“For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be.” (Tennyson)
An image of the mighty hexagonal storm on Saturn’s North Pole… Is it a real picture? The picture above reflects an octagon – AI revealed. The AI thumb on the scale notwithstanding, this massive storm is over 20,000 miles wide. Wide enough to fit roughly 4 Earths inside it. It’s been observed continuously since Voyager spotted it in 1981, so for at least 45 years, though it’s likely much older. There is a genuine picture below for comparison.
Bullet Points:
** The Dutch Intelligence Services AIVD (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst): The General Intelligence and Security Service covers domestic threats, foreign intelligence, and cybersecurity, and MIVD (Militaire Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst): The Defense Intelligence and Security Service handles military-related intelligence and foreign operations, are both warning of the possibility of a Russian invasion after the Ukraine matter has settled. I’ve worked with AVID personally and they are very good at what they do. Great guys and gals on top of that. (h/t Claudio – ** Across the Channel in Old Blighty, recent reports indicate that fewer than 19,000 Army personnel are trained and medically fit to be deployed in a combat role without limitations. So the British Army may have fewer troops available to fight than the Dutch. Britain has war supplies for two weeks of sustained combat. Somebody call the Kremlin and let them know that the Euros want it to be a quick war.
** In search of the perfect knight.
** (Townhall) h/t Claudio – The ayatollahs and their minions don’t have the capacity to pour sand out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel. It’s a cliché, but if the sandy boot fits, wear it. One of the problems with many systems and institutions is that leadership often exists in a bubble. And messengers who deliver bad news never deliver another message – they’re out back pushing up daisies. MOST systems form those bubbles, and it takes a determined leader to step out of the bubble and gain some perspective. The current tier of Iranian leadership seems to feel as if they’re bomb proof (amid a lot of evidence to the contrary).
** 50,000 barrels a day of oil are now flowing from a once-shuttered oil operation offshore from Santa Barbara, California. That’s due to an executive order President Trump signed in March. But it’s not enough to solve California’s broader energy crisis. For decades, California leaders have demonized the oil industry while sitting on some of the richest reserves in the U.S. Now, the chickens have come home to roost, and there are serious shortages. So the state finds itself in an ironic position — having to alter its long-standing push to drive fossil fuel companies out. Years of aggressive green policies have chased oil producers out of California. Now, the state is in crisis: importing record amounts of foreign oil and grappling with escalating fuel prices. Does California have a lot of oil? There’s a ton of oil. Some of the most prolific oil reserves in the world. We’ve been at it for 140 years, and we’ve only gotten a small percentage of he crudes out there. We know where the crude is, we know how to get it. We just can’t get permission to go get it.
** SPLC’s high-profile donors like Clooney, Soros stay mum after nonprofit indicted over alleged $3M hate group informant scheme. I think they’d be proud of keeping the KKK financially healthy.
** What if you went back in time to fix your mistakes? Question of the Day – if you could go back in time to fix one mistake you made, what would you adjust?
** Writing – in addition to selling books, there is the option to read them as a member of Kindle Unlimited and Audible Plus, they are sold by the page – Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP). This month, you read over 10,000 pages in that way. That may or may not sound like a lot to you, but it’s a record for me, and I wanted to thank you.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
3
Several built and operational – specific numbers built remain classified.
NOT an RQ-170 Wraith (similar fuselage design)
4
2 built – hints
End
4 is Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned aircraft.
Yes!
Anzac day evening here now (time differences).
There was about 600 people at 04.28 am (time of the WW1 landing) Dawn Service from a town of 6000 plus farms etc. Like a lot of rural towns a large number of military past and present.
Happy ANZAC Day!!
Ad Astra per Aspirin…or something like that :)
The realization comes with age.
There have been times I’ve been tempted to get a Sons of Arthritis Ibuprofen Chapter t-shirts.
I feel your pain. This last year has been telling. Don’t fear the reaper.
Uncle was out and about with my younger brother somewhere, wore a t-shirt “Everything Hurts”…every older person laughed in agreement.
Vitamin-I works wonders…have a large bottle in pickup console…the open tray part for quick access.
1 – Soviet Myasishchev M-55
2 – Chinese surveillance balloon
3 – Northrop Grumman RQ-180
4 – Northrop Grumman X-47B
Correction
2 – Chinese weather balloon that went astray and harmlessly toured the USA and like a tourist flew over numerous military installations but sent no data back to the CCP…Source The Biden Administartion
Very politically correct of you.
Exactly!
The Western Euros are very lucky to have a well armed Poland situated between them and the Russian bear .
X2
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Myasishchev M-55 Mystic
2. Chinese High-altitude balloon
3. Northrop Grumman RQ-180
4. Northrop Grumman X-47B
That’s a U-2 casting it’s shadow on the balloon.
Or a TR-1, or some other variant. But the airframe is U-2.
– Kle.
It’s a U-2.
I wonder what Argentina and the people in the Falklands think about the decline in the Brit military. Ooopsie!
They don’t have much of a Navy anymore. I think that any British possessions are there for the taking. They only have 9,000 deployable troops in the Royal Army, and no way to fly them anywhere unless they fly commercial. No way to get military equipment anywhere unless they beg the French…
Dibs on Bermuda.
.
.
LL, will you be commenting on the recent busts in Orange County, CA and Phoenix?
Please
On EME? I can do that. There is a significant difference between the prison gangs such as EME, Los Surenos, and the cartels, though they do handle distribution in some areas. I’ll do that in a later post.
Kinda begs a question I never considered before.
Why wasn’t Article 5 invoked for the Falklands?
I responded to this question on tomorrow’s blog in some detail, but the answer is that it would be in violation of Article 6, and the British didn’t think they needed any help – last gasp of a dying empire – in 2026, transforming itself into an Islamic caliphate as the “British” die off, and the Muslims reproduce. – Most popular baby name in the UK is Mohammed. Just a matter of time.
Gee, I didn’t know there was an Article 6.
I hope China doesn’t go after Pearl Harbor.
The British would be cheering for China if they did.
Dutch Intelligence Services – The Dutch had broken Japan’s diplomatic code and were aware that Japan was planning attacks on Hawaii and the Philippines. On Dec 2, 1941, the Commander of the Netherlands East Indies Army advised the US State Department of an impending attack on Hawaii.
The US knew of the attack and let it happen. Six Movietone news crews were at Pearl Harbor at Christmas (then the back of beyond) sitting around waiting for it to happen. That’s why there was such good footage (for the time) of the attack.
Funny, after the breakup of the USSR the West (NATO) & Russia signed treaties. The agreements were ignored and the West set out to absorb the rest of Europe…. that didn’t work out as well as the West wanted it seems. I looked at a map and by the time the Russians get to Holland the rest of Europe will have it’s own problems.
The Holland announcement looks like theater.
With the Euros and the British it’s all performance art.
Caption art; Not asking for a 1,000 word reply but some story behind the scene. Astra or Arstra as spelled on the suit tag?
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Cali oil; Amazing difference in comparison to pump prices here in TX. Do states have sovereignty over federal regulations with mining and oil development and production? The high speed train to nowhere portrays the functionality and lack of common sense in the Cali ” elected” administrations. If they are pumping 50k barrels, could more R and D, and drilling, another refinery result in lower pump prices for the Left Coast?
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Fixing one mistake; Going raw here. I would have never argued with my wife in front of our children. It’s the greatest offense that I have apologized for, and ask forgiveness for when ever they bring it up. In fact, I would have, and still strive not to argue at all. Never won an argument with her. In truth, I believe we both lost. To discuss civilly, or respectfully debate a difference is healthy. When our two youngest daughters became teenagers I checked out and made concessions, ” to keep the peace.”
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Writing; Hope the sales can rise enough to fund your attendance at ball games. Especially if nephews and or grandsons end up playing in a pennant race. With the print versions out, I’ll be reading less on the kindle.
I read a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago that said that California imports 27% of its oil today. That’s got to drive up costs.
They have specific “California blend” guidelines for gasoline, so they can’t buy it most places in the US. It was refined in California, and now they’re shutting those refineries down.
The answer is AI – gets things wrong. In a year or so, I don’t think so but now, it does.
i don’t see how the russians are a threat to anybody in europe after ukraine. by their own reports/propaganda the euros claim russia has been decimated and is no longer gaining ground even. now i’m supposed to be afraid of them? the euros need to make up their “mind”.
Russia is a hollow vessel these days. Without the US to protect them, the Euros are in even worse shape. And the British are determined to separate their interests from US interests. Good luck keeping the Falklands.
X2 but
Russia still has multi-tons of precious and rare earth metals just waiting to be brought to the refineries.
The super-wealthy Euro-thieves (found in Brussels and other places) are just waiting (and just doing their utmost to help it along) for Vladimir Vladimirovich to kick the bucket.
I expect (and am hoping) The Donald has a plan to protect Russia from being torn up/apart.
Needless to say I just don’t trust Volodymyr Oleksandrovych.
Russia is Russia – Yes, the globalists would like a shot at the natural resources, as would their “allies,” the Red Chinese.
Fixing mistakes. “No, there’s no comfort. You just choose your burden”.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhnUc7ZAJWo
Scar tissue.
“Question of the Day – if you could go back in time to fix one mistake you made, what would you adjust?”
Nothing. As we once said, “Fuck it, don’t mean shit. Drive on.” Regrets? Sure, review them frequently around 3 am after Mr. Bladder has had his way.
Then there are the matters of perspective and reconciliation that must also be weighed in the balance. If you hadn’t done X – maybe a screw up, you would never have learned from it and done Y – a triumph. We take life as it comes without practice sessions.
Fixing a mistake can mean opening the path to a new and improved mistake. Hopefully, learning as you go helps keep you humble.
this is like the old joke about the Arab chieftain’s eldest son who has been given a harem for his 16th birthday
An Arab chief gave his son a harem of 50 beautiful women for his 16th birthday. A month later, the chief went to check on him and found the boy looking pale, exhausted, and barely able to walk. “My son,” the chief said, concerned. “What is wrong? Are the women not to your liking?” The boy sighed and replied, “The women are wonderful, Father. But I never realized that having fifty wives also meant having fifty mothers-in-law telling me to clean my room!”
☹
I think that’s the story that Boron referred to.
The Arab chief gave his son a harem of 50 beautiful women for his 16th birthday leaving him standing at the dooe.
The old pervert came back to see how/what his son was doing an hour later and found him still at the door.
“What’s the matter, son? Don’t you know what to do?” the old man asked.
The son drew himself up to his full height, looked down at his father, and said “Of course I know what to do, yā abī; I just don’t know where to begin.”
could we electrify Cuba (should they wish to become the 51st ahead of Alberta) with shoreline supplementary cooling setting up the grid centripedally(?)
I can envision quite a few jobs:
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/small-modular-reactor-design-approval
I know – I’m like a dog with an old bone – something to sharpen my teeth on
SMR’s would be the way to go, but we could also provide refined crude products (at a profit). The big hurdle would be getting the IMF and the World Bank to finance SMRs. The Communists bankrupted the place. I expect it would take many hundreds of billions over time to rebuild almost everything. The debt would need to be repaid, and it could happen if you extended that time. The problem, as I see it, is also fixing the Cuban people. The Marshall Plan worked in Europe and Japan because the people weren’t communists. You’d need to work to keep the Haitians out.
One mistake I could fix?
I can’t see any downside to not having stepped into that divot in the floor at work, tearing my meniscus.
You would have stepped to the side and some sort of machine would have chopped your foot off – the universe works like that. You didn’t see that sort of machine there capable of doing that because it was invisible. The universe is full of fun stuff.
Astra; my vocabulary lesson of the day. Feminine form of the Latin noun Astro. Because the facial features in the caption art appear masculine my personal musing sees him looking up at the direct overhead light being cast. Is it an expectation to add or ad- vertise for a female companion?
No getting around mistakes, Dad would admonish, “You will make mistakes, but you are smart enough to make fewer than most people (hahahah)…the trick is to recover quickly, learn from them, and try not to repeat them.” (This came after I tried to kick the football over the house…while he was watching…and I shanked it right thru the picture window. Yup…did that…but show-n-tell never works out right for some reason despite ten successes beforehand.)
As the old adage suggests, ‘If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.”, or this nugget from Jesse Stone, “Live long enough you have regrets.”, which is similar, regret often comes after a mistake.
As for my life mistakes, like anyone else forging ahead with all manner of cockamamie ideas and pursuits I had plenty…but that helped steer the journey. Yet even with quite a few I’d like to eliminate or get a do-over…well…live and learn…besides, I tend to do them twice just to make sure they’re mistakes.
Sidebar: The Demented are at it again…what the hay is going on with people…are there that many unhinged Useful Operatives out there? Guess so…Oy Vey.
“BREAKING: A gunman was shot and killed at/near the lobby of the venue (Washington, Hilton). Several shots fired by Secret Service Agents as a gunman attempted to enter the White House Correspondents Dinner. President Trump and First Lady Melania are safe. Cabinet members evacuated and also safe.”
Woke TDS person from California. A school teacher, who is likely a U.S. citizen.
I’ve made lots and lots and lots of mistakes, and due to my ingrained Catholic Guilt, all of them constantly replay in my head. Sometimes so loudly that they drown out everything else. Plus the constant replay of subject-specific mistakes when subject-specific issues rear up.
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Get rid of one? Geez, don’t know. Too many of them link directly to the chain of events that lead to a positive outcome, like the rebound witch that led to me meeting my lovely wife.
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I, unlike bad sci-fi, don’t believe the timeline can be changed. I am of the belief that time is linear, though the future has lots of potential possibilities but once the future becomes present it can’t be changed (though the truth can be overwritten, just look at what the socialist progressives have done to US history.
I’m with you. The timeline stands in this dimension of spacetime. We have no concept of the others.
“the rebound witch that led to me meeting my lovely wife.”
Did she crook a bony finger and summon you?
No, the rebound witch (not a chick, full evil incarnate of which I was unaware for quite a while, a most shameful episode of my life) was so foul and evil that the pre-lovely wife decided to save me from the RW because pre-lovely wife liked me and valued me as a friend, only intending to break up the toxic relationship between me and the RW.
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It was after that dark time and the remarkable response to “Choose me or your friends” demand by RW and my response being “I choose not to be controlled” that I discovered I have had feelings for pre-lovely wife for a while and was just being a beat-down good guy who was being controlled by an evil entity.
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Of course, well, wouldn’t have fallen for rebound witch if My-First-Girlfriend whom I was engaged to didn’t go to Germany with her family and then tell me via mail 2 weeks later that she was now married and happy. A most inauspicious time as I got the letter right before finals and when I got home from finals I crashed for 2 days, my back went out, a white spot appeared in my hair on the back of my head and my feet went flat. Oh, also went nearsighted. Stress, it’s a killer. Got better, back came back, feet still suck, eyes a-okay (well, except for not wearing sunglasses and burning out the vision in my right eye by about 50%.) And then was perfectly open for rebound witch to sink her nasty little claws in me.
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Though, well, third time’s the charm.
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And it only took me about 38 years after the rebound witch to realize that, yes, indeed, she did fit the curse of the rebound chick, though being an evil witch.
While we all know that California has huge reserves both under the ground and under the sea, there’s another state that has almost as much in reserves offshore and won’t pump though it could make that state one of the richest countries in the world.
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That state is.. Florida. Our eastern offshore oilfields are immense and ready to be reaped. Most all the tar balls and oil slicks on the eastern shores are not caused by leakage from sunken ships but from seeps from the aforementioned oil fields. Yeah, yeah, hurricanes, blah, blah. If we, humans, can pump oil from the North Seas, the east coast of Florida is easy-peasy.
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Same with the west coast of Florida. Huge oil fields ready to be pumped. And the Gulf of America is shallower than off the east coast.
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But, noooo. We can’t have that. We can’t pump from Florida’s abundant offshore oil fields because that would be badthink or something.
there’s nothing I’d like better than seeing the tiny outlines of rigs on the horizon (of the GoA) as I look towards Mexico, say ’bout halfway ‘tween Tampa and South Padre
And, of course, a couple refineries. Florida’s offshore fields could pay our future to where we wouldn’t need property or sales tax. Which would make Floridians’ money go that much farther.
I see the chance of Russia attacking Europe with the goal of annexation to be zero.
What is left in Europe to want, aside from some paintings and nice architecture?
Their energy sector has committed seppuku, their workforces are both diluted and desultory and they are resource poor.
To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, “The trouble with Europe, is that there is no there, there”.
Even worse, what forces does Russia have now that outnumber what Poland has? Russia’s blown their wad in the Ukraine and the ChiComs are just waiting for the counter to fall as low as it will go before ‘rescuing’ Siberia.