Caption: Armored dinosaurs are the stuff of science fiction, and it’s right up there with light sabers in terms of its practical use on future battlefields.
New and Old
The Sumerians, ancient Mesopotamians, developed a timekeeping system that divided the day into 24 hours, each hour into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds. Using a base-60 number system (sexagesimal), this system was influential and is the foundation of our modern timekeeping. They also developed a lunar calendar with 12 months, which was necessary for their agricultural society. They used tools like the sun, stars, and water clocks to keep track of time.
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Humans won’t be needed for most things.” This shocking declaration from businessman Bill Gates on NBC’s “Tonight Show” in February 2025 reveals his true vision for our AI future. In this world, algorithms replace doctors, teachers, and countless other professionals.
While Gates casually predicts that AI will make human labor obsolete “over the next decade,” he offers little more than vague promises of “free intelligence” and two-day workweeks as consolation for the economic upheaval his technology threatens to unleash.
Yet, while some tech billionaires peddle apocalyptic visions, the data paints a far more optimistic picture: AI isn’t eliminating work—it’s reinventing it and creating unprecedented opportunities for economic growth.
The Democrat Chief of Staff
When you add the autopen to the mix, it’s easy to understand how we racked up more debt and continued the trajectory we’re still on. During Joe Biden’s presidency (January 20, 2021 – January 20, 2025), the U.S. national debt increased by approximately $8.4 trillion.
Bullet Points:
** In the USA in 2025, democrats have made success a grievance rather than an example.
** When 70% of 8th graders in the U.S. can’t read proficiently, it’s not the students who are failing—it’s the education system that’s failing them.
** The spring housing market struggles amid high interest rates and low consumer confidence. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of previously owned homes in April fell 0.5% from March to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4 million units. That is the slowest April pace since 2009. Sales were down 2% from April of last year. Housing economists were expecting a gain of 2.7%. This count is based on closings, meaning contracts that were likely signed in February and March, before mortgage rates increased in April. “Home sales have been at 75% of normal or pre-pandemic activity for the past three years, even with seven million jobs added to the economy,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a release. “Pent-up housing demand continues to grow, though not realized. Any meaningful decline in mortgage rates will help release this demand.”
An article appeared in the Orange County Register (California) last week. Buying a median-priced home there requires an annual income of $379K, attained only by the top 12%. That’s a small pool of buyers.
** Boat jumping with EdB.
** Outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., a gunman opened fire. He murdered two young people because he thought they were Jews and because they were gathered in a Jewish place for an event hosted by a Jewish organization. No police force can hold back a culture that has embraced violence as a means of expression, and that has lost hold of the difference between life and death.
** President Trump has proposed building a Golden Dome, a space-based missile defense system that would protect America from enemy attacks with conventional and nuclear missiles. This is a brilliant and long-overdue initiative. We have the technology. All we need now is the will. We also need the same mental approach toward our power grid. The Communist Chinese, with whom we have been at war – a cold war – for the past thirty years, oppose the Dome.
** At Satan’s Vatican – Harvard University can no longer enroll foreign students, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday, escalating the Trump administration’s efforts to influence the Ivy League school. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said Harvard is “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” A Department of Homeland Security statement said existing foreign students at Harvard must transfer or lose their legal status in the United States. According to school data, about one in four Harvard students is international. Harvard says the administration’s move is unlawful. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” the institution said.
** People in Alberta are doing the math and it doesn’t bode well for Big Canada.
Veteran Suicide
As we make our way through the calendar toward Memorial Day, we need to rip the band-aid off when it comes to veteran suicides. One of my dear friends from the Naval Service ended his life last August. This came a week after he sent me pictures of himself and his family on vacation. So you never know. Hold your friends close and love them as best you can.
My son-in-law (Navy) was 100% disabled during the War in Afghanistan and struggled with that disability for a long time. Things are better now, but the Navy (surprisingly) was very helpful in getting the help and therapy he needed. The disability is permanent, but he’s coping with that.
In 2022 (the most recent year for which data are available), 6,407 veterans and 41,484 nonveteran adults died by suicide. Because there are many more nonveterans in the U.S. population, the rate of suicide among veterans was 34.7 per 100,000, compared with 17.1 per 100,000 for nonveterans (Office of Suicide Prevention, 2024b).
Each year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Suicide Prevention releases critical statistics on veteran suicides in its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.
Help is available for those needing support for themselves or a loved one. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, and press 1 to access the Veterans Crisis Line.
The Decline of American Cities
In April, there were 9 Republican mayors in America’s 50 biggest cities. In May, that number fell to 8.
Democrats are celebrating Omaha’s mayoral election win as proof that Republicans are out of step with America, when it’s evidence that the nation’s cities have fallen out of step with America.
There was a time when America’s cities were symbols of progress. Still, they have long since become sinkholes of decline, clinging to a handful of industries that employ a tiny fraction of their population as evidence of their relevance.
When Americans think of big cities, they think of tall buildings and social problems. The Democratic Party’s stranglehold on major cities isn’t evidence of hope but despair. It’s not a triumph for democracy, but a sign that democracy no longer operates in major cities where elections are determined by networks of taxpayer-funded community groups, unions, and other organizations that act as voter turnout operations for the Democrats in exchange for power and money.
Identify the Aircraft
1
Famous pilot and legendary aircraft – 3,600 aircraft built.
2
3
Identify the Ship and Class
4
Twenty-one have been completed, but they’re being phased out. Six are left in service (2 with Russia, 4 with China). The Russians have difficulty maintaining their surface fleet as the priority shifts to submarines. As the war with Ukraine underscored, there are only submarines and targets on and in the oceans.
Parting Shot
h/t Frank
End
I believe that’s Eddie Rickenbacker in a Spad 13. I’ll leave the others to Surly.
Flettner Fl 282 “Kolibri” helicopters.
Not a Spad, but it was Capt. Rickenbacker.
“there are only submarines and targets on and in the oceans” That reminded me of the first day in class a Sub school. On the board in large print it said” Boats are black and targets are grey”.
Yes.
That’s just how it is.
veteran suicide:
not fair! what are the demographics?
there are four of us: all from the same dental school class: 2 Army, 1 Navy, 1 Air Force, all volunteers, all 2-year active, who keep in touch.
should one of us decide to hop off a tall building due to his infirmities, pain (not service-related), spousal indifference: no depression as such;
should another whose mental faculties have degenerated takes a walk into traffic, not deliberately, when his caretaker is taking a nap: no depression as such;
should another find himself running out of money, no longer able to support his life-style deliberately takes a few too many pills: no depression – just unable to see a way out;
these are all classed as suicides; these are all veterans, volunteers for the Armed Services who were on active duty (4 years 2-S school, 2 years active, and at least 1 year reserve), but not men fighting at the front – and all in their mid-80s.
without demographics, without medical hx, without a precis of their famly relationships, this number (to me at least) means nothing
there were several in our class who maintained their 2-S and after graduation did not volunteer, but were drafted into the Army within 2 years (it was VietNam) who have committed suicide (or died under suspicious corcumstances): they are veterans.
I’ve read that dentists in general have a very high suicide rate (they’re always down in the mouth), but seriously, should they be set aside in a separate classification.
suicides are a major problem with multiple causes that IMHO should not be lumped into into one specific class.
I could delve but it would be depressing. As I understand the demographics, veteran suicide cuts across them all with female veterans much higher than the general population. Some demographics are underrepresented in the military and I don’t know how that plays. Again, I find it quite depressing and usually don’t mention veteran suicides since some of my friends took themselves out.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Eddie Rickenbacker in Nieuport 28
2. Flettner Fl 282
3. Dornier Do-27 with tracked landing gear
Identify the Ship and Class:
4. Sovremenny-class destroyer Bezuprechny
100% – A+
The pro Gaza murderer shot two Jews who were attending a gathering to raise humanitarian aid for Gaza.
.
I don’t jump out of perfectly functioning aircraft or boats. Certainly not in front of the propellers.
Who would initially post a video like that?
Ed,
as I understand it (and has been reported) Yarón Lischinsky was an Israeli, his father Jewish, his mother not, but, like his mother, he was an evangelical Christian.
no reports stated which one was going to convert: he or his fiancée: if either.
Bottom line is this homegrown terrorist lunatic shot two people dead in the street because of some asinine grievance based on a life of indoctrination, drinking from the Lefty cesspool thinking it’s a Bordeaux, a false elixir that justifies the lunacy by removing moral constraint the rest of us hold dear. The illogic is circular, and no outside influence can repair it…short of sending the unhinged to meet their Maker.
By Jew I meant race (the basis on which he was shot), not religion.
will somebody please help me state this properly:
“We have been at war, eg: in an uneven conflict designed to destroy (take over?) the total economy of the United States, with the CCP beginning sometime in the ’70s”
not the Chinese, repeat not the Chinese! (please don’t round them all up like we did to the Japanese Americans during WWII.)
what we should be doing IMHO is carefully reviewing every politician’s balance sheets (I don’t know the proper word) to determine if they have accepted funds from the CCP – and take the appropriate measures
Ever since Mao, the Communist Chinese have been on a ‘long march’ to free oppressed workers (Marxist vision) and aid them to rise against the compradores of imperialism (running dog lackeys – spit). They created a worker’s paradise in China (only for the Han Chinese) and as Celestials, offered to rule the planet and thus allow barbarians (such as you, boron) the benefit of their enlightened perspectives. You’d be a worker, in a hive environment, expending your life for the good of the state – you’d own nothing and be happy.
“even with seven million jobs added to the economy,”. For that job count, part time jobs were included. If you go back and look at the 1st time unemployment claims for WEEK vs jobs created in that month you really have to wonder…
~~~
“The Communist Chinese, with whom we have been at war – a cold war – for the past thirty years, oppose the Dome.”
30 years of a cold war…I was just reading that Chinese built electrical devices (in our grid) were found to have hidden communication and control built in, so the Chinese could (theoretically) turn off our power grid if they wanted to.
~~
#1, even I could identify Eddy Rickenbacker!
#3, I’d like to hear the story about how that landing gear came to be…
~~
“As the war with Ukraine underscored, there are only submarines and targets on and in the oceans.”
If today’s technology has actually made this true (rather than ‘may be’ true), we have some changes coming as we depend on REALLY big targets to project power and threaten around the world.
It could be a real unhappy day if we find out this is true.
Turns out the 800k job growth under “the previous debacle” was fake, fully made up to prop up the addled Manchurian…so likely that 7M number is maybe half.
To Paul’s point, since we know all statustics under zombiden were fake, how can any year to year assessments be made?
With all the hullaballoo about AI, all I can think about is the movie WALL-E.
While the vision of a Utopian future without the threat of physical labor is proposed, it seems that few think about the energy, resources, and money required to manufacturer enough machinery to take the place of humans. We may get there one day, but my bet is on it won’t happen for a long, long time. That, and regardless of the opinions of those that don’t even dust their shelves, some people like to use their hands to perform certain things. It’s a learning process, can lead to moments of pride, and keeps the mind sharp.
When it comes to robots and AI, the future is definitely unwritten.
i like the connection-
Mr Rickenbacker to the “Big” race this weekend.
Subtle. Appreciated.
Juan
I’ll be watching the race as I BBQ.
BBQ’g is built into the alpha male DNA…which is why Chucky Schumer had no idea how to do it and showed his true self while trying to grill a couple of cheeseburgers.
UpChuck Schumer has staff that handles things like turning burgers. A chef, a butler, upstairs and downstairs maid, driver, landscape staff, pool person, wife’s wardrobe master, etc. I doubt that he could open a bottle of beer without assistance – but to be fair, he has the assistance.
Typical chilly Memorial Day here…55 and chilly with rain (as the camper masses are huddled around their smoky campfires wondering what happened to Spring). Aside from queuing up Clarkson Farm S4 (Harriet is hilarious and supremely competent, total cool farm gal), finishing out Pacific Rim, a Japanese comic brought to big screen…for 12 year old boys…but I digress…the header pic looks like a Kaiju, so the soldier is gonna need a bigger ironman suit with a bigger gun.
We still lose way too many veterans. ANY loss is too many. Reach out to those you know, keep in touch with them, and be willing to take that 3am phone call! ALL of us have PTSD to some extent, and how we deal with it is different for each individual. Thankfully, most spouses do what they can and stand by their SO’s when they need them. The difference today is that many veterans survived injuries that in earlier times would have been a death sentence. Survivor guilt also plays a large part in ‘how’ some deal with the losses. And if you know someone having problems, get them help if you can. Please!
X2
“this system was influential and is the foundation of our modern timekeeping”
It’s also the basis for the Imperial measurement system which was used to map and develop the modern industrial world. The french invented metric in the 1790s – they didn’t like the English and had to do things a “new” way during the revolution. Look at what they tried to do to the calendar.
The Imperial system uses prime numbers 2, 3, and 5 with finer resolution and ease of use than the metric system using only prime numbers 2 and 5. Metric is good for people that can only think in 10s (and the meter isn’t even exactly defined; it changes when they tweak the speed of light which is considered an exact constant (maybe) – a difference of course, only of significance to physicists)
Soapbox topic …
Veteran suicides.
Too many veterans live with untreated, or untreated-able, chronic pain and are frustrated. It can wear them down. COVID lock down made it far worse.
We’ve had a back channel discussion about this.
My son was self medicating on morphine when he had too many drinks on St Patrick’s day. The combination overwhelmed him during the night. I know it probably wasn’t suicide. He had bought his youngest son a new fishing pole just hours before his death.
Survivors cope in ways most don’t understand. My daughter-in-law sets a place at each meal and puts his picture on her cell phone propped up on the table. He shares the meal with them.
A few days ago I thought there might be a trend developing of AI-generated graphics for mis-heard song lyrics. Shark dressed man….
May I suggest the BeeGees/ Andy Gibb tinny-speaker classic:
“Oh I, I just want to be your hairything”