Venezuela

Raul Castro, Vladimir Putin & Nicolas Maduro

With all the noise about Venezuela, one might be forgiven for thinking that Maduro is near the end and democracy will soon prevail. I have my doubts. Some semblance of democracy did return to Eastern Europe after decades of Soviet control, but it wasn't a civil war that brought their freedom. The Soviet Union simply ran out of money to pay their goons. We can hope  Maduro's government will also soon run out of money, but since Russia is supporting him, that might not happen.

I can understand Russia's interest in Venezuela: they have huge reserves of oil, as big or bigger than Saudi Arabia. Plus Maduro's government is of a similar, pseudo-communist, bent, so they are somewhat simpatico. Since the economic situation there has gotten very bad, and the West has universally condemned Maduro, Russia is his only friend. Let's not forget that the Western running-dog imperialists (to use an old, communist phrase) persist in sticking their fingers in Ukraine, so I can see why Putin would enjoy messing about in Venezuela. Tit-for-tat, so to speak.

But the problem isn't just Maduro. He isn't going to be able to maintain his position without support, specifically from the military. The Atlantic has a story by Moisés Naím from two years ago that paints a more complete picture of the situation. It's ugly.

Removing Maduro from power could be done peacefully if we could somehow cut off his support from Russia. I don't see how we can do that. We might be able to do some horse-trading, stop mucking about in Eastern Europe so much, especially the Ukraine, but I doubt that will happen. The political support for Eastern Europe is much stronger in the West than it is for Venezuela, which is mostly a jungle filled with wild-eyed revolutionaries, as we all know.


Don Henley - All She Wants To Do Is Dance (Official Music Video)
Don Henley

Update November 2021 replaced missing video.

Update June 2023 replaced missing video.

Quote of the Day

Via Irons in the Fire

"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an athiest, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you." - Werner Heisenberg

Everything is fine when you are dealing with ordinary, everyday matter. It's when you go looking for the limits that things get squirrely, as this video demonstrates.


How Hot Can It Get?

Michelin House

Michelin House, London

Built in 1911, no longer owned or used by Michelin. I don't quite know what to make of the architecture, garish? Electic? Whatever. I do like the stained glass window of the Michelin Man at the top center.

Via Brian Micklethwait.

Basic Credit & Debt Education

Max Levchin: Affirm Is Like A Power Tool
I dunno about this. On one hand, it's from Forbes, so it's hardcore, imperialist running-dog propaganda. On the other hand, it's a kind of pie-in-the-sky, social-liberal feel-good, help the underdog project. I mean, it might work and it might do some good, or it might collapse and then get taken over by the payday loan sharks.

Blockchain

Danish researcher Thomas Silkjaer is using Google's BigQuery to map publicly available information about XRP cryptocurrency addresses. The craters represent some of cryptocurrency's largest exchanges.

I found this picture in a Forbes story about the crypto-currency universe. I don't know that it actually tells you anything, but it's good that someone is at least trying to make some sense out of it.

Blockchains exist in the cloud, that is, all the data lives on anonymous servers housed in warehouses (or someone's basement) scattered all over the world. Well, maybe not in North Korea. Cloud-computing makes sense, as long as you have reliable communications. I mean, I use it. I try and keep most of my stuff on Google Drive, saves me from having to make backups, which I was never very good at. Plus it doesn't cost me anything, other than privacy, but somebody is paying to use it:

"When it comes to cloud computing, Google is far behind Amazon and Microsoft. Last year Google pocketed an estimated $3 billion in revenue from cloud ser­vices. Amazon and Microsoft, meanwhile, generated about $27 billion and $10 billion, respectively." - Michael del Castillo

Happy

HAPPY! | Season 1: Official Trailer #1 | SYFY
We've started watching this series. It's pretty wack-a-doodle, as you can tell from the trailer. A big stew pot of every trick in a TV-detective-show writer's arsenal. Plus we've got Detective Stabler from SVU.

Crimean Bridge

Crimean Bridge crosses the Kerch Strait

The Crimean Bridge crosses the Kerch Strait which connects the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea. The bridge connects Crimea to the Russian mainland. Since the Soviet Union dissolved, Russia's access to their large naval base at Sevastopol has been problematic, hence the annexation of Crimea and the construction of this bridge.


Крымский мост: 27 месяцев строительства за 3 минуты. Таймлепс.  [Crimea Bridge: 27 months of construction in 3 minutes. Time lapse.]
The construction and installation of the arches (starting at the 1:27 mark) reminds me of the way the Sauvie Island Bridge was constructed here in Portland.

The Crimean Bridge is 11 miles long which makes it the longest bridge in Europe and Russia. It was completed last year.

The Ukraine and Russia are still squabbling about Crimea, this bridge and the eastern Ukraine, and that will no doubt continue for the foreseeable future.

Via RT.