Bullet Points:
** Black Hole feeding frenzy – details. (h/t Claudio) “It appears that black holes’ consumption of material has greatly slowed down as the universe has aged,” said co-author Niel Brandt, also of Penn State University. “This is probably because the amount of cold gas available for them to ingest has decreased since cosmic noon.”
** Antarctica – sits astride active volcanoes. It is actually two continents, joined as one. West Antarctica is very geologically active, and East Antarctica is not. But the clickbait always refers to “Antarctica.” Warming under the ice usually refers to a volcano. Not all magma is the same temperature. Magma temperature generally ranges from 1,200F to 2,400F. It will all melt solid water (ice).
** CNN reported that the US is preparing to invade Kharg Island. Everyone knows the 1st move in war is to make sure CNN gets the top secret plans.
** It appears that Israel is poised to invade Lebanon and clean out Hezbollah (Iranian proxy) once and for all. I don’t think that’s fake news.
** Mentally retarded people find a home in government leadership in California. It’s a jobs program for lightweights and thugs. (Carolla)
** The new light ice breakers for the Great Lakes and the New England Area have been announced. It’s been a very long time coming, but they should be a significant aid to navigation.
** Highly portable and protected from the elements, containerized weapons delivery systems (from missiles to sea mines) would seem to be the near-term future, along with a bevy of sophisticated low-cost drone aircraft.
** The UK and the value of their net zero industrial program. By the way, the White Wolf Mine is selling carbon credits and biodiversity credits to anyone who wants to spend the money. So far, there haven’t been any takers, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not out there, aching to buy them (you know who you are). Do it before they’re gone.
** Compass Call
** Reviewing the Fermi Paradox.
** A California Court of Appeals denied state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s attempt to block an investigation into Riverside County’s vote on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gerrymandering bill. Records suggest that officials mysteriously certified nearly 46,000 more ballots than were cast.
** Big Mike Obama blames white people because black people can’t swim. Klaven delves. Barack’s husband takes himself much more seriously than everyone else does.
** 7 ways to defend your home without a firearm.
** So, you want to follow Lord High Executioner Beans into the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Knights Templar) – Welcome to the club! My understanding is that they didn’t bathe or cut their hair, neither of which lends itself to good military order and health (Roman Army), but you could smell them coming if you were an enemy, and that counted for a great deal in the desert. And once the Templars were dissolved, what happened next?
** How sorry are you really?
** CDR SAL muses over the tan, rested, ready, if the not quite battle-tested People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), which is comfortably unbothered, moisturized, happy, and staying in their lane as we have been emptying out magazines and wearing out Sailors and ships, They continue to be focused on how to defeat the U.S. Navy should it venture west of the International Date Line in response to a future contingency—the very mission the PLAN was built to execute as the world’s largest navy. CDRSAL will be a guest on EdB’s Your American Heritage Radio Show on Saturday. Plan to tune in and call in with questions. After speaking with EdB, the show will be pre-recorded, with additional guests invited, making it an all-hands on deck and damn the torpedoes affair.
** By Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Skylar Woodhouse (Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a US insurance program meant to boost shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will begin soon, a move that may help revive flows of much of the world’s oil and gas supplies. Bessent’s predictions, delivered Thursday during a meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet at the White House, come weeks after the president first announced the US International Development Finance Corporation would provide insurance guarantees with naval escorts to help ensure safe passage for oil tankers and other vessels through the strait.
Handicapping the Darwin Awards for 2026
(1) In Rome, a communist couple with a long record of violent protests were killed when a bomb they were building for a terrorist attack accidentally blew up them and their home. As Bob Hoge at Redstate.com notes, Pakistan TV reported it on X this way: “Tragic accident in Rome: Italian anarchists Sara Ardizzone and Alessandro Mercogliano died in a blast while reportedly preparing a protest related to jailed anarchist Alfredo Cospito.” Not “building a bomb,” but “preparing a protest.” They must be auditioning for jobs at the New York Times.
(2) Some say that Ayatollahs in Iran may get a collective award for calling meetings to decide how to respond to President Trump every time he said something provocative, thus targeting themselves for the Jews who subsequently blew them up. It might be the largest group Darwin Award in history since they keep meeting, and the Little Satan keeps blowing them up. I think we’re on the fourth tier of leadership now in what once was Persia.
(3) Make your suggestions in the comments section.
History Reviewed
In March 1351. Thirty English knights rode out to face thirty French knights in hand-to-hand combat to the death. No army. No siege. Just sixty men, real weapons, and a field in Brittany. It wasn’t a one-off. A chauvanche sort of affair that had been going on for a long time, as the Hundred Years’ War had rotted into stalemate in Brittany. Two garrisons — English-backed Ploërmel, French-backed Josselin — sat fifteen kilometres apart, raiding each other, bleeding the countryside dry, neither able to finish the other.
The two captains made a proposal. Thirty men against thirty. Halfway between the castles, at a great oak tree known as the Halfway Oak. Because it was a species of tournament, rules were set down. The warrior class had more in common with each other than they did with the dirt-eating peasants. No retreat permitted. Fight until one side can no longer continue. Both sides accepted. Living losers would be ransomed. The dead would be judged before the bar of God.
Medieval weapons review – not a bad evaluation.
On the morning of 27th March, sixty men heard mass, pulled on their armour, and rode out to the appointed field. Before the fighting began, the two sides exchanged formal greetings — as the code demanded. Then they backed away from each other, drew their weapons, and closed. Four hours of close, savage, exhausting combat followed. Swords, axes, daggers, spears. Men went down and were dragged clear. At one point, both sides paused by agreement — to bind their wounds, to rest, to drink — before returning to the field and beginning again.
Beaumanoir, the French captain, was badly wounded and crying out for water. His comrade, Geoffroy du Bois, looked at him and said, “Drink your blood, Beaumanoir. Your thirst will pass.” He picked up his sword and kept fighting.
When it was over, nine of the English-backed force were dead. The rest were taken prisoner — ransomed, in keeping with the customs of the age, and released. The French lost three. The result changed nothing. The war ground on for another fourteen years. But the story of the Halfway Oak spread across Europe — copied by chroniclers, sung by troubadours, celebrated in paint and verse for centuries. Jean Froissart wrote that the men on both sides had fought “as if they had been all Rolands and Olivers.” They came to kill each other. They agreed on the rules first. In a war defined by plague, famine, and slaughter, sixty men chose to settle it with honor.
What is best in life?
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.” (Conan)
It doesn’t augur well for Russia
It’s not quite grist for a Darwin Award. But 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity is offline — around 2 million barrels a day — the worst oil supply disruption in modern Russian history, Reuters calculated.
Ukraine struck all three of Russia’s major western oil export ports this month. Two Baltic Sea ports suspended loadings after drone attacks sparked blazes, one of which has been burning for days, with smoke visible from Finland. Russia’s largest Black Sea oil port has been loading at below-capacity levels since the earlier strikes.
A broken pipeline and seized tankers add to the damage. Oil and gas fund roughly a quarter of Russia’s state budget. The disruption hits Moscow as oil prices exceed $100 per barrel amid the war in Iran. They also impact Russia’s ally, China, which relies on Russian imports to feed its economy.
I don’t expect them to sue for peace, but how will the Kremlin respond when Ukraine begins to bombard it (the actual Kremlin) with its home-grown cruise missiles, which should roll out this coming summer?
Identify the Ship
1
2
Where is the U-Boat? There’s really only one place on Earth that it could be.
3
4
Parting Shot
End
Fermi Paradox comments seen elsewhere: Someone has to be first, why not us?; Are the tools we’re using to check for life elsewhere so low tech that they are they equivalent of looking for smoke signals?
Kicking the can down the road: I think Reagan was a bit more occupied with the USSR, so Iran was a bit further down the to-do list. Still didn’t like sending people to Beirut without an adequate force protection plan. Maybe the locals fanatical desire to blow themselves up hadn’t adequately worked its way into the DC environment??
Rome fireworks: knew a couple who went to Italy in the 1970’s. Their letters would mention terrorist bombings and shooting, then later say it was just a normal week.
Conan quote: still like Skippy’s version that ended with “hear the lame things of their women.” Think I mentioned this one before.
Maybe we’re it (paradox).
Suppose they are out there and are no more sophisticated than us.
I doubt we could detect us from out there.
It’s all speculation. And as to sophistication, are we talking about 2030BC humans or 2030AD humans? I think that humans are humans providing they’re not starving to death or something like that. But there are different levels of sophistication based on culture and access to information.
I meant technical sophistication.
Compare our technical sophistication when you were born during WW1 and the Fokker Eindecker was the thing – and a century later it’s the F-22. Tech moves fast if we don’t nuke ourselves.
2 Corinth Canal, Greece for the uboat.
Absolutely. It’s iconic.
#2 is U-371 passing through the Corinth Canal as RCC states above. She was sunk in May of 1944 with all hands lost in the straights of Gibraltar.
Not many U-Boats or their crews that started the war were there to see its conclusion.
Identify the Ship:
1. Perhaps a British World War 1-era S-class destroyer?
2. Corinth Canal in Greece
3. French Suffren-class SSN
4. Kilo-class SSK
Excellent. Yes, the S-Class – spartan but deadly.
Landlubber question. Ships of that era have many portholes while today’s ships don’t. What is the reason?
We have forced air conditioning.
Yeah. Forced AC has made the hull boring-looking but overall stronger as all those portholes are a potential weakpoint.
–
It’s weird. Warships have gone from lots of portholes to none in the hull while ocean liners (cruise ships specifically) have gone with more and more and more glass.
Carolla nails it again. History for The Left is not a strong suit, assuming they actually read something written before last week.
***
Compass Call: So, the opposite of what the FBI did on J6, brought in cell tower trucks in order to capture every cellphone in attendance..’just in case’. Nah, wasn’t an Op.
***
Israel is not messing around, time to put the heathens – who want every Jew dead – ‘out to pasture’ once and for all. And, neither is PDJT, gave them 10 days to stop then all hell will be unleashed, the only language they understand, assuming they understand his meaning.
I don’t think that the Mullahs think that the President Trump is serious. The Saudis and UAE made themselves clear.
“He’s bluffing! Right up to the ‘BOOM!’. Then there were none…or certainly a dwindling supply of bomb recipients.
Trump was on The Five, basically the gloves are off…in his best New York offense manner; called out all the ‘very stupid’ people running Blue Cities into the ground, including…as he calls him…NewScum. WTP need to quit allowing these people and their cadre of low-information emoting voter base to continuing wreaking everything they see.
Yesterday TSA got funded…and we’re supposed to be grateful ‘for their service’. BS. Where is the SAVE Act? That went quiet like ‘SAVANNAH GUTHRIE’S MOM!’. Congress is just as useless for WTP as these Blue city and state morons, maybe worse. Dems hate you and me and are certifiably rabid nutjobs, while the R’s couldn’t find their proverbial zipper with both hands, a map, and flashing lights, so predictably pee all over themselves at every turn. Who are these people? Certainly not ‘our best and brightest’.
–
Heard Stigall is giving up his radio program…to run for Congress in Missouri. Dang, my go-to great radio voice. But maybe for the better to help change the tide of Democrat idiocy and chestery. Rush never ran despite people urging him to do so; didn’t want the pay cut and had massively more influence behind the mic. After 30+ years of slide, things are shifting…I believe. Us ‘normals’ are tired of the waste and fraud and graft and fecklessness by a bunch of losers in nice suits and scarves. Time For THE Reset!
*cheatery (and *wrecking)
Might have mentioned I hate iPad “typing” but do it anyway.
FYI: Gracious and humble with fortitude. America needs these type of people in government, not the crop of [pick a low-level descriptor] we currently have:
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/344436/salem-morning-host-chris-stigall-to-exit-for-congressional-run/
Stigall replaced Hewitt? Wouldn’t know. I stopped listening to that time slot on Salem to avoid hearing Hewitt.
Hewitt is more than a bit much.
Agree…Hewitt is not my cup of tea.
Stigall is a 25 year ‘original radio guy’ like Rush, and often in his more recent years been the only one to emulate Mr. Limbaugh, having been compared to Rushbo. Salem runs Stigall’s daily show in podcast, don’t have to get up at 4AM to catch the three hours.
cnn and hal turner giving out troop movements.
Or they’re being fed information to feed to the Ayatollahs.
Either way – CNN = Useful Idiots
Fermi Paradox: This came to mind… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5BdLVRg7Lo
And we are that “one”.
The Fermi Paradox only works if you can refute irreducible complexity and accept evolution as the genesis for life, or refute entropy and accept evolution as the principle that causes complexity in life.
That shouldn’t be too hard. 😀
Yes, but I do like the movie and that particular sequence as McConaughey’s character later in the film becomes a theological advisor that places God into the ‘space’ equation.
Defining God (big G) beyond “I am that I am” becomes a chore in that there have been a million people come up with completely different answers.
I don’t think we’re meant to, or are even capable, of answering some questions. You just have to “Take It On Faith”….
x2
The Conan quote was an edited version of A Quote by Temuchen ,, that had more information on the women. But I assume since this is a family blog , the movie version was fitting.
Family blog…
In my old SCA household, the last part was edited to “and do the humpty-dance with their women.” It was a very frat/sorority type of household. And they kicked major ass when they took to the field. Still miss those days. Sigh.
Great history lessons today!
** CNN reported that the US is preparing to invade Kharg Island. Everyone knows the 1st move in war is to make sure CNN gets the top secret plans.
If true, a terrible idea. Can you say, Khe Sanh?
Yes, but I’m sure I’m mispronouncing it.
Dien Bien Phu…
Larry, you gonna be heard on a radio show tomorrow?
I don’t know how I missed your announcement of it. However, to be sure, since we’re recording it tonight, there won’t be an opportunity for calls.
If anyone has a question for Sal, ask it here today.
Larry’s already made a good list.
I’ll throw my cracker in the soup.
“It doesn’t augur well for Russia”
will the bear go all nyucyular (I have absolutely no idea how Jimmuh would have [mis]spelled it) on the Ukraine if it shafts(my word for drones) the Kremlin – I’d be really pissed off/on too.
They might nuke Kiev, but the blacksplash would be profound. Everyone knows that Moscow has been raining steel shrapnel on Kiev for over four years. If the Ukes developed an Iran style ballistic missile (or ten) Vladimir would not consider turn-about to be fair play but the world at large might. A nuke move would be uncharacteristic for the Russians, who have always held those weapons tight.
BTW:
the soggy stock market, while it definitely should not aid the left side of the aisle in the upcoming mid-terms, IMHO, unless there is a major flow beneath the wings, will definitely bring The Donald’s programs (national – for the improvement of WTP) to a grinding halt.
I sincerely hope this will not be the case; I plan to vote for him in ’28 when/if he runs; no one else has anywherre near the combination of what it takes to pull us out if this (I like the word) quagmire that I’ve been watching the “ship of state” sink into since 27 Jul 53.
Good read. I had a long range day. I took my 30-06 and had less than 1 MOA with 180 JHP at 300 yards – it is accurate at 100yards and 300 gor the 180gr drop. I swapped out the Simmons TV View scope(they have not made a TV View in 40 years) with a 5×20 50 mm scope that is sighted at 1000 for 120 gr ammo. I am 5 MOA today. I attribute that to the light wind. I have never figured out wind for the long shots. I have seen a round drift 3 feet due to wind. I only shot 6 rounds in rifle. That is a skill that is slow to diminish. I suck at pistol shooting right now.
I know nothing but feel the vibe that 47’s gonna go all in on Iran.
Regarding Hezbollah and southern Lebanon, the handwriting’s been on the wall since Israel responded in force to Hamas and the Gaza.
–
I get the feeling that not-Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon will whole-heartedly shut off any escape routes for Hezbollah trying to run northward, leaving only east as an escape route. Jordan’s been a no-go zone for Hezbollah forever (since Jordan kicked out the Palestinians) and that leaves Syria as the only potential ‘ally.’ But I don’t see that happening with the recent regime change in Syria and with the shenanigans in Iran.
–
To sum up, Israel whacking Hezbollah like the way they whacked Hamas is a good thing, a great thing, a fantastic thing. Only the UN and white liberal women in the US would really have a problem with that.