Very recommendable!
Tuesday, November 03, 2026
Powder Keg: Europe 1900 to 1914
Reading the Enemy’s Mind: Espionage in World War I
Very recommendable! The beginnings of modern espionage!
The first mid-term election results are coming in! It does not look good for the GOP!
If confirmed, the US Senate and Governors race in Texas a win for the Dimocratic Party! Hopefully, Texas is an exception!
Pakistan's Deadly War Against Polio vaccination with Palki Sharma
Bad news! Medical staff and police officers get killed while trying to reach little children to be vaccinated.
'20 Iranian Crew Rescued': India Navy Overpowers Somali Pirates In Horn Raid with Alyson Le Grange
Good news, but unusual! Will the Indian navy do more such interventions in the future?
Trump’s historic midterm surge: $450 million, 29 rallies, 40 tele-rallies and 500 surrogate visits
How much energy and drive would you have after three major assassination attempts?
What is the definition of indefatigable?
Anthropic announces that it's very close to RSI capability, aka self-building AI
Good news! Is this just a preemptive, prospective warning or some advertisement in financial disclosure documents or is it real?
"While much attention has focused on the updated financials Anthropic revealed in its revised S-1/A on Monday ..., the AI lab dropped another little bombshell in the fine print.
The filing seems to warn that the company is on the cusp of creating a model capable of recursive self-improvement (RSI).
RSI is the point at which AI grows so good at training itself that it spawns a dramatic acceleration of AI capabilities. ..."
When AI builds itself (undated Anthropic article, earliest possible date July/August 2026)
Merkel will aus der CDU austreten wenn CDU mit AfD koaliert. Wirklich!
Seit wann ist die SED Kanzlerin Merkel ein CDU Mitglied?
Vielleicht war sie mal ein CDU Mitglied damit „mein Mädchen“ von Helmut Kohl entdeckt werden konnte.
"An der Frage der Zusammenarbeit mit der AfD scheiden sich die Geister in der CDU. Die Gräben sind tief. Befürworter und Gegner der sogenannten „Brandmauer“ stehen sich unversöhnlich gegenüber, die Nerven liegen blank. In dieser Lage warnt der CDU-Vorsitzende Friedrich Merz – so erfuhr es NIUS – seine Parteifreunde in kleiner Runde davor, dass Alt-Kanzlerin Merkel die Partei verlassen werde, wenn es zu einer Zusammenarbeit mit der AfD käme. ..."
Friedrich Merz und Angela Merkel
Trump to cut off all foreign/military aid to Israel (currently $4 billion) by year's end
Breaking news! Good news! Bravo! Was this not very long overdue? Finally, a US president is serious about it! Will it be permanent?
"... Speaking to Fox News, Trump said that Israel no longer needs American funding. ..."
Special nanoparticles for delivering personalized cancer vaccines
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!
"... The backbone of the vaccine is a modified, harmless bacteriophage called M13, which forms a nanofiber that can be coated with cancer antigens. By precisely controlling the density of those cancer proteins, the researchers found that they could create a vaccine that prevents the development of colon tumors in mice.
This type of delivery particle could be adapted to carry many different antigens, allowing for the creation of personalized vaccines to treat individual patients’ tumors, the researchers say. ..."
From the abstract:
"Nanovaccines have been engineered to co-deliver antigens and adjuvants for robust immune responses. While extensive studies have examined the effect of nanovaccine size, shape, surface charge, and targeting on vaccine efficacy, the impact of antigen density remains underexplored.
Here, we systematically optimize the anti-tumor CD8+ T cell response by modulating the antigen density on an M13 phage-based nanovaccine.
By fine-tuning the antigen ratio from ∼6.0% to ∼70.4% on the phage capsid, the anti-tumor CD8+ T cell response was enhanced. Further investigation demonstrated that the antigen density affected not only antigen presentation efficacy but also dendritic cell uptake.
Applying this strategy to a neoantigen in the MC-38 colorectal cancer model, we achieved up to a ∼7-fold increase in the neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cell frequency, resulting in significant tumor suppression.
These findings underscore the critical role of antigen density in nanovaccine design and establish M13 bacteriophage as a universal platform for personalized cancer vaccine applications."
Fig. 1 Nanovaccine immune response modulation by tuning the antigen density using the M13 bacteriophage platform.
5 cm pro Jahr: Wenn das Meer schneller steigt, als wir Deiche bauen können. Wirklich!
Unglaublich was für einen Schwachsinn der Verein Deutscher Ingenieure publiziert!
Solche Computermodell Prognosen bis zu 100 oder mehr Jahre in die Zukunft sind reine Makulatur! Wir können nicht mal das Wetter mehr als 24 Stunden genau prognostizieren
Researchers control the magnetic core of a single atom
Amazing stuff!
"Researchers ... have succeeded in controlling the magnetism in the nucleus of a single atom with radio waves. This came as a surprise: until now, physicists believed that this nuclear spin could not be manipulated directly. ..."
From the abstract:
"Atomic nuclear spins are promising candidates in the development of quantum information technologies on a wide variety of physical platforms. Thanks to the high degree of isolation from their environment, nuclear spins show long-lived spin states, but this also poses challenges on their control and readability.
Detailed characterization and control over the atomic-scale environment of the nuclear spin become of great importance for their efficient control.
In this work, using scanning tunnelling microscopy, we reveal nuclear magnetic resonance on a single on-surface atom.
We employ an electron-nuclear double resonance measurement scheme and resolve nuclear spin transitions of a single 47Ti isotope with a nuclear spin of I = 5/2. Our measurements and numerical analysis reveal the nature of hyperfine and quadrupole couplings of the studied system.
We also show our ability to address the nuclear spin in the limit of weak hybridization with the electron spin, a requirement for direct control of the nuclear spin in the long-lifetime regime.
This investigation of an atomic nuclear spin in a platform with atomic-scale control is a valuable development for other platforms deploying nuclear spins."
Delft researchers control the magnetic core of a single atom, against expectations (original news release) "Researchers at Delft University of Technology have succeeded in controlling the magnetism in the nucleus of a single atom with radio waves. This came as a surprise: until now, physicists believed that this nuclear spin could not be manipulated directly. The discovery could open up new possibilities for storing and reading quantum information. ..."
Weizmann Institute, Institute for Advanced Study and Max Planck Establish New International Research Institution in Berlin
Good news! This seems to be very promising!
"Three leading research organizations have joined forces to establish a new institution dedicated to fundamental, curiosity-driven research and scholarly collaboration across geographic and disciplinary boundaries. ..."
The inaugural directors are Irit Dinur (Institute for Advanced Study), Nicole Dubilier (Max Planck Society), and Ziv Reich (Weizmann Institute of Science).
The historic Otto Warburg House in Berlin’s Dahlem neighborhood. The former research center of the 1931 Nobel laureate will now serve as the principal home for ARC’s research programs
Bones may release proteins that slow aging and improves health when mechanically stressed
Amazing stuff!
"... that mechanically straining the bones of elderly mice between 20 and 24 months of age seemed to yield health benefits. Twice a week for 4 months, the researchers used a machine to gently press against both ends of the elderly rodents’ leg bones. After several months, the squeezed rodents had stronger bones, faster reflexes, sharper minds, and more youthful-looking organs. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Reduced bone mechano-sensing drives systemic senescence and promotes whole-body aging
• Dynamic tibial loading delays aging and extends both healthspan and lifespan in mice
• DTAL induces anti-aging and protective factors and reverses BM immunosenescence
• PEDF is a novel mechano-responsive anti-aging osteokine related to human healthy aging
Summary
Physical activity promotes health primarily by decelerating the aging process.
Bone is one of the tissues capable of sensing mechanical force and can adapt to different physical demands. However, its role in whole-body aging is unknown.
We found that reduced mechano-sensing in osteocytes, caused by deletion of the mechanosensory channel, Piezo1, accelerated whole-body aging in mice.
Dynamic tibial axial loading (DTAL) in mice at 20–24 months of age extended both healthspan and lifespan (9.4%/79.5 days).
Furthermore, DTAL reversed bone marrow immunosenescence and induced anti-aging and protective factors while downregulating pro-aging and pro-inflammatory factors.
We also identified pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) as a novel mechano-responsive anti-aging factor that is highly associated with healthy aging in humans.
Thus, our findings highlighted an essential role for bone mechano-sensing in whole-body aging. This could potentially be manipulated to prevent aging, extend health, and aid those unable to exercise or with decreased mobility."
Bones may release proteins that slow aging and extend life span "Exercise triggers bone cells called osteocytes to secrete antiaging chemicals in mice"
Graphical abstract
Figure 2 DTAL delays aging and extends both healthspan and lifespan in mice
Major AI companies join to enable opt-out rules for websites regarding AI bots
Good news!
Were previous, similar measures successful against webcrawlers?
"Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI announced they will support a crawling standard that lets site operators block all generative AI training scrapers with one robots.txt entry. Today, a site must add a separate entry for every AI provider, and for each scraper a provider runs.
The companies have submitted a draft to the Internet Engineering Task Force, which maintains the Robots Exclusion Protocol (the format robots.txt follows), and the setting would not cover models that perform only non-generative tasks.
Microsoft also plans an AI Grounding setting that blocks requests made to answer a user’s question rather than to gather training data, including from third-party tools built on Microsoft technology, and OpenAI plans similar controls.
Microsoft and OpenAI expect to add support in the coming months and Google sometime next year, while Meta has voiced support for the idea but has not committed to implementing it.
Until the standard is final and shipping, site owners who want to opt out of AI training still need per-crawler entries, and the pending AI Grounding controls suggest training and answer-time access may soon be blockable separately."
Google, Anthropic and others to support new AI crawling opt-out standard
A fresh wave of cyberattacks has hit Europe's supermarket refrigerators, destroying food across countries
Who is behind? What is this all about? A hoax, a warning ...?
"A second wave of cyberattacks is suspected to have hit supermarket refrigerators across Europe, causing fridges to increase temperatures and spoil food at dozens of stores across Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden. ..."
"I've got turbulence, I've got ice."
These were the last words the young female copilot texted to her boyfriend before the plane crashed!
"The craft’s co-pilot was a 20-year-old woman named Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras. She had earned her pilot’s license while just 17 and still in high school. As the Learjet began its horrific descent, Filgueiras is heard on the radio calling in a mayday to air traffic control. Her last words were: “We are descending 22,000 feet, and we are banking 60 degrees. We’re out of time.” In the background, Jeff Gregory the pilot, can be heard praying the Lord’s Prayer.
According to Filgueiras' stepfather, she sent a text to her boyfriend about ten minutes before the crash: "I've got turbulence, I've got ice." ..."
This nonsense about apologies for Western slavery continues
It is incredible! Most certainly there are ulterior motives behind this request to apologize!
King Charles of the UK on a trip to the Caribbean islands is supposed to apologize for what exactly? In 1834, slavery was abolished in the UK. Before that the Slave Trade Act of 1807 outlawed the buying, selling, and transporting of enslaved people across the British Empire.
Slavery has a very long history and happened in many regions and across many ethnicities of the world!
Monday, November 02, 2026
'Paging Hezbollah': Film Recounts One of History's 'Most Incredible Intelligence Operations'
This was certainly one of Israel's master intelligence operations!
China's Syria Dilemma: The Uyghur Fighters in Syria Beijing Fears
History is sometimes a tough act to follow! Here is an example!
Will the UK Apologise for Slavery? PM Burnham Stirs Debate with Palki Sharma. Really!
Sometimes Palki Sharma's news reporting is totally awful and missing the point! Here is such an example!
Why does e.g. India not apologize for pre-colonial slavery?
The World's Most Aggressive EV Push Isn't in China, but in Ethiopia
Recommendable! However, this is a very special situation in Ethiopia. E.g. the government forced EV cars only and prohibited gasoline powered cars without transition period.
China’s local governments: from engine of industrial policy to fiscal strain or the $12 Trillion Local Debt Problem
Recommendable! Economic troubles in China?
"In 2021, China’s local governments raised 8.7 trillion renminbi from land sales (about €1.17 trillion in 2021 values).
By 2025 that figure had fallen to 4.15 trillion renminbi, and in the first nine months of 2026 it dropped by a further 28% year-on-year.
Few economies could absorb such a shock without declaring a crisis, but China has avoided this by slashing local government expenditure: leaving contractors unpaid, reducing civil servant bonuses and cutting public sector spending.
This is a problem because local governments have been the unsung engine of China’s economic model in the last two decades. They are responsible for the bulk of public spending, from social services to infrastructure. They have also been the main implementors of Beijing’s industrial policy, providing cheap land for electric vehicle and battery plants, offering tax rebates and subsidised credit, and investing in semiconductor start-ups. ..."
"Key Takeaways
- China’s local government debt problem is a central concern among the country’s ongoing fiscal challenges and reflects a structural imbalance. Local governments manage about 85 percent of government spending, but one sizable revenue source—land sales—has sharply declined because of a downturn in the property sector.
- Using data from the Wind Financial Terminal, the authors estimate that China’s total local government debt was at least $12 trillion in 2024—64 percent of China’s GDP.
This total includes off-balance-sheet debts, which were valued at more than $5 trillion—if not more—as of December 2024, that had been accumulated through local government financing vehicles (LGFVs). - Banks have absorbed much of the surge in government debt (government bonds accounted for 22 percent of new bank assets over the past five years), leading to modest concerns about financial stability because of slowing asset growth, declining profitability, and capital requirements.
- Local governments have increased their collection of nontax revenue and cut spending on government services. However, these actions have not been enough to close the debt gap.
- Recent debt-resolution measures, including debt swaps and special refinancing bonds, reduce near-term financing pressure and lower interest costs but do not resolve the underlying mismatch between local governments’ spending responsibilities and their revenues.
- For China, implications of the debt problem include continued pressure for export-led growth and ongoing technology competition, but little prospect of a major slowdown in China’s military buildup.
..."
Newly developed technology powers an ultra-sensitive blood test for cancer DNA now in clinical use
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!
"Highlights
- A product for cancer patients launched by Abbott is powered by technology called MAESTRO ...
- The Oncodetect test is designed to look for molecular residual disease — traces of cancer DNA that may remain in a patient's body during and after treatment.
- MAESTRO is one of several technologies with potential clinical impact to arise from more than a decade of multidisciplinary collaboration across teams ...
...
focused on liquid biopsy — a blood test that can find small amounts of DNA shed by cancer cells into the bloodstream and potentially detect cancer recurrence earlier than traditional methods like imaging scans. ... develop a liquid biopsy test that was sensitive enough to find cancer DNA hidden among healthy, cell-free DNA circulating in blood. ...
now culminated in a technology that is at the core of a next-generation test launched for clinical use on October 26, 2026 ...
Oncodetect test is designed to detect and quantify the presence of a small amount of cancer DNA that may remain in a patient’s body after cancer treatment, called molecular residual disease. That cancer DNA, shed by tumors into the bloodstream, is a strong prognostic indicator of cancer recurrence. ...
The new version, powered by ... MAESTRO, looks across the whole genome to track up to 5,000 patient-specific cancer mutations and detect circulating tumor DNA levels below 1 part per million. ...
MAESTRO works by first profiling a patient’s tumor cells using whole genome sequencing to analyze thousands of mutations. Scientists then design short DNA probes, made of modified oligonucleotides, that bind specifically to those mutated regions of the tumor DNA, and add these personalized “recognition” probes to the patient’s blood sample. The probes bind only to tumor DNA, and any unbound, healthy DNA is cleared away from the sample, making it easier for scientists to zero in on low levels of tumor DNA. ..."
Russia’s Daily war casualties Hit Record 2,500, Ukraine Says
When will the lethargic, apathetic Russian Slav(e)s/Serfs finally get rid of their last tsar, the megalomaniac, warmonger and war criminal Putin the Terrible!
How many more young Russian men have to become war casualties because of Putin the Terrible!
Hugh Hefner’s widow alleges disturbing abuse by the Playboy publisher. Really!
She comes out 9 years after Hugh Hefner's death! What took so long?
Does she perhaps feel guilty now that she may have covered up or even assisted her husband committing these alleged crimes/sexual abuse?
Why did Crystal Hefner (then age 23) "In January 2009, Harris began dating Hugh Hefner, who was 60 years her senior." (Wikipedia)
They were married for almost five years! That is a long time given her allegations.
Did she report anything about the "Playboy" to the police at the time or ever! Apparently/presumably not! Why?
Caveat: I am not familiar with the details of this story. I am not trying to deny the validity/substance of these claims.
Crystal pictured with Hugh in 2013
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations After 250 Years: Enduring Insights, New Challenges
This could be an interesting book!
I did not see whether the Scottish Enlightenment (e.g. David Hume) is also covered in this book.
"This book marks the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations with a fresh appraisal of Adam Smith’s ideas, legacy, and intellectual context. It examines his economic theories—division of labour, critiques of mercantilism, and early notions of comparative advantage—highlighting their originality, influence, and relevance today.
Smith’s broader philosophical system is also explored, including his theory of mind, moral philosophy, and views on governance. This book situates him within the intellectual currents of his time, offering new perspectives on how his thinking was shaped and how it continues to resonate. ..."
A new endometrial cancer test could prove a less invasive, more reliable diagnostic
Good news!
The test is not really new anymore! Sometimes the reporting of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is quite outdated (especially when it relies on the Washington Compost for news)!
"A new endometrial cancer test could prove a less invasive, more reliable diagnostic; the new test, a vaginal swab developed by molecular diagnostics company PinkDx, could spare half of the tested population from undergoing the standard, painful biopsy to test for the cancer. The Washington Post (gift link)"
Belarus is holding at least 22 political prisoners reportedly undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment
Bad news! As if the Soviet Union still exists!
When will the people of Belarus finally get rid of Alexander Lukashenko (age 72)!
"Belarus is holding ~22 political prisoners in psychiatric hospitals, per human rights groups who say the prisoners are reportedly undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment and being confined indefinitely outside the country's conventional prison system. ..."
"Locking up critics and opponents in psychiatric facilities has long been a method utilized by oppressive governments across the former Soviet bloc. According to right defenders and doctors, that legacy of punitive psychiatry has found a modern resurgence in Belarus.
At least 22 people recognized as political prisoners by Belarusian human rights defenders are reportedly undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment, a measure that can leave them confined indefinitely outside the country's conventional prison system.
Their alleged offenses include insulting government officials, aiding activities deemed extremist by authorities, removing state flags, and committing alleged terrorism-related offenses.
Unlike conventional prison sentences, compulsory psychiatric treatment has no predetermined end date. ..."
Alexander Lukashenko (Source)
Arizona was the wettest state in the country over the Halloween weekend
Yes, it was a very unusually wet weekend here in the Phoenix metro area!
That heavy, unusual rainfall for hours was spooky and scary!
Even a snail was escaping from the rain to the third floor of a residential building.
Some Arizonans were challenged when trying to open their umbrellas.
"... with about 2.5 trillion gallons of rain expected to fall across the state.
In Phoenix, Saturday marked only the 12th Halloween in more than a century with measurable rain in the city, with the weather forcing a ground stop at Sky Harbor International Airport on Sunday morning.
On Sunday, evacuation orders and road closures were in effect for multiple areas of the state. ...
The Arizona State Fair chose not to open for its final scheduled day on Sunday, citing safety concerns after about 1 inch of rain fell around the fairgrounds the night before. ..." (Source)
Subunits of the BAF complex, a unifying mechanism for cancer-driving mutations
Good news! Canceri is history (soon)!
Curiously, the abstract of this study does not mention cancer.
"A family of mutations seen in about 20% of human cancers drives malignancy by changing the accessibility of genes to a particular regulatory protein ... The findings suggest new therapeutic strategies for a variety of cancer types.
The study ... focused on a protein complex called the BAF complex, which regulates gene activity in the nucleus.
Mutations in genes that encode subunits of this complex are found in tumors as different as lymphoma, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and liver cancer, but the common mechanism underlying this broad connection to cancers has been elusive.
In the study, the scientists showed that these BAF mutations effectively allow the three-dimensional architecture of DNA to be reshaped extensively by a protein called CTCF. This shifts gene activity in a direction that promotes malignancy, but deleting CTCF in an animal model reverses the effect. ..."
From the abstract:
"The BAF (also known as mammalian SWI/SNF) chromatin remodelling complexes are essential regulators of nucleosome positioning and transcription factor binding.
Loss-of-function (LOF) mutations in genes encoding components of the BAF complexes are among the most frequent across cancer types.
However, a unifying mechanism that explains their widespread disruption remains unclear.
Here we disrupted BAF function through pharmacological inhibition and ARID1A deletion across various mammalian cell types and tissues and observed a conserved chromatin response: increased accessibility at CTCF-binding sites. ARID1A LOF alone was sufficient to drive these changes, which demonstrates that canonical BAF (cBAF) disruption is the key driver of CTCF gain.
Genomic profiling showed increased CTCF and SMC3 occupancy, which reveals an antagonistic relationship between cBAF and CTCF–cohesin complexes. Furthermore, cBAF loss restructured 3D genome organization, which led to a strengthening of topologically associating domain boundaries and subdivision of large domains into smaller insulated structures.
Long-range enhancer–promoter loops were replaced by shorter, promoter-proximal loops anchored at CTCF-enriched sites. To determine how CTCF function is enabled following cBAF loss, we profiled CTCF-interacting cofactors and found that CTCF binds directly to fully assembled PBAF.
After cBAF depletion, PBAF was recruited to sites of increased CTCF occupancy, which demonstrates that there is an antagonistic switch between SWI/SNF subcomplexes.
In vivo, conditional Arid1a deletion in primary mouse cells resulted in the expansion of a highly proliferative population marked by elevated accessibility at CTCF sites. This phenotype was fully reversed by either Ctcf or Pbrm1 deletion, which establishes that cBAF and the activity of CTCF and PBAF have contrasting roles."
Fig. 1: BAF LOF preferentially opens chromatin at CTCF sites across diverse cell types.
Study Reveals Amino Acid taurine Can Diminish Age-Related Inflammation
Good news!
"Key points
- Sustained low-level inflammation is a hallmark of the aging process.
- Yale researchers found that the amino acid taurine is key to the way the innate immune system senses danger signals.
- Boosting taurine levels may diminish the effects of age-related inflammation.
..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Taurine increases with age, and taurine supplementation inhibits inflammaging in mice
• Taurine effluxes from macrophages upon the sensing of NLRP3-specific danger signals
• Taurine deprivation increases, whereas restoration lowers, the NLRP3 inflammasome
• Calorie restriction elevates taurine and lowers inflammation in humans
Summary
Whether a decline in taurine drives aging is debated, and despite high millimolar intracellular concentrations, its function as a potential guardian of cytosolic homeostasis is unclear.
Here, we show that aging increases circulating taurine concentrations in humans and mice.
Further elevating taurine in aged mice enhances health span, engaging anti-inflammatory pathways previously linked to youthfulness, and reduces mortality from sepsis and inflammasome-mediated inflammation, suggesting an enantiostatic response.
Mechanistically, diverse NLRP3-specific “danger signals” induce taurine efflux from macrophages as a proximal step to activate the inflammasome and the resultant pyroptosis.
Taurine restoration in macrophages prevents NLRP3-induced trans-Golgi network disassembly, thereby suppressing NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Conversely, lowering taurine biosynthesis combined with reduced bioavailability in macrophages exacerbated inflammasome activation.
In humans, sustained caloric restriction elevates adipose tissue taurine and is accompanied by lower inflammation.
Together, we identify taurine as an immunometabolic rheostat that links danger sensing to NLRP3 inflammasome activation, suggesting taurine-based strategies to alleviate inflammaging and inflammasomopathies."
Graphical abstract
Pope Leo XIV welcomed Villanova and Notre Dame basketball teams to the Vatican. Really!
This American Pope is getting stranger and stranger!
I just blogged here about the Pope participating by voting in the US midterm elections!
What the heck is he thinking! Is he turning the Vatican into some kind of showtime/entertainment/amusement venue?
Pope Leo XIV poses with visitors from Villanova University at the Vatican, Oct. 31, 2026. The Holy Father met with delegations from both Villanova and the University of Notre Dame ahead of the "Eternal City Tip-Off" taking place in Rome. (Source)
Some Arizonans appear to struggle to open an umbrella when it rains
On Sunday (11/1/2026), there was an unusual, hours long lasting, fairly heavy rain here in the Phoenix metro area. The wind was mostly calm.
I noticed that at least one woman was obviously struggling to open her umbrella as if she was out of practice.
How often do the people of the Phoenix metro area need to use an umbrella? Maybe once a year? Usually, by the time you decide to open your umbrella, the rain has already stopped.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) set to win $900m Indian refueling aircraft deal
Good news! Israel and India! What a winning combination!
"... The Israeli company, a global leader in aircraft conversion, is the only bidder whose proposal was approved for consideration in an Indian government tender - a process that also saw participation from Russian and European firms. ...
IAI has gained major experience operating in India, as part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s "Make in India" program.
In March 2024, IAI launched an Indian subsidiary in New Delhi: Aerospace Services India (ASI). ..."
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Swiss Protests: Hundreds Protest Against Austerity in Zurich & Basel
Even Switzerland of all places is now affected by these violent mass protests! This is unusual!
The $40 Trillion federal debt Problem Washington Won’t Talk About
The extraordinary high federal debt in peace time is a very serious issue! President TRump needs to address it!
The annual nominal US GDP of 2025 was only $31 trillion! Thus, current federal debt is about 130% of GDP. This trend is unsustainable!
Serious violent crime in the US fell sharply in 2025. Really!
What is wrong with this story? A lot!
Most importantly it is only a year over year comparison! To compare current year crime statistics only with the previous year is totally wrong! It should be compared to an average over several years in addition to the conventional year over year comparison! E.g. a single year crime data can be an outlier for special reasons.
This reduction in crime news have been reported all over the news media!
"Serious violent crime in the US fell sharply in 2025, according to preliminary results from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), run by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The combined rate of rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault fell 25 percent compared with 2024, from 9.9 to 7.4 per 1,000 people aged 12 or older. Simple assaults, which involve neither a weapon nor serious injury, held roughly steady.
The NCVS is based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of US households, so it captures crimes that were never reported to police. That makes these results a useful complement to recent FBI crime statistics, which found a 9.7 percent drop in the violent crime rate over the same period based solely on reports from law enforcement."
"...
Highlights
Violent victimization preliminary estimates
- In 2025, U.S. residents age 12 or older experienced 7.5 million violent victimizations—a rate of 25.7 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
- The rate of violent crime excluding simple assault declined 25%, from 9.9 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2024 to 7.4 per 1,000 in 2025.
- Households in the United States experienced 14.9 million property victimizations in 2025.
- The rate of property victimization declined 19%, from 138.0 per 1,000 households in 2024 to 111.2 per 1,000 in 2025.
..."
Waymo has sustained its impressive safety record over 271 million driverless miles
Good news! Very impressive! Any doubt that autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers?
I know why! Just two days ago I have seen a Waymo car parked at the curbside (no person inside or around the car) in a very low traffic street in my neighborhood! Just kidding! 😊
"According to Waymo’s latest safety data, the robotaxi company has sustained its impressive safety record over 271 million driverless miles, with Waymo vehicles involved in 82 percent fewer injury-causing crashes per mile than human drivers in the areas where the company operates."
Finland has granted an operating license for the world’s first permanent disposal site for spent nuclear fuel
Good news! Bravo!
Why Germany has not created such a site a long time ago is more than strange! The nuclear waste has been kept in so called interim sites (Zwischenlager, e.g. Gorleben) in Germany for at least four decades or so! Now the Fins are stealing the show!
"Finland has granted an operating license for the world’s first permanent disposal site for spent nuclear fuel. The facility will bury the fuel deep underground in corrosion-resistant canisters, allowing its radioactivity to diminish undisturbed for tens of thousands of years. Posiva Oy, the company in charge of the site, expects to begin operations soon, following final tests and regulatory approvals."
British government has allowed production to begin at the Jackdaw natural gas field in the North Sea
Good news! Bravo!
Which fools said the North Sea was finished when it comes to fossil energy (e.g. Denmark's climate/energy minister Dan Jorgensen in 2020)?
"After years of delays, the British government has allowed production to begin at the Jackdaw natural gas field in the North Sea. The field is expected to operate for up to 11 years and, at peak output, the field would raise UK gas production by about 6 percent."
149 million people worldwide were using off-grid solar power in 2025, up from about 101 million in 2021
Good news! Off-grid is probably the best use of solar power, which is otherwise rather unreliable in many parts of the world!
Notice, however, it is heavily used primarily for some very basic powering!
"A recent report from the World Bank and GOGLA, the global off-grid solar industry association, conservatively estimates that 149 million people were using off-grid solar power in 2025, up from about 101 million in 2021.1
Of those 149 million, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa, 98 million had systems capable of powering at least basic lighting and phone charging, including 15 million with enough power to run appliances such as televisions and fans."
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