland |
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| Adrift in the Stratosphere - A.M. Low |
A 1937 space adventure written for young people by Prof. A.M. Low, then-president of the British Interplanetary Society. The occupants of a spaceship launched from a stratosphere balloon discover a hostile civilization.
You can buy a copy from Amazon.
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| SWAT team at CIA Headquarters - Andrew Harnik / Getty Images |
SWAT Team On Scene At CIA Headquarters Over ‘Barricade’ Situation by Ryan Saavedra
I mean, WTF? CIA headquarters, bastion of National Security, has got loose screws running around, um, er, loose? You don't suppose this has anything to do with Trump releasing the JFK assassination files yesterday, do you? No, it couldn't possibly be, could it? I dunno, we'll have to wait and see. It might be a really good show.
Stolen entire from The Orthosphere:
The Labyrinth of Strange Ways by JMSmith
“All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1878)
“For as health is but one thing, and has been always the same; whereas diseases are by thousands, besides new and daily additions: so all the virtues that have been ever in mankind, are to be counted upon a few fingers; but his follies and vices are innumerable, and time adds hourly to the heap.”
Jonathan Swift, Tale of a Tub (1704)
The word wayward is a cropped version of the word awayward, and it may mean either strong-willed or disposed to act contrary to the way that is right. As an accusation, the charge of waywardness may therefore be sinister or sincere. A sinister accusation comes from overbearing and bossy accuser; a sincere accusation warns not to stray into the labyrinth of strange ways.
We all know that the world is full of meddlesome nags and scolds who are outraged and angered by anyone who deviates from their way. We also know that there are dangerous ways that take men on a one-way trek into the labyrinth of strange ways.
It should be noted that Tolstoy’s famous line speaks of the “resemblance” that happy families have to one another. He does not say they are identical or exactly alike. Like happy individuals, they have the will to insist on their right to express their own natures and be themselves; but they also have the wisdom not to plunge through the gate of the labyrinth of strange ways.
I cannot distill that wisdom into a rule because wisdom is the knack for choosing rightly when there are no rules. Wisdom laughs at those meddlesome nags and scolds but it does not laugh at the labyrinth of strange ways.
Swift tells us that health is simple and disease complex. Likewise virtue and vice. Virtuous men are not identical, but neither do they exude the off-putting odor of waywardness that we indicate with words such as odd, weird, peculiar and strange. When we say a man is peculiar, we do not simply mean that he has the courage defy the herd and be himself. We mean that there are strong and disquieting indications that he is a pervert trapped in the labyrinth of strange ways.
There is a profound difference between a free spirit and a man who is just plain weird.
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| 1962 Cadillac |
John Vesco (1910-1983) was a Bonneville pioneer, attending the first 1949 Speed Week together with wife Betty and sons Don and Rick.
Don Vesco (1939 – 2002) was an American businessman and motorcycle racer who held multiple motorcycle land-speed and wheel-driven land speed records. In his lifetime, he set 18 motorcycle and 6 automobile speed records.
His accomplishments recognized by the American Motorcyclist Association include winning the United States motorcycle Grand Prix 500 cc class in 1963, operating a California motorcycle dealership that sponsored up to 60 racers at a time, and setting a number of motorcycle and automobile land speed records.
Rick Vesco set his first land speed record at age 16 on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Rick designed and built the World's Fastest Wheel Driven car that set an F.I.A. record @ 458 MPH (2001) with Don driving.
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| Rapid-Onset Political Enlightenment |
Excellent story about political propaganda in the USA in the 21st century.
Excerpt:
When I wrote about Rhodes’ ambitious program to sell the Iran deal, I advanced the term “echo chambers” to describe the process by which the White House and its wider penumbra of think tanks and NGOs generated an entirely new class of experts who credentialed each other on social media in order to advance assertions that would formerly have been seen as marginal or not credible, thereby overwhelming the efforts of traditional subject-area gatekeepers and reporters to keep government spokespeople honest. In constructing these echo chambers, the White House created feedback loops that could be gamed out in advance by clever White House aides, thereby influencing and controlling the perceptions of reporters, editors and congressional staffers, and the elusive currents of “public opinion” they attempted to follow. If you saw how the game worked from the inside, you understood that the new common wisdom was not a true “reflection” of what anyone in particular necessarily believed, but rather the deliberate creation of a small class of operatives who used new technologies to create and control larger narratives that they messaged to target audiences on digital platforms, and which often presented themselves to their targets as their own naturally occurring thoughts and feelings, which they would then share with people like themselves. . . .
What I did not imagine at the time was that Obama’s successor in the White House would not be Hillary Clinton but Donald Trump. Nor did I foresee that Trump would himself become the target of a messaging campaign that would make full use of the machine that Obama had built, along with elements of the American security state. Being physically inside the White House, it turned out, was a mere detail of power; even more substantial power lay in controlling the digital switchboard that Obama had built, and which it turned out he still controlled. . . .
permission structures - is most commonly defined as a means of providing “scaffolding for someone to embrace change they might otherwise reject.” This “scaffolding” provides:
As one author put it, “with many applications to politics, one could argue that effective Permission Structures will shift the Overton Window, introducing new conversations into the mainstream that might previously have been considered marginal or fringe.”
Later on we get this:
The effect of the permission structure machine is to instill and maintain obedience to voices coming from outside yourself, regardless of the obvious gaps in logic and functioning that they create. The clinical term for this state is schizophrenia, . . .
Samual's essay names a bunch of people and books, some of whom I knew and some I didn't. I collected them all in a spreadsheet.
Note: The first time I opened the essay, all I got was a plain orange screen. There is supposed to be a giant image there, but for some reason it didn't load. Anyway, scroll down a bit and you will get to the text.
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