New Zealand Herald’s Mass Lobotomy Media Operation
October 27th, 2019Presenting the most important news in New Zealand, according to this useless rag. Not Photoshopped. Not satire.
The top story, complete with breaking news alert crawler, which interrupted the endless deluge of sportsball top stories: “Outrage after woman seen driving in Auckland with toddler on lap.”
Primitive Technology: A Survivalist’s Guide to Building Tools, Shelters, and More in the Wild
October 27th, 2019My children and I have been watching John’s Primitive Technology channel for years. Highly recommended.
Here’s his new book: Primitive Technology: A Survivalist’s Guide to Building Tools, Shelters, and More in the Wild Hardcover by John Plant.
Putting Federal Debt In Perspective Against Those Responsible In The Future
October 27th, 2019Via: Economica:
Since 2007, US federal debt has risen 150% while annual US births (legal and otherwise) have fallen almost 14%. Said otherwise, over the dozen years since 2007, federal debt has increased by $13.8 trillion while 5.2 million fewer births have occurred over the same period than the Census projected. This is probably worth a little closer look.
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The then present generation (baby boomers) made a deal with the past generation to sell out the future generation (Millennials). This can be seen in the chart below, showing the debt each child is born shackled with. From $100 thousand in 1970, to $300 thousand in 1980, to $800 thousand in 1990, $2.1 million in 2007…and as of 2019, every child born a citizen of the US (regardless their parents status) is liable for a ludicrous $6.2 million in federal debt. And this is just a fraction of the actual liability that is owed, if even faster rising unfunded liabilities were included.
Skylon’s SABRE Engine Precooler Passes a Big Test
October 27th, 2019Via: Universe Today:
Recently, Reaction Engines passed a major milestone with the development of their SABRE engine. As the company announced earlier this week (on Tues. Oct. 22nd), their engineers conducted a successful test of a vital component – the engine’s heat exchange element (aka. precooler). What’s more, the test involved airflow temperatures equivalent to speeds of Mach 5, which is in the hypersonic range.
Tesla Summon: “A Tragedy Waiting to Happen”
October 27th, 2019The “Summon” feature is cringe inducing. Fully autonomous robotaxis in a year or two?
Via: ZeroHedge:
Seemingly undeterred by disturbing video on social media and a regulator inquiry into the company, Tesla continues to forge forward blindly and recklessly into the realm of autonomy. Most recently, Tesla said on its conference call Wednesday that it is planning a software update to improve its “Smart” Summon feature, according to Consumer Reports.
The update is supposed to go live next week, and it follows our story that the NHTSA was finally investigating the feature. As we noted earlier this month, the NHTSA can exercise its recall authority if it finds an “unreasonable safety risk”.
But while the NHTSA stands idly by, Tesla seems hell-bent on pushing its human beta testing as far as it can go: the company also announced on its conference call this week that “it plans to move forward rapidly with launching other forms of automation”, which Consumer Reports warns could “involve potentially more dangerous driving situations.”
As Secret Pentagon Spending Rises, Defense Firms Cash in
October 27th, 2019Via: Defense One:
The share of Pentagon spending hidden from public view is rising, as are defense contractors’ revenues from it.
The U.S. Defense Department’s overall budget request increased nearly 5 percent from 2019 to 2020, but classified spending rose 6 percent, according to the consulting firm Avascent. It accounts for about $76 billion, or almost 11%, of the $718 billion requested for the current fiscal year.
Californians Brace For 10 Years Of Blackouts
October 27th, 2019Via: ZeroHedge:
With the state of California set to experience the “biggest blackout ever” as a violent windstorm forces local utilities PG&E, Edison and Sempra to shut off power to millions of residents over fears a broken transmission line could trigger another massive fire, resulting in billions in legal costs, a dismal reality is starting to set in: Californians are facing a “decade of darkness” and they are starting to take matters into their own hands by going “off the grid.” Literally.
ISIS Leader Reportedly Killed by U.S. Special Forces
October 26th, 2019Update: Russian Defense Ministry: We Are Unaware of Alleged Assistance in Baghdadi Operation
Via: Reuters:
Russian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday it was not aware of any assistance that Russia had allegedly provided to the U.S. air forces in the operation that targeted Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, state-run RIA news agency reported.
“We are unaware of any alleged assistance to the flying of U.S. aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation,” Major-General Igor Konashenkov was quoted by RIA as saying.
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Via: Newsweek:
The United States military has conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), Newsweek has learned. President Donald Trump approved the mission nearly a week before it took place.
Amid reports Saturday of U.S. military helicopters over the Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, a senior Pentagon official familiar with the operation and Army official briefed on the matter told Newsweek that Baghdadi was the target of the top-secret operation in the last bastion of the country’s Islamist-dominated opposition, a faction that has clashed with ISIS in recent years.
A U.S. Army official briefed on the results of the operation told Newsweek that Baghdadi was killed in the raid, and the Defense Department told the White House they have “high confidence” that the high-value target killed was Baghdadi, but further verification is pending DNA and biometric testing. The senior Pentagon official said there was a brief firefight when U.S. forces entered the compound in Idlib’s Barisha village and that Baghdadi then killed himself by detonating a suicide vest. Family members were present. According to Pentagon sources, no children were harmed in the raid but two Baghdadi wives were killed after detonating their own explosive vests.
Members of the Joint Special Operations Command’s Delta Team carried out Saturday’s high-level operation after receiving actionable intelligence, according to sources familiar with the operation. The location raided by special operations troops had been under surveillance for some time.
Microsoft Wins $10 Billion Pentagon Cloud Contract, Beating Amazon
October 26th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
Microsoft Corp. has won the sought-after JEDI cloud computing contract with the Pentagon valued at as much as $10 billion over a decade, dealing a blow to the market leader, Amazon.com Inc., which had been the front-runner.
The decision, which was announced by the Defense Department late Friday, may be challenged by Amazon, according to a person familiar with the matter, because President Donald Trump weighed in on the bidding process. The terms of the competition were also hotly contested by another rival, Oracle Corp.
The Pentagon has said the cloud project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, is intended to help bring American military technology into the modern era.
Military Algorithm Can Predict Illness 48 Hours Before Symptoms Show
October 25th, 2019Via: Nextgov:
U.S. service members are strong but they’re still people, and people get sick sometimes. But when one gets sick at the last minute, that can have serious repercussions on their unit’s ability to execute critical missions.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or DTRA, is trying to get ahead of this problem by developing a predictive algorithm that knows whether a service member is falling ill—due to anything from a cold to exposure to biological weapons—up to 48 hours before they start to show any symptoms.
“Think of it as a check-engine for the human body,” Edward Argenta, science and technology manager for DTRA’s Joint Science and Technology Office, told Nextgov.
DTRA partnered with the Defense Innovation Unit to leverage the latter’s other transaction authority—a special procurement method outside of the Federal Acquisition Regulations—to develop the algorithm hand-in-hand with health IT company Royal Philips.
Using its own globally-collected data sets, Philips was able to develop a unique algorithm for the Defense Department. Using 165 distinct biomarkers across 41,000 cases, the Philips team was able to create the Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure, or RATE, algorithm, which the company says can “predict infection 48 hours before clinical suspicion” with better than 85% accuracy.
