Sunday, August 30, 2026

Iceland votes against restarting EU membership talks

Good news! Stay independent of the EU as much as you can!

Population of Iceland about 400,000.

"Iceland has voted against resuming talks on joining the European Union 13 years after they were broken off.

Public broadcaster RUV reported that 52.8% of the more than 225,000 people who voted had rejected the government's proposal, while 47.2% had backed it. Some 12,600 votes separated them.

Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir's centre-left government promised to hold a referendum by 2027, but brought it forward because of international tensions, including US President Donald Trump's threats against Greenland.

However, debate in this island nation of almost 400,000 people centred more on its fishing industry rather than security concerns.

With some 270,000 people eligible to vote, RUV reported the turnout of 82.5% was the highest in any Icelandic election since 2009.

Already part of the EU's single market and Schengen border-free zone, full EU membership would bring Iceland into the customs union and eventually the eurozone currency union. ..."

Iceland votes against restarting EU membership talks


Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir


Tennessee Governor Bill Lee proposes renaming Nashville international airport after Dolly Parton

Sounds like a good idea to me! A fitting tribute indeed!

The airport will be renamed from Barry Field Airport (BNA) to Dolly Parton airport. "Berry Field: The airport was named after Colonel Harry S. Berry.
Who was Col. Berry: He was a World War I and II U.S. Army veteran and directed the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Tennessee." Google Search)

"Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has proposed the renaming of Nashville International Airport in honor of Dolly Parton, the country music legend who died on Tuesday at age 80.

Lee said in a statement, “It is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.”  ..."

"... The governor and first lady are people of strong faith. They are active in numerous faith-based ministries, which have taken them all over the world to serve people in need, including to Africa, Haiti, Central America, and the Middle East. ..."


Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposes renaming Nashville airport after Dolly Parton - ABC News

Gov. Lee Announces Partnership to Name Nashville International Airport in Honor of Dolly Parton (official news release) "A lasting tribute is being envisioned to honor her remarkable life, enduring legacy, and immeasurable impact on Tennessee and beyond"


TN Governor Bill Lee and his second wife/first lady Ann Lee 


Israel is replacing Palestinian workers with 330,000 foreign workers

More consequences of the coward mass murder terrorist attack of October 7, 2023!

The pressure is on the Arabs living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to never allow again coward terrorists to operate among them building tunnels, hiding command centers and weapons underneath a children hospital and so on!

"Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been rapidly replacing its Palestinian labor force with foreign workers.
250,000 foreign workers are already in Israel and their number is set to rise to 330,000.
Many unseen challenges lay behind these numbers, the most substantial of which is the question of the housing that employers are obligated to provide for their foreign employees. The law stipulates a detailed definition of suitable housing and some companies are renting entire buildings and converted them into homes. But evidence of crowding and poor conditions is increasing and the government's solutions are mostly on paper. ...

After October 7, 2023, Israel decided to close its border crossings in Judea and Samaria with the Palestinian Authority and barred the entry of Palestinian workers into Israel. An estimated 150,000 Palestinian workers were regularly entering Israel before the war, of whom 92,000 were working legally, many of them in the construction industry. Only 20,000 Palestinian workers currently work in Israel, primarily in essential enterprises and communities beyond the Green Line. ..."

Is Israel prepared for 330,000 foreign workers? - Globes "Workers from abroad have taken the place of Palestinians but employers are not always providing the housing conditions and other services the law requires, while government enforcement is lacking."

Mouth Microbes transmitted to gut Could Help Diagnose gastrointestinal Cancers

Amazing stuff! Cancer is history (soon)!

Is this maybe another good reason to do daily tongue scraping?

"... In a new study, researchers have shown that mouth bacteria migrate through the gastrointestinal tract in certain types of cancer.1 The findings raise hope that the breakdown of these carefully sectioned-off compartments in the body could be an indicator of disease, leading to easier and quicker diagnostic tests for gastrointestinal cancers. ..."

"... In a study ... researchers report that by analyzing the make-up of oral microbes, they may be able to detect signals associated with gastric (stomach) and colorectal cancer. These findings could lead to the development of new, less-invasive screening tests for gastrointestinal cancers. ...

To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 507 volunteers to donate both oral and fecal samples, using a highly standardized collection process. The cohort included 129 healthy individuals; 215 people with metabolic disorders such as metabolic syndrome, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes; 77 people with gastric cancer; and 86 people with colorectal cancer. For the volunteers with cancer, samples were collected before the start of any treatment.  ...

The findings were more nuanced than a simple cancer-versus-healthy comparison. The MF index was significantly elevated in patients with gastric or colorectal cancer but not in people with metabolic disorders. After accounting for alcohol consumption, regular exercise, and BMI, the association remained robust for both gastric and colorectal cancers. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
Mouth and gut microbial compartmentalization is disrupted in gastrointestinal cancers
Mouth-to-gut transmitted bacteria correlate with metabolic and inflammatory markers
Oral-fecal transmission signatures enable cancer classification by oral microbiome alone
• Transmission-based classifier surpasses microbiota models and fecal occult blood testing

Summary
The human microbiome is spatially compartmentalized, yet oral bacteria can ectopically colonize distal sites such as the gut, potentially influencing disease.
By analyzing paired oral and fecal microbiomes from 507 participants across healthy controls and patients with metabolic disorders or gastrointestinal cancers, we established a quantitative mouth-to-feces (MF) index to measure MF microbial transmission.
The MF index revealed elevated mouth-to-gut transmission in cancer and a strong association with host metabolic and inflammatory indicators.
Using transmitted taxa, we developed a random forest classifier that accurately distinguished gastric/colorectal cancer from healthy controls across seven independent cohorts, even when trained solely on oral microbiome data.
When benchmarked against the conventional screening test, the MF-based model achieved markedly higher sensitivity than the fecal occult blood test.
These findings uncover disease-specific transmission signatures and highlight MF microbial profiling as a generalizable, non-invasive framework for gastrointestinal cancer diagnosis and risk stratification."

Mouth Microbes Could Help Diagnose Gastric Cancers | The Scientist "Some mouth bacteria migrate to the gut in gastrointestinal cancers, opening possibilities for more convenient cancer diagnostic tests."



Graphical abstract


Figure 2. MF transmission index as an assessment of the mouth-gut microbiome axis


Tracking motions of single electrons at the space-time limit with attosecond time resolution or the extension of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Amazing stuff! Very impressive! This could be a breakthrough!

"... developed subfemtosecond scanning tunneling microscopy to directly visualize the quantum motion of individual electrons at this space-time limit as they tunneled through an energy barrier.
Modulating the barrier with the carrier field of near-infrared waveforms produced isolated sub–1-femtosecond electronic wave packets, the spatial extent of which depended on a complex interplay between multiphoton and field-driven dynamics. By balancing quantum path interference, the authors minimized the wave function’s space-time volume down to the attosecond-angstrom scale."

"... Between position and time, however, there is no Heisenberg uncertainty principle. A research team ... has now observed for the first time that the location and time evolution of an electron cannot be measured with arbitrary precision simultaneously. This so-called space-time limit has important implications for future applications. ...

ultrafast microscopes are developed and used to directly capture the motion of electrons, atoms, and molecules in microscopic slow-motion movies with the highest possible spatial and temporal resolution.
Ten years ago ... the motion of a single molecule in space and time was resolved for the first time using ultrafast scanning tunneling microscopy.
Compared to atoms and molecules, on this length scale electrons move a thousand times faster—namely, on time scales of attoseconds. ...

To achieve a corresponding increase in temporal resolution compared to previous experiments and to directly image and control the quantum dynamics of individual electrons, the researchers developed a new laser system.
Using its laser pulses they control electron motion on these extreme time scales in such a way that the electrons transfer from an atomically sharp metal tip to a silver surface over a distance of only a few atomic diameters. These electron movements are measured as current, and the temporal information is obtained by using two pulses of light. ...

The electron motion observed in this way exhibits signatures on attosecond timescales—which means that the light pulses can transfer electrons on these timescales, and one can watch them do so.
What makes this special is that the electrons do not move like classical particles. Rather, as quantum mechanical waves, the electrons penetrate the energy barrier between the tip and the sample, for which they actually do not possess enough energy according to the laws of classical physics. They “tunnel” through it, as if they were passing through a massive wall without destroying it. ...

To gain a better understanding of microscopic electron dynamics at the “space-time limit,” ... conducted complex quantum simulations. The calculations explain the experimental results with remarkable accuracy. They also show that the electron does not follow the light field immediately, but with a tiny delay of 500 attoseconds. ...

In this frontier region of the smallest spatial and temporal scales, the fundamental physical limits of quantum physics become apparent on multiple levels. The effect of the laser pulses, for example, cannot be clearly assigned to either the wave or photon picture of light, but bears features of both—and this is precisely what enabled the researchers to penetrate so deeply into the “space-time limit.” When electrons are moved by light pulses on such short time scales, this has complex consequences for the spatial distribution of the electrons, which are described in quantum mechanics as wave packets.

 “The more precisely we want to pin down the electron’s position in time, the more energy we need to provide. And as a result, the electron wave packet spreads out more spatially.” The team investigated this relationship using a single atom placed on the surface to confine the electron wave packets atomically just before the light pulses arrive. This allowed them to directly determine the relationship between the spatial and temporal spread of the electron wave packets. Fortunately, despite strong excitation, the electron wave packets remain spatially defined with sufficient sharpness to enable atomically resolved microscopy on attosecond timescales.

With this latest breakthrough, the team is pushing the boundaries of a previously only vaguely suspected spatiotemporal limit of quantum mechanical electron wave functions, in order to systematically investigate for the first time how the temporal dynamics of electrons shape the spatial structure of their wave function. This also opens up entirely new possibilities for applications. For example, transferring an electron to a molecule corresponds to the smallest possible charge transfer; however, if the electron is confined to a tiny space-time volume, this corresponds to extremely high local peak current densities of up to 1 trillion amperes per square centimeter."

From the abstract:
"The dynamics of an electronic wavefunction often have non-trivial consequences on its spatial distribution, for example, during tunnelling or chemical bond formation.
Yet, revealing spatio-temporal coupling requires ultrafast videography at the intrinsic size of electronic wavefunctions, at the so-called space-time limit.
Here we experimentally access the intrinsic quantum motion of individual electrons at the space-time limit while they are tunnelling through an energy barrier, using atomic-scale lightwave-driven scanning tunnelling microscopy with attosecond time resolution
While modulating the tunnelling barrier with two time-delayed near-infrared pulses forming phase-controlled single-cycle waveforms, isolated electron tunnelling transients shorter than 1 fs are identified.
The measured spatial extension depends on the interplay of multi-photon and field-driven dynamics, as confirmed by full quantum simulations.
We experimentally localize the attosecond-confined tunnelling wave packet on the angstrom scale and use it to map a single copper adatom on a silver surface. This fusion of attosecond science with atomic-scale scanning tunnelling microscopy makes it possible to study wavefunction dynamics inside atoms, molecules and solids."

In Other Journals | Science

Microscopy at the Space-Time Limit (original news release) "Ultrafast scanning tunneling microscopy at the Regensburg Center for Ultrafast Nanoscopy (RUN) reaches the quantum mechanical space-time limit for the first time"



Fig. 1: Attosecond lightwave STM [scanning tunneling microscopy].


Fig. 2: Evolution of lightwave-driven tunnelling currents with [tau] delay time 


Fig. 4: Atomically resolved subcycle currents.


The 35-acre property in Arizona built by former State Senator Bob Worsley hits market llamas included

Arizona is not only about horses! 😊

I have seen other properties in the Phoenix area with camels (see e.g. my Google account profile picture below)! 


This off-grid Arizona mountain estate was made for making memories - Homes.com News


This 35-acre property in Heber, Arizona, is listed for the first time at $9.5 million.






Merz im Waldbrandgebiet: „Ich will allen Leugnern sagen: Das ist der Klimawandel!“

Was für ein grüner Vollidiot! Noch so ein deutscher Klimawahnsinniger oder Klimademagoge!

Ich bin lieber ein Klimaleugner als ein Klimademagoge! 😊 Der Klimawandel beruht auf sehr viel Pseudowissenschaft, wie ich hier intensiv auf meinem Blog beschrieben habe.

"... Merz sagte, er wolle „allen Leugnern des Klimawandels sagen, schauen Sie sich das genau an, was hier passiert ist. Das ist der Klimawandel“. Man werde alles tun, um den Klimawandel zurückzudrängen, „aber wir müssen auch mit dem Klimawandel leben“, so der Kanzler. ..."

Merz im Waldbrandgebiet: „Ich will allen Leugnern sagen: Das ist der Klimawandel!“ | NIUS "Es war der erste öffentliche Termin von Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (CDU) nach seinem Sommerurlaub: Dabei meldete sich Merz direkt mit einer grünen Wahlkampfrede zurück. Zu den Waldbränden wolle er allen Leugnern sagen: „Das ist der Klimawandel“, so Merz."


Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz im Waldbrandgebiet


Google Play Store app annoyances

As of very recently, I get prompted all the time to enter a password or biometrics to access Google Play Store on my new Samsung android phone.

Very annoying! I have never purchased anything through Google Play! However, from time to time I like to install new, free apps or update apps etc.

For many years Google Play used to be accessible without authentication!

How Sweden built one of Europe’s hottest startup ecosystems

Recommendable!

"Sweden is perhaps one of the world’s hottest tech hubs right now. It has long been home to Spotify and Klarna, but this latest wave of companies — from legal AI startup Legora to vibe-coding tool company Lovable — has left everyone wondering what’s going on in one of the world’s happiest countries. ...

This year, the startup ecosystem has raised $2.8 billion in funding, according to Dealroom, and is projected to hit at least $5 billion.
Last year, the ecosystem raised $3.2 billion.
Nothing has quite matched the $8.5 billion raised in 2021 — a reflection of the hot venture market that later cooled and is now, per the data, starting to heat back up again. Other big emerging names from the ecosystem include Neko Health and autonomous freight company Einride. ...

the latest wave of startups in Stockholm is benefiting from the first generation of entrepreneurs, who are providing resources and mentorship to the latest generation — or, in some cases, becoming repeat founders themselves (Spotify founder Daniel Ek, for instance, is also the founder of Neko Health). ..."

How Sweden built one of Europe’s hottest startup ecosystems  | TechCrunch


What is not Lovable about Sophia Bendz (Source), a general partner at Cherry Ventures based in Stockholm. Just kidding!


LpWM: A Case for Sparse Representations in World Models

This could be an interesting new paper by Yann LeCun and his team.

Notice that Yann has written a whole series of articles on JEPA.

From the abstract:
"Joint-embedding predictive architectures (JEPAs) learn latent dynamics for planning and avoid representation collapse by matching features to maximum-entropy distributions such as isotropic Gaussians, yielding dense representations. However, it is unclear whether dense representations are the most favorable geometry for modeling dynamics.
In this work, we ask whether a different geometry, sparse representations, can make action-conditioned latent dynamics easier to model, and what dynamical structure emerges from such representations.
We first show that nonlinear Lipschitz dynamics can be approximated arbitrarily well by action-conditioned linear dynamics in a sufficiently high-dimensional one-hot latent space, with rollout error vanishing as the dimension grows.
This motivates distributed sparse representations as a practical relaxation of one-hot sparsity.
We introduce LpWorldModel (LpWM), a JEPA model regularized with Rectified Distribution Matching Regularization (RDMReg) to match encoder features to a Rectified Generalized Gaussian distribution, yielding non-negative sparse codes. Empirically, sparsity lowers the predictor complexity required for successful planning: on PushT, sparse LpWM outperforms dense LeWM by up to 57% in planning success at intermediate predictor capacities.
This advantage also extends beyond Gaussian distribution matching, with LpWM outperforming dense VICReg representations across multiple predictor families. We further find that the learned sparse representations are mode-factored, with support encoding discrete dynamical regimes and feature magnitudes capturing continuous within-regime state.
Together, these results suggest that sparse representations can reduce the predictor complexity required for control while revealing interpretable structure."


[2608.22764] LpWM: A Case for Sparse Representations in World Models






English for trippers: Reign or ring?

Let freedom ring or reign or both?

A pick from McKinsey’s 2026 annual book recommendations

The title is very worn out! How many books have a title like "A beginner's guide to"? "There is no exact total count, but thousands of books use titles like "A beginner's guide to" across libraries, online retailers, and databases worldwide." (Google Search)

Is there such a thing as a beginner of dying? Most people die late in life of natural causes and have e.g. witnessed other people dying before them. Do not many of these people ponder about their life lived and remaining years long before they die?

The author "Simon Charles Boas was a British aid worker who worked for development charities and the United Nations. His writings about his terminal illness diagnosis—widely described as inspirational—were featured in British national newspapers and on BBC Radio 4's Today programme." (Google Summary of Wikipedia entry)

"“In a crowded genre, Simon Boas offers a clear-eyed, pragmatic, searingly honest, and deeply moving perspective on mortality that ultimately becomes a guide to living well. Also, when was the last time a book title made you smile?”

Recommended by Raju Narisetti, partner and leader, McKinsey Global Publishing and Marketing, McKinsey"

McKinsey’s 2026 annual book recommendations | McKinsey




Portland Antifa groups have direct operational connections to Hamas and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Good news! Finally, more is done by law enforcement to disrupt and prevent significant leftist terrorism in Western countries. For far too long lenient law enforcement against violent leftists was the norm, while one sided focus was on rightist groups of all kinds!

The reporting about these allegations are a bit sketchy! Probably, the US government relied on intelligence service information/operations (possibly from Italy too) that can not be disclosed at this time.

What is surprising is the connection between violent radicals in Oregon and many other militant/violent groups in Europe with an extremist group in Italy. The extent of this militant/violent network is stunning!

"... triggering a broad terrorism designation action against the network and exposing what administration officials say is the clearest evidence yet that domestic radical extremism is not merely ideological — it is organizationally tied to America’s foreign enemies."

"... The A/I Collective builds and provides the digital infrastructure for violent Antifa cells and other radical left-wing networks in the United States and across the world.
Today, the United States is designating this extremist group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The Autistici/Inventati Collective is an Italy-based hacker cell that provides far-left extremists with encrypted communications, calls, and web-hosting services – all concealed from law enforcement.
The A/I Collective is a central node in the far-left's war on our civilization. ..."

"... "Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Today, the United States sanctioned Autistici/Inventati – a major far-left tech collective whose services are used by the most active and violent Antifa cells in the United States and across the world. ..." 

"... Autistici/Inventati (A/I Collective) is an Italy-based extremist group that builds and operates the digital infrastructure for violent Antifa cells and other far-left militants across the world
A/I’s cadre of radical hackers and tech developers provide a full spectrum of services – including encrypted chats and email, web hosting, secure video conferencing and streaming, anonymity shields, and a suite of other technological tools – to Marxist, anarchist, and other left-wing extremist groups in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. These tools are specifically designed to support the operations of far-left terrorist networks, built to enable them to organize, recruit, communicate, disseminate propaganda, share target information and tactics, and carry out violent attacks – all while remaining anonymous, untraceable, and beyond the reach of the law.

The A/I Collective exclusively offers its tools and services to radical left-wing actors and manually vets all potential users for ideological affinity before granting them access to its infrastructure.
The group has become a key node in a transnational campaign by violent and criminal far-left networks to destabilize the United States and its partners across Europe, the Western Hemisphere, and beyond.
It currently claims to host roughly 16,000 mailboxes, 1,500 websites, 5,500 mailing lists, and 10,000 “blogs” on its custom-built platform, which militants frequently use to disseminate target information, tactical manuals and techniques, and communiqués about recent attacks. ...

disseminate maps of critical infrastructure, along with instructions for building improvised explosive and incendiary devices – all routed through a network of foreign servers intended to conceal criminal activity from law enforcement.

The anarchist cells responsible for sabotaging rail systems across France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands in 2026, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to claim responsibility for the attacks, publish official communiqués, and disseminate manuals for constructing improvised incendiary devices to target railways and other critical infrastructure.

The anarchist cell responsible for sabotaging the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) in March 2026, which temporarily halted crude oil flows to Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to claim responsibility for the attack and publish official communiqués, as well as to disseminate a manifesto calling for additional attacks on critical infrastructure and referring adherents to another A/I Collective platform, which provides detailed sabotage manuals as well as maps of vulnerable critical infrastructure across North America.

The far-left extremist network responsible for multiple arson attacks and acts of sabotage against Germany’s rail and energy infrastructure between 2011 and 2026, including a January 2026 attack on Berlin’s power grid that cut power to 45,000 households and resulted in a fatality, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to claim responsibility for attacks, publish official communiques, and disseminate a manifesto calling for additional attacks on energy infrastructure worldwide.

A far-left extremist media group claiming to be a “tool” for global militants to share “essential information” to be “acted upon,” relies on A/I Collective tools and services to publish official communiqués and calls to action for U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations such as 
Armed Proletarian Justice, Informal Anarchist Federation and International Revolutionary Front (FAI/FRI), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hamas, Hizballah, National Liberation Army (ELN), New People’s Army (NPA), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense. This same group was recently cited in a federal criminal complaint against a domestic terrorist who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for targeting a federal building and police car with improvised explosive devices.

Oregon-based Rose City Antifa has relied on A/I Collective tools and services to organize and incite violent and criminal acts domestically, including an attack on Customs and Border Patrol helicopters that led to a federal indictment. Rose City Antifa also used A/I Collective tools and services to disseminate doxing lists and release illegally obtained personal information of Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with calls for targeted attacks on ICE agents in the streets and “in their homes.”

The anarchist cell responsible for waging a violent campaign to prevent the construction of a law enforcement training center in Atlanta, Georgia, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to claim responsibility for violent attacks on law enforcement officers, disseminate doxing lists and illegally obtained private information, threaten government officials and business owners, and circulate instructions for making improvised explosive and incendiary devices to be used against government buildings and local businesses. The cell remains active and still uses A/I Collective tools and services to incite violent and criminal acts against government officials, law enforcement, and critical infrastructure.

The violent far-left extremists, “Jane’s Revenge,” who waged a firebombing campaign against crisis pregnancy centers across the United States, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to publish official communiqués and claims of responsibility for violent and criminal acts and to incite copycat attacks. Four members of the group were later charged for violating federal law and engaging in a “conspiracy against rights” through threats of force and intimidation."

White House Weekly Briefing | August 24–30, 2026


Designation of Autistici/Inventati as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (official news release)

EXCLUSIVE: State Dept reveals Portland Antifa connection to Hamas, Iran’s IRGC in sweeping terror action "Marco Rubio says Autistici/Inventati [Italy] built encrypted digital tools used by Rose City Antifa, Hamas and other violent groups"

PORTLAND: Fake News Ignores Antifa Violence, Residents’ Pleas for Help "For years, an Antifa-led hellfire has turned Portland into a wasteland of firebombs, beatings, and brazen attacks on federal officers and property — yet the Fake News remains in shameful denial about the Radical Left’s reign of terror."

National Emergency: Protecting America’s Power Grid from foreign sabotage and cyber attacks

It seems the reported cyber attacks on water treatment plants and electric power system were more serious!

"On August 26, President Trump declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act [of 1977] to secure the United States bulk-power system from foreign sabotage and cyberattack. The executive order cites foreign actors — including state-sponsored adversaries — creating and exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities across America’s electricity infrastructure, threatening national defense, emergency services, and economic stability.
The order generally prohibits foreign-produced bulk-power equipment and associated software, and directs the Secretary of Energy to publish implementing rules.
A prior complementary order already preserved an estimated 17,000 megawatts of generating capacity — enough to power 12.75 million American homes. The emergency declaration extends that protection across the full bulk-power supply chain, complementing other administration orders targeting AI cybersecurity, defense supply chains, and drone imports."

White House Weekly Briefing | August 24–30, 2026

Biggest Oil Deal in World History: U.S. Secures Majority Control of 65 Billion Barrels in Venezuela

Update of 8/30/2026: "President Trump spent months declaring his ouster of Venezuela’s leader had secured the country’s oil for the U.S. When American energy companies resisted investing at the speed and scale he wanted, his administration devised an extraordinary solution to turn his vision into reality: make the U.S. government itself an investor." (Source)

This was one of the hottest news items of the past week!

Could history see this event to be similar to the Louisiana or Alaska Purchase?

Caveat I am not familiar with the details of the deal.

"... Structure: The arrangement sets up a joint venture between the U.S. government and a private operator, granting a long-term concession (initially reported as a 100-year framework spanning 25 to 100 years for specific operations) across 17 strategic oil fields.U.S.
Stake: The U.S. secures a 55% effective output share—including equity and the right to buy oil at cost—with acquired crude directed toward the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the military. ...
Goals: Proponents state the arrangement will draw billions in private investment to rebuild Venezuela's degraded petroleum sector ..." (Google Search)

"... Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez welcomed the deal, which is expected to bring about $209bn to the state’s treasury. ...

For Venezuela, Rubio said the deal would bring nearly $100bn in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs and help rebuild the country’s economy.
..."

"... Rodriguez, who is Maduro's former vice-president and who the US backed following his capture, said on Saturday that the energy agreement with the US would remain in force for 25 years.

She said it would target an increase in crude output to 1.5 million barrels per day and preserve the country's sovereignty over its natural resources. ...

It apparently grants the US direct governance over a foreign country's sovereign national resources and appears to be wider in scope than the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority's control over Iraq's oil revenues after Saddam Hussein was ousted in an American-led invasion in 2003. ..."

"In a bombshell announcement, President Trump declared that the United States has entered into the biggest oil deal in world history. At his direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — working with Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and through a partnership with private business — secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela at no cost to the American taxpayer. The deal more than doubles American oil reserves, greatly increases domestic oil supply, and is projected to substantially lower gas prices for Americans long into the future, while setting Venezuela on a course toward prosperity. The administration called it a Historic Transaction that strengthens the growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States. ..."

White House Weekly Briefing | August 24–30, 2026

Trump announces ‘biggest oil deal in world history’ with Venezuela "US president says deal secures majority US control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela."


Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez welcomed the deal


Israel and Finland extend defense cooperation pact for 10 years

Good news!

Finland is the one country Stalin and the former Soviet Union could not conquer!

"Finland and Israel have secretly signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for defense cooperation until 2034, the Finnish media reports. The agreement was signed despite criticism from Finnish opposition parties. The agreement includes cooperation between the countries in R&D and procurement of defense equipment.

According to the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation Yle, the original MOU was signed in 2013, and it was the Finnish government that proposed to extend it in early 2024 - with the latest pact being until 2034. Previously, the agreement was extended for five years at a time, while now it has been extended for a decade.

The largest deal between the countries was signed in November 2023, when Finland procured Rafael's David's Sling air defense system for €317 million. David's Sling intercepts medium- to long-range rockets and missiles, as well as cruise missiles, using the Hit to Kill mechanism (direct impact of the interceptor on the target). David's Sling was jointly developed by the Defense Ministry's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), led by the main developer, Rafael. ..."

Israel and Finland extend defense cooperation pact - Globes "The agreement on R&D and procurement of defense equipment was signed despite criticism from Finnish opposition parties."

Yayoi Kusama: Great art Explained

Very recommendable! R.I.P.

I have to admit I was not familiar with her art until she passed away.

(5) Yayoi Kusama: Great art Explained - YouTube


Saturday, August 29, 2026

Understanding the painter Mary Cassatt

Very recommendable!

(4) You will finally understand Mary Cassatt - YouTube


Michael Jackson - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Enjoy!

(3) Michael Jackson - I Just Can't Stop Loving You | MJWE Mix - YouTube


Prince - Baby I'm A Star (Live 1984) [Official Video]

Enjoy! What a performance by Prince!

Prince - Baby I'm A Star (Live 1984) [Official Video] - YouTube


PM Modi participates in a Yoga Session in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

India's soft power! A very repetitive video!

LIVE: PM Modi participates in a Yoga Session in Tashkent, Uzbekistan - YouTube


Why Nokia and Ericsson are Shutting China Ops| 5G, Huawei & the Global Tech War Explained

Recommendable!

(148) Why Nokia Is Shutting China Ops| 5G, Huawei & the Global Tech War Explained - YouTube


Fueling nuclear fusion: How the US is working on a LIMITLESS power source

Will we succeed this time!

(148) FUELING FUSION: How the US is working on a LIMITLESS power source - YouTube


Lifetime Tax Bill, State by State in the US

Serious stuff! Many taxpayers probably don't realize how much in taxes they pay per year or per lifetime! Just shrugging one's shoulders is not good enough. Ask for small and limited government!

Always remember, high taxes reduce individual philanthropy!

This approach is similar to the Tax Freedom Day that is announced every year. It indicates how much of the year a taxpayer works for the government.

"A new analysis of lifetime taxes in all 50 states shows New Jersey residents will pay an estimated $1.36 million over a lifetime, the highest in the country, while Florida has the lowest bill at roughly $509,000.

Nine states top $1 million, with the Northeast dominating: Massachusetts ($1.30 million), Connecticut ($1.25 million), and New York ($1.08 million) all make the list.

The average taxpayer in the U.S. will spend an estimated $762,272, a third of all estimated lifetime earnings.

The estimates assume a 45-year working life for a single filer, including federal, state, property, sales, and vehicle taxes. ..."

Saturday, August 29, 2026 - Join The Flyover





Top ten states


Bottom ten states


Can you slow the aging process? Study reveals which interventions might help

Good news! Again, lifestyle improvements (healthier diet, less stress, more physical exercise and so on) are confirmed to be very strong when it comes to healthy aging and long life. The way one ages is to a large extent a personal choice.

Notice this study is focused on epigenetic aging, which may or may not be a narrow focus of the complex process of aging.

"... Using a new class of DNA-based blood tests, they found that lifestyle interventions and certain drug treatments indeed appear to slow the aging process, while over-the-counter supplements don’t have much effect. ...

For their analysis, the researchers primarily used a type of blood-based biomarker known as epigenetic clocks, which estimate epigenetic or biological age by measuring the pattern of methyl groups (basic chemical structures that act like tags) attached to a person’s DNA.
As people age, these chemical tags change, previous research has shown. Successful anti-aging interventions can reverse the tags. Computer algorithms are then able to use the changes observed in these tags to estimate a person’s epigenetic “age.” ...

The researchers tested four categories of intervention: pharmacological drugs, lifestyle-based changes, over-the-counter supplements, and medical procedures. They found that lifestyle interventions, such as a combination of a healthy diet (whether it’s Mediterranean, low-carb, or low-fat) and exercise, consistently decreased epigenetic age.

Pharmacologic interventions — including metformin and semaglutide, prescription medications used for metabolic control and weight management, and anti-TNF therapies, which use biologic medications to target an immune system protein that triggers harmful inflammation — decreased epigenetic age the most. (TNF, or tumor necrosis factor, is an immune-system protein that helps fight inflammation-related injury.) ..."

From the abstract:
"Aging biomarkers can potentially allow researchers to rapidly monitor the impact of an aging intervention without the need for decade-spanning trials.
However, before the use of aging biomarkers, such as epigenetic clocks, as surrogate endpoints, their responsiveness to interventions that target aging must be tested.
Here we curate TranslAGE, a harmonized database of 51 public and private longitudinal interventional studies, and calculate a consistent set of 16 prominent epigenetic clocks for each study, along with 94 other DNA methylation (DNAm) biomarkers that can help explain the changes observed for each clock.
Using this database, we discover patterns of responsiveness across a variety of interventions and DNAm biomarkers.
For example, clocks trained to predict mortality or pace of aging show the strongest responses across all interventions and show consistent results with one another; 
pharmacological and lifestyle interventions drive the strongest responses from DNAm biomarkers; and the characteristics of the study population and study duration are key factors in determining the responsiveness of DNAm biomarkers to an intervention.
Moreover, clocks with multiple subscores (that is ‘explainable clocks’) provide specificity and greater mechanistic insight into the responsiveness of interventions than single-score clocks.
These findings can help to design future clinical trials by guiding the choice of interventions and of specific subsets of DNAm biomarkers to minimize multiple testing, study duration, study population and sample size, with the eventual aim of uncovering DNAm biomarkers that can be used as surrogate aging endpoints."

Can you slow the aging process? Study reveals which interventions might help | Yale News "A new Yale analysis found that diet, exercise, and some medications can slow the aging process, while over-the-counter supplements appear to have little effect."



Fig. 1: Current paradigms to study the responsiveness of DNAm biomarkers and their limitations.


Fig. 3: Interventions and their effects on 16 prominent DNAm biomarkers.


Tying RNA into many pseudoknots using AI

Amazing stuff! Just a charming exercise or toy academic experiments? Maybe not.

"... Another kind of molecule is employed by cells for a staggering variety of odd jobs: RNA. And determining how sequences of these nucleic acids bend and loop has proven to be a much more formidable challenge.

Especially tricky to predict are RNA pseudoknots: strands that fold and connect in complex ways ... It was precisely because of this knotty problem that a team of researchers tested the latest RNA-designing AIs by asking them to create molecules that fold into 57 pseudoknot structures. Remarkably, the platforms came up with properly folding sequences for 55 of them. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
RNA molecules can fold into intricate three-dimensional shapes that drive much of their biology, but designing new structured RNAs from scratch has remained out of reach.
Townley et al. show that complex RNA structures called pseudoknots can now be designed reliably using artificial intelligence (AI).
In a year-long competition on the citizen science platform Eterna, AI methods solved more than 95% of 57 design challenges, matching the performance of expert human players ... 
Cryo–electron microscopy revealed that the molecules folded into entirely new three-dimensional architectures, sometimes featuring intricate interactions that the AI had not been instructed to build. RNA design has thus entered the deep-learning era. ...

Abstract
RNA design has been hindered by the limited accuracy of three-dimensional (3D) structure prediction. In this study, we show that intricate RNA structures can be generated with current deep learning tools through accurate de novo design of pseudoknot secondary structures.
In an Eterna competition involving 57 pseudoknots, generative artificial intelligence (AI) methods matched experienced human designers in solving most blind challenges, evaluated by single nucleotide–resolution chemical mapping, compensatory mutagenesis, and cryo–electron microscopy.
AI-generated molecules with accurate secondary structures formed well-ordered 3D folds stabilized by noncanonical tertiary interactions not modeled during design.
Success was guided by an RNet foundation model trained on prior chemical mapping data, suggesting that some difficult RNA design tasks may be tractable without first solving RNA 3D structure prediction."

ScienceAdviser

OpenKnot (Eterna competition) "Many important biological processes depend on RNAs that form pseudoknots, and they are among the most conserved structures in evolutionary history. However, scientists still have much to learn about their properties, structure, and functions."




Figure 2 The workflow of RNet.
(A) RNA native structures or 
(B) simulation trajectories are transformed into networks. 
(C) A machine learning-based algorithm decomposes the local and global network properties to identify binding sites.
(D) A distance-based dynamical graph algorithm can accurately describe the binding dynamical motions.
(E, F) Local and Global network properties.
(G) The diagram of the DDNC.


Some of the RNA pseudoknots


Fig 4 Cryo-electron microscopy of AI-designed pseudoknotted RNA.
(A) Secondary structure of Kissing Multiloops (target P20 in Round 3), colored by stem.
(B) AlphaFold 3 3D informed secondary structure and predicted model, colored by stem.
(C-E) For the tested designs from (C) Struct2SeQ-SHAPE, 
(D) MPNN-fixbb, and
(E) gRNAde, cryo-EM derived secondary structures (top), cryo-EM maps (unsharpened) and fitted coordinates, colored by stem (bottom), show high accuracy in recovering the target pseudoknot secondary structure while also highlighting distinct topologies from AlphaFold 3 prediction and noncanonical interactions (insets under (D) and (E)).


USS Cole retired commander rips slow-walk to justice for 9/11 terrorist suspects. Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is still not sentenced to death

Indeed, it is a huge scandal that some of the trials against major suspects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have not yet occurred.

Justice delayed is justice denied!

Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was apprehended via a special operation in Pakistan in 2003!!! Apparently, during the administration of the awful President Obama his trials were delayed due to dubious claims of torture at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

"The former commander of the USS Cole has a November court date with the terrorist accused of masterminding the suicide bombing of his ship that killed 17 sailors — but he’s incensed that justice keeps being delayed for 9/11 families. ...

A Nov. 19 trial date has been set for Saudi citizen Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri for masterminding the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the Cole, a guided missile destroyer, during a refueling stop in the port of Aden, Yemen. Seventeen sailors were killed in that attack, which was a prelude to the 9/11 hijackings. ...

A June 2028 trial date was announced this week for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three of his co-conspirators. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day on Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorists will go before a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ..."

USS Cole retired commander rips slow-walk to justice for 9/11 families


Retired Commander Kirk Lippold, USS Cole (DDG 67) from videotaped message to friends and family members of the crew aboard USS Cole following a 12 Oct. terrorist attack on the ship while refueling in Aden, Yemen.


New biobank of patient-derived tumour organoid 3D models reveals cancers’ weak spots of five different cancer types

Good news! Cancer is history (soon)! This could be a major advance!

"... The biobank is expected to have wide utility, enabling scientists to identify the genes that specific cancers depend on for growth, revealing potential weak points that could be targeted with future treatments.

The study is published alongside two complementary papers from international collaborators, reflecting a wider multi-year effort to refine organoid models and make them more accessible to the research community.

For decades, cancer researchers have relied on two-dimensional (2D) cell lines to study cancer. These workhorse models, in which cells are grown in a flat layer on laboratory plates, have provided important insights into cancer biology and remain widely used.
However, 2D models have limitations: they do not fully capture the diversity and complexity of tumours seen in patients and they have adapted to laboratory conditions over time. Researchers are therefore increasingly looking to develop next-generation models that better reflect tumours found in patients, such as organoids, to complement 2D cell lines and help address some of these gaps. ...

In a first of its kind study in organoids, the researchers went on to use CRISPR screening, a method they used to systematically switch off genes one by one to see if the cells survived, in order to map the genes that are critical to cancer cell survival across 162 of the organoid models. They identified thousands of genetic dependencies, including both common genes required by many cancers to survive, and more specific vulnerabilities linked to particular tumour types. ..."

From the abstract:
"Cancer cell lines remain foundational for research and drug discovery, yet they incompletely capture tumour diversity, lack linked patient context, and have undergone adaptation to culture.
Tumour organoids are three-dimensional cultures derived from patient tissue that offer a powerful complement to cell lines.
Here we derived and characterized 256 clinically annotated tumour organoids directly from colorectal, oesophageal, ovarian, pancreatic and gastric cancers as renewable, genetically stable models.
Extensive characterization of each model and matched patient tumour samples included whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing, and genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screens across 162 organoids mapped gene dependencies. Integrative analyses revealed genomic and clinical markers of dependency across common and rare subtypes, identified organoid-specific essential genes, and revealed targetable vulnerabilities following tumour evolution in paired pre- and post-treatment samples.
In colorectal cancer, functional and pharmacological interrogation of the EGFR–RAS–MAPK axis uncovered differential effects of KRAS variant alleles.
This open, publicly available resource provides a systematic map of gene dependencies in patient-derived organoids, expanding the model diversity and mechanistic insight needed to advance precision oncology."

New biobank of tumour models reveals cancers’ weak spots "The largest characterised collection of patient-derived tumour organoids to date is helping scientists identify the genes cancers need to grow and survive."



Fig. 1: Establishment of organoid biobank and patient-linked clinical data.


Fig. 2: Genomic features are conserved between organoid and patient-matched tumour.