Caption: Civil liberties and human rights groups often debate Palantir’s technology for its use in immigration enforcement (ICE), foreign military operations, and predictive policing. How do you feel about predictive policing? Are we talking about Pre-Crime? Are people like WSF and Mike_C presumed guilty because they are? Should we start thinking about Minority Report?
Flying Terminators
Will there be flying Terminators with new power sources beamed to them via lasers from orbit? Count on it. How far has the AI progressed? It’s there. How about the power sources? They’re close. The loophole is that space-based power translates to endless sources used by terminators. They’re not technically space-based weapons. Did I obtain this information from a classified source? I did not.
The reality of this is that it’s all very doable at present, and the really exotic stuff is way beyond that. Electrically powered ducted fans (electric jet engines) drawing energy from space-based lasers have endless thrust. A power source to keep the terminators flying indefinitely is key to much of the “drone of the future,” and it’s the same problem as powering data centers in orbit.
Protecting power sources requires placing them far enough out at Lagrange points in high orbit. L1 is located between the two large masses (such as the Sun and Earth); ideal for continuous monitoring of the primary body. L2 is located just past the smaller mass; perfect for unobstructed views of deep space. L3 is located behind the larger mass, opposite the smaller mass; hidden from view and rarely used. L4 and L5 are located 60 degrees ahead of and behind the smaller mass in its orbit; naturally stable regions that often trap asteroids. Remember that, when we’re talking about the speed of light, distance in space isn’t an issue.
The higher the terminators fly, the less attenuation the lasers experience as they penetrate the atmosphere, and the less angular distortion they must compensate for. Grist for your speculation, EdB.
Bullet Points:
** AI data centers – Don’t worry about those on the ground because they’re becoming ‘obsolete’.
** The Iraqi federal government has taken some recent steps to show that it is taking the threat posed by Iranian-backed Iraqi militias to other countries seriously, including closing border crossings with Iran. These actions are unlikely to stem the flow of Iranian arms to Iranian-backed Iraqi militias that the militias are using to conduct attacks on US regional assets and US allies as part of Iran’s broader campaign in the US-Iran conflict. Iran is also reportedly prioritizing newly-formed, IRGC-directed Iraqi militia cells over Iran’s historic Iraqi partners to conduct operations against the United States and its allies in the region. Iran may be prioritizing support for these new militia cells due to command-and-control issues that Iran has reportedly faced with some of its historic Iraqi partners. Some Iraqi militias appear dissatisfied with Iran’s development of new networks in Iraq, however. It’s complicated.
** Approximately 200 dead bodies remain on Mount Everest out of more than 346 total recorded fatalities
** Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has revoked Rashida Tlaib’s ability to sponsor foreign refugees after she was caught vouching for three men known to Israel as supporters of Hamas. Mullin says that while the men haven’t acted on their radicalism, he believes it’s “only a matter of time.” The men were immediately sent back to Jordan, and Tlaib was informed on the spot that her applicants were an automatic “no” from now on.
** In Brussels.
Bucking the India-UAE-Israel-USA Coalition
(h/t Ken and Claudio) When you look at the decline of the BRICS coalition, the meeting was somewhat of a Hail Mary pass. China wanted BRICS to become Xi’s anti-American coalition: reject the dollar, embrace RMB settlement, and announce that the “Eastern era” had arrived. India (Modi) publicly distanced BRICS from any anti-Western agenda. Indian officials denied supporting a common BRICS currency. The summit declaration emphasized diversified critical-mineral supply chains-a thinly veiled warning against China weaponizing rare earths.
Xi’s translator was filmed being blocked from following Xi onto the red carpet. Modi interrupted proceedings to ask whether everything was “OK,” directing global attention toward Xi’s physical condition. Xi then skipped the official dinner and rushed home, while Modi and Putin held a warm 45-minute meeting and dominated the cameras. Xi imagined himself standing at the center of a new world order. Instead, he discovered that even among BRICS members, they only want Chinese trade, not Chinese leadership.
India will buy Russian oil, trade in multiple currencies, cooperate with America, investigate Xiaomi, ban TikTok, impose tariffs on Chinese products, and confront China at the border. That is strategic autonomy the rest of the world could learn from. The summit exposed the central weakness of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy: he can pressure smaller countries, but he cannot command major powers.
He arrived expecting to lead the rebellion against America. He left early after discovering the rebellion was against him.
Then there is Saudi Arabia. Where do they stand? International bodies and organization presidencies (such as India’s 2026 BRICS chair) and the official BRICS About Us page list Saudi Arabia as one of the eleven member countries. Saudi officials and state media reports have frequently described the kingdom’s participation as that of an “invited country” rather than a ratified member, noting that the formal evaluation process regarding the invitation remains ongoing. Riyadh aims to balance expanding economic ties with BRICS nations like China and India while preserving its core security and strategic alliance with the United States.
Very few outside of Red China fully trust the RMB. China uses strict capital controls to manage how money moves in and out of the country, which limits open trading. The PBOC maintains tight control over the RMB’s exchange rate, reducing transparent market pricing. In 2015–16, the PBOC unexpectedly changed the RMB’s exchange-rate mechanism, triggering large-scale capital outflows. This prompted Beijing to intervene by selling foreign reserves and tightening capital controls—a policy reversal that eroded investor confidence. That erosion remains a decade later (see above) despite the number of paid shills who proclaim otherwise.
Recalling Scythia
Homer’s Iliad mentions a tribe called “Hippelmolgoi,” not Scythians. Their most notable characteristic was their consumption of “mare’s milk, kumis,” a source of great pride for them, and they mention it frequently. (See: Homer, Iliad, Book 13) But who exactly were these Hipppelmolgoi? Eratosthenes, considered to have laid the foundation of geography, states in his Geography that these Hipppelmolgoi were actually Scythians.
An article titled “Milk and the Indo-Europeans” (which refers to the Scythians as Iranians) states that “the Hipppelmolgoi were Scythians” (Eratosthenes, “Geography,” Princeton University Press, 2010, p. 47), (Romain Garnier et al., Milk and the Indo-Europeans, 2017). Hesiod also described the Scythians as “those who milk mares” (Rosalind Thomas, Herodotus in Context, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 55). Herodotus also describes the Scythians’ kumis production process in detail. There is no other nation in the world besides the Turks that makes and drinks kumis from mare’s milk. (Herodotus, Book 4)
Note: Later, Mongol warriors drank a mixture of fermented mare’s milk and fresh horse blood as an emergency field ration to maintain extreme mobility and survive on long campaigns. Mongol armies traveled light and fast, often covering up to 60 miles a day without baggage trains. When standard rations ran low during rapid movements, warriors would make a small, non-lethal incision in a horse’s neck to draw a small amount of blood. They blended the warm horse blood with Kumis (fermented mare’s milk, traditionally known as airag) to create a high-calorie, nutrient-rich liquid meal that sustained them in the saddle. The combination provided quick hydration, protein, and essential salts when foraging or cooking was impossible. Fermented mare’s milk was a daily staple in nomadic life because it provided essential nutrients and was easier to digest than fresh mare’s milk.
Salomon and the Revolution
Haym Salomon was born around 1740 in Leszno, in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, into a Jewish family of modest means. He picked up a working knowledge of several European languages, which later put him at the center of American war finance. He arrived in New York in the mid-1770s and joined the Sons of Liberty.
The British arrested him in 1776 on suspicion of espionage, then discovered he spoke fluent German and put him to work as an interpreter for their Hessian mercenaries. It was a mistake. Salomon used the access to encourage Hessian officers to desert and to help American and French prisoners escape. He was arrested a second time in 1778, reportedly convicted and sentenced to death, and on 11 August he got out of New York, leaving behind property worth five or six thousand pounds, his wife Rachel, and a son one month old. He walked into Philadelphia with nothing and petitioned Congress for work two weeks later.
Now the part that usually gets told wrong. Salomon is called the man who funded the Revolution. He was not, and he never claimed to be. He was a bill broker. From 1781, he was Robert Morris’s principal broker at the Office of Finance, selling French and Dutch bills of exchange that converted foreign loans into usable specie. He did it at rates below market and sometimes waived his fee, which is a real service and a real sacrifice, but it is not the same as lending the government his own money. The documented figure is around 200,000 dollars in bills brokered across 1781 and 1782. The famous 600,000-dollar figure comes from petitions his son filed with Congress from 1846 onward, and that number climbed as high as three million in later versions.
What he did do out of his own pocket was carry members of Congress who were broke. Madison wrote that he had been a pensioner on the favor of Haym Salomon, a Jew broker, and that Salomon obstinately rejected all recompense. James Wilson was another. At the same time Salomon made the largest single contribution toward building Mikveh Israel synagogue in Philadelphia and joined the fight against the Pennsylvania test oath that barred Jews from public office.
He died on 6 January 1785, about 44 years old, after an illness his family blamed on his imprisonment. He left his wife pregnant with their fourth child and the estate insolvent, because most of what he held was Continental paper worth a fraction of face value. His descendants petitioned Congress across the next century and were never paid. In 1975, the Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor, the third in the Bicentennial Contributors to the Cause series, with a tribute printed in green ink on the gum side of the stamp.
Sources for further reading. Max J. Kohler, Haym Salomon, The Patriot Broker of the Revolution, His Real Achievements and Their Exaggeration. Morris U. Schappes, A Documentary History of the Jews in the United States. The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781 to 1784, University of Pittsburgh Press. The Papers of James Madison at Founders Online, free to read. The Immigrant Entrepreneurship project entry on Salomon.
End
Mt. Everest free-range graveyard – well, it is a fairly idiotic place to go, after all.
– Kle.
Where the bucket list ends?
Mt. Everest – sometimes, following energetic and highly motivated people can take you to places you REALLY don’t want to go to.
Mt Everest.
Lots of tourist climbers where they are basically caries up.
The other extreme is Timothy John Macartney-Snape (Australian) – one of the founders of Sea to Summit outdoor gear did a run / climb from the Indian coast to the top of Mt Everest 1990. No supplemental O2.
Some folks have extraordinary DNA…Snape is similar to Reinhold Messner, no O2, alpine style ascent without all the massive basecamp baloney and 42 Sherpa’s to do all the work for the ‘$100k at a pop’ crowd. Just up and back. Next summit please. Incredible.
Ps. Why anyone thinks a long line of climbers at the Hillary Step is actual climbing is beyond me.
Sometimes it’s not DNA but where you live and what you like doing. One of my flying buddies lived in Woodland Park, Colorado (elevation just under 8,500 feet) and enjoyed running and hiking. We had to go to the altitude chamber to demonstrate that we still remembered the symptoms of hypoxia and the problems with high altitude flight. In the hypoxia demonstration, we took our masks off at a high chamber altitude and worked math problems and simple find the word games. Of course, we were supposed to be looking for blue lips, fingernails, blurred vision, difficult thought process and such, but most of us put our masks back on after a few minutes. My buddy kept going and after 15 minutes, the NCO in the chamber had enough and told him to put his mask back on so we could finish the ride in time for the next class.
And there’s the nurse who entered a compression chamber to keep medical watch on a diver who came in with the bends. At some point rapture of the deep set in and she started doing a strip routine. Bet she never had to buy any drinks after the word got around.
Palintar: Gee, thought there was something written in our Constitution disallowing this crap…err…overreach? TPTB are constantly pushing the line. So to answer, ‘Hell no!’…because it will morph onto We The People by next year, too which I say “Get ‘the Flock’ off my lawn.”
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Brussels: What I call the locust horde…and politicians who are tasked with maintaining a nation’s sovereignty fail miserably at every turn…because they are massive incompetent while grifting. Ex: Mitchy Boy returns after…how long?….and the MSM is all aflutter. This guy needs to be put out to pasture because clearly at this [latest] point he’s incompetent to do a damn thing for WTP except muck up the works even further.
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‘and Tlaib was informed on the spot that her applicants were an automatic “no” from now on.’: Uh, how come she isn’t being indicted for obvious sedition (or whatever)? Minimally should be tossed out of the Senate, not handed a ‘tsk, tsk finger wag’ to not do it again. Unreal the hypocrisy by those who demand we pay our parking ticket ‘or else!’ while ‘the criminals in Armani Hijabs’ get a special free pass.
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AI – Going Full ‘Scanners’: Because ‘data centers are evil!’ lost steam when the truth came out they’ve been around for decades and offer revenue streams and jobs, the Chicken Little’s switched to ‘AI IS SKYNET and we’re all gonna be Terminated!” as a distraction. More unreal ‘2 year old’ behavior by a bunch of bureaucrats and shills. AI is an amazing tool, guardrails are utilized despite what some disgruntled computer hack or government nutjob (Sanders latest latch onto) says to make WTP panic because…Covid v.10 didn’t work this time. Oy vey…get a grip people.
>he’s incompetent to do a damn thing for WTP
Fair enough. But when did he ever do anything FOR WTP? Pretty sure that War Turtle was placed there (fencepost turtle) to do things UNTO the American people.
As a matter of academic interest, I’d like to know how much of ol’ Mitch was owned by China vs how much by neocon interests. Did he service them serially, or was it one at either end, at the same time? (Either road, WTP are the ones getting it in the keister.)
True…thing is…Sanders, a despicable person who manages to get reelected, IS STILL given airtime to spittle his cockamamie freedom robbing idiocy.
Hmm, a line got deleted by yours truly…’the Mitch thing is comparable to Sanders…’, meaning it is really galling to have those two anywhere on the news, except that club of miscreants seems rather large these days so no shortage of cringeworthy appearances, like Harris saying ‘AI is two letters’…proving those ‘that work for us’ have fallen a long ways from any decent standard.
Kumis is a little bit alcoholic and actually tastes pretty good. I’ve not “knowingly” had it with horse blood. But would give it a try.
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Everest the view from nearby tea houses is adequate. No need to go up high. Be sure to have the Po Cha drink. It’s Yak butter and salt. If you have a couple raksi (rice and millet made into high octane alcohol) first the Po Cha tastes great.
*
Brussels… no reason to ever go there except to get an international flight out.
Everest: Geoffrey Tabin wrote a book called “Blind Corners” which among other things talks about his experience climbing all “Seven Summits” i.e. the tallest mountain on each continent. He did this not as a rich guy shepherded up the peaks by guides, but at times WAS one of the guides. GT went on to become an ophthalmologist, is current a chair professor at Stanford, and was integral in creating the system to literally cure blindness (due to untreated advanced cataracts) in Nepal. In the late 80’s/early 90’s GT used to give talks to the MIT Outing Club (as in outdoorsy stuff, nothing homosexual) during “Intersession” (basically the month of January which is between semesters). Tabin comes from an amazing family. GT’s brother Cliff is an accomplished scientist (PhD) and a department chair (Genetics) at Harvard Medical School. Mother Johanna was a highly-regarded psychotherapist. But I think this crowd will be most interested in father Julius Tabin who worked with Fermi and was part of the Manhattan Project.
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https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/julius-tabins-interview/
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Anyway, Geoff Tabin had many stories about his experiences on Everest (not all in the book, unfortunately), ranging from tragic (including stuff about the many corpses along the “tourist route,” to farcical comedy. (The “tourist route” BTW is no picnic. Even if you are being more or less herded up the mountain, you still have to be really fit.) As to the comedic part, he had a story about Lydia Bradey, the Kiwi who was the first woman to summit Everest without supplemental O2. She did it without an official permit, and afterwards claimed she failed to reach the top, to avoid a 10-year ban from the mountain by Nepalese authorities. I think it’s currently accepted that she summited, but back when I heard Tabin speak the Official Line was that she had failed to summit. Tabin said that he, and all the experienced mountaineers then present were certain she summited. He also described her as “fun to be around but very different; she definitely danced to the music in her own head”. The comedic part was that Bradey apparently had commissioned a special climbing suit and internal insulating layers with the crotch held together with velcro. She wanted to be the first woman to have intercourse on the summit of Everest. No way anyone would (or could survive) getting nekkid on the summit, but the velcro port was supposed to make it at least possible. Being MIT this sparked audience discussion about all sorts of scientific tangents (plus a few people worried about the moral aspects), but eventually the consensus was reached that, “when you can barely put one foot in front of the other due to the altitude and cold, you’re not going to be able to get it up, so it’s all moot because no man could participate.” I have no idea whether this is true, but it seems a reasonable guess.
Scythians: These folks appear in Tom Kratman’s “time travel” novel To the Eternal Glory of Rome which imagines what might have happened if one of the legions destroyed in the Teutoburg Forest (Arminius and all that) survived. In the novel, Legio XIIX (sic; that’s how they wrote it, not XVIII) is transported to central Asia several hundred years into their future. I “spoil” this because it’s an obvious plot device (treated as a joke by the author) to set up the story. Good book, pretty much classic Kratman, with lovingly detailed “training montages,” the grizzled “Top Soldier” noncom and a very young officer forced to take on a MUCH bigger role than his limited experience merits (but needs must and all that), and lots of stuff about the practical (e.g. logistical) aspects of war. Here Kratman created engaging characters who are neither stupid nor assholes, nor yet ridiculous paragons of cardboard virtue. And even the villains are not simply cartoonishly evil, but have their own reasons for what they do. Anyway, highly recommended.
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Contrast and compare with SM Stirling’s Roman time travel novel (To Turn the Tide) in which five people from the 20th century go back in time to help Marcus Aurelius. The hero in fact becomes MA’s friend and trusted advisor. I like Stirling generally, but this book had such slavering hatred of the Germanics I could barely stand to finish it. A pity because most of the stuff I like about Stirling is there, but apart from the “those German animals” business, one of the minor-character time travelers is so annoying you’d think someone in-story would have slipped a shiv between his ribs. Frankly it made me wonder if “external influences” are “helping” some major SF writers with plots and characters. An example of this is John Ringo’s new superhero/kaiju trilogy (three books so far). Hmmm.
Brussels. Meanwhile in Britain —
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https://x.com/patcondell
Are people like WSF and Mike_C presumed guilty because they are?
While I can’t speak for Mike C, Yes. The bigger question is surviving the re-education camp. Alternatively, I’m such a minor nuisance I will be ignored.
The challenge with a data center in space is not how you power it, it’s how you keep it cool. Shedding excess heat in a vacuum is not easy.
There is another Salomon in our history – Dr. Benjamin Salomon, Captain, U.S. Army, who died protecting his patients on Saipan. Discovered by Ed Love, who later wrote about it in “War Is A Private Affair.”
There were quite a few other Sephardim ( and Ashkenazim) (Est. ~400 officers and men) who fought “front lines” alongside “The Rebels” during the War of Britain’s Abuse of her Colonies; a fairly large number considering the absolute number of Jews in the Colonies at that time (Est. total of ~2500 including women and children).
“** The Iraqi federal government …”
I’ll have to try following that later…
I can tolerate hot weather better than cold. I feel miserable in the cold. There is not a chance to catch me on a frozen mountain.
I’ve tried both – and it’s really tough to ski on sand.
Cold is easier to work with… in my experience anyway. Heat…how naked can you get?
Lagrange points: Even you might be surprised. Or maybe not … :)
What Klause said.
I know nothing of flying Terminators but I do know a simple human-led sweep of Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit and Philly would end most of our crime problem. Hey, we don’t even need to deploy drones to do it.