Ace of Spades HQ

June 08, 2026

MORNING RANT: The Renormalization of Slavery – Great Britain is Backing Off from Forced Labor Ban in Pursuit of Net Zero Objectives

—Buck Throckmorton

One of the great triumphs of western civilization, especially since the Age of Enlightenment, has been the rejection of slavery in western societies. Human chattel and slave labor were the norm throughout most of human existence. The rejection of slavery these past couple centuries has been an anomaly. Or maybe I should say “had been an anomaly.” Slavery is now being justified by the climate cultists as necessary to save the planet.

Disturbingly, there is a broad coalition of westerners who fancy themselves as being “enlightened,” but they are actually leading the effort to re-establish slavery. As I documented in an American Spectator piece titled “The War on Labor Expense is Renormalizing Slavery, Just in a 21st Century Form,” free market libertarians advocate for the use of offshore forced labor so as to lower labor costs. With a straight face they make the argument that a prohibition on the use of foreign slaves is a tax on American consumers. Where slavery can’t be offshored, human trafficking cartels are importing slave labor into the United States and other western countries. Their human chattel is put to work by legitimate business entities, but through an opaque hiring process involving layers of “sub-contractors.”

Among the greatest achievements of the British empire and the Royal Navy was the eradication of slavery in the western world / in the 19th century. But with the Church of Climate replacing Christianity as Britain’s state religion, slavery is being re-normalized as a necessary sacrifice to please their angry climate God.

“UK Retreats from Forced Labor Pledge” [Politico EU – 5/14/2026]

The U.K. government has walked back a promise to banish forced labor from the supply chains of its state-run clean energy company, as ministers rush to hit climate goals.

“Ban on Slave Labour Sidelined to Meet Red Ed's Net Zero goals” [MSN – 5/19/2026]

The UK has backtracked on its pledge to ban slave labour from its renewable supply chain to meet Ed Miliband's Net Zero goals.
Labour enshrined in law a promise that its state-run company GB Energy would not fund companies using forced labour. But following a probe that revealed that it had funded solar panels for schools without guarantees that they were ethically manufactured, it rowed back.

In a statement, the energy department introduced a new caveat to say that it would only ensure panels were free from forced labour 'as far as possible'.

It came as the Government announced that it would push to rid the energy system of fossil fuels and focus on renewables instead.

The Sustainable Organic Church of the Climate Apocalypse is a demonic religion that first advocated for a reduction in human standards of living, and is now embracing the re-normalization of slavery. Its high priests are actually making the argument that the use of slave labor is a moral good when used in pursuit of the church’s anti-carbon mission.

We on the right often joke that “You are the carbon they want to eliminate,” but with the climate cultists now openly endorsing slavery, they are just one small step away from openly advocating for radical “de-population” efforts in pursuit of their Net Zero utopia.

Too many Republicans in the U.S. and “conservatives” abroad have played nice with those pushing the climate agenda, accepting the false premise that “climate actions” are motivated by good intentions. That’s not acceptable. We must realize that the left and its climate agenda are a de-humanizing death cult that is heading full-steam toward a societal overhaul such as what was imposed by Mao and Pol Pot.

Net Zero must be repudiated and politically de-fanged. We cannot let this get any further out of control.

Posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM Comments

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Cafe House, Cairo (Casting Bullets)
Jean-Léon Gérôme

Posted by CBD at 09:30 AM Comments

The Morning Report — 6/ 8 /26

—J.J. Sefton

Morning Report intro.jpg

Good morning kids. We are loaded with links to kick off the new week. First up, there was a massive earthquake that struck the Philippines, so prayers up for those affected.

Also overseas there seems no real end in sight for the conflict with Iran. Certainly no real long term good end to it...

In a post on X, Barak Ravid, a global affairs correspondent for Axios, shared that Trump told him he was “going to call Netanyahu” and tell Netanyahu “not to strike back.” Trump’s comments to Ravid come after Iran retaliated with a missile strike on Israel after Israel struck Beirut in response to an attack from Hezbollah, according to Axios. Axios reported that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “said sirens sounded in northern Israel as four missiles were launched from Iran”:

. . . One United States official, along with “two other sources” told the outlet that Israel had “notified the Trump administration before the strike” on Beirut. Another U.S. official told the outlet that the U.S. “supports Israel’s right to self-defense and stands with the legitimate Government of Lebanon as it works to deliver a better future for its citizens.”

Yes,I get it that unnamed sources as well as propaganda organs like Axios are to be taken with a grain of salt. But there is no doubt that President Trump no doubt would like the conflict to be over with as soon as possible, both to spare the lives of American service personnel and any innocent parties on the ground and to staunch the political fallout here at home as we get closer and closer to the crucial midterm elections.

But to expect Israel to not respond after a massive and deadly missile barrage is just as clueless as not understanding the nature of not merely Iran but of that nation's motivating force Islam. That is why there really is no successful endgame other than the absolute defeat of the Mullahs and the eradication of those who support it and the replacement of some sort of at least minimally benign regime that will not export Islamic terrorism and aggression in he name of Islamic global conquest and the destruction ofAmerica, the West and our allies. that is why negotiations are delusional unless President Trump himself is somehow using them as some sort of feint before delivering some sort of unknown knockout blow that will give him an unambiguous victory. And I have no idea what that would be.

“This is regime change,” Trump added. “One regime is gone, another regime is gone, we’re dealing with the third. Pieces of it, because some of them are gone, too.”
Regrettably, the president’s math is premised on a misguided assumption. Regime change requires the eradication of the ruling ideology, not merely the removal of some of the rulers who enforce it.

The two obvious examples of successful regime change that spring to mind are from World War II. Both prove the point in different ways.

When the U.S. and its allies occupied Nazi Germany following its unconditional surrender, de-Nazification was a comprehensive, whole-of-society effort to eradicate both the ruling ideology and the rulers themselves. This was necessary to eradicate over a decade of Nazi indoctrination and genocidal totalitarian rule over the German people, as well as the vile regime’s similar domination of occupied nations, which occurred with the support of elements within those local populations. Consequently, a root-and-branch elimination of the Nazi ideology followed. While Hitler and other top Nazis cheated the hangman, the Nuremberg war crimes trials resulted in the execution and/or imprisonment of remaining key regime leaders. Thus, in the instance of regime change in Nazi Germany, both the National Socialist ideology and its regime’s leadership were eradicated.

And of course closer to home Ho-Hum-Ho-Hum the Democrats have stolen yet another election.

The way the game is being played this time is even sleazier with an attempt to knock out Spencer Pratt, who finished second on Election Night, in the first round with a whole lot of ‘late arriving ballots’ for the third place candidate, Nithya Raman.
It’s not remotely credible for a third place candidate who finished on Election Night in the twenties to be picking up 40% of late arriving ballots.

The previous defense that Democrats pick up more late arriving ballots doesn’t work either because it turns out that the Democrat who gets the most late arriving ballots is… the one who needs them more.

Magical isn’t it.

All with a turnout that somehow topped the much more popular and momentous 2022 mayoral election.

You know, getting rid of the Mullahs is all well and good, but unless and until the Democrat/Left is wiped off the face of the earth for all time (rhetorically speaking of course!) we are going over the cliff.

Have a great day,

AMERICA & ISRAEL STRIKE IRAN!

The missile launches were identified at roughly 3:05 p.m. EDT, according to an X post by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Iran Launches First Missile Attack On Israel In 61 Days
Israel struck several military targets in Iran on Sunday, hours after the Islamic Republic launched a barrage of missiles at the Jewish State.
Israel strikes back at Iran military targets hours after missile barrage over Lebanon attack
Thad McCotter: Trump’s “regime change” claim mistakes dead dictators for dead ideologies—the mullahs’ anti-American regime endures because its governing creed remains intact.
‘Regime Change’ Requires Eradicating an Ideology
The victor dictates the terms.
Iran: ‘This War Will End Only When It Ends in Lebanon as Well’
“Trump’s refusal to return to war with Iran will cost him dearly."
How the Saudis Have Lost Faith in America

* * * * *
Democrat Chris Murphy is REFUSING to apologize after saying it was "awesome" that Iranian ships slipped past the U.S. blockade....He says it was just "sarcasm."...This traitor needs to resign in disgrace.
Filthy Pinko of the Week: Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy!

ISRAEL vs IRAN & GAZA/HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH . . . AND LEFTISTS. . . AND HISTORY
IDF eliminates Hamas Nukhba commander behind Kissufim massacre during October 7 attack.
IDF Strikes Hezbollah’s Beirut Stronghold as Terror Group Rejects Ceasefire, Attacks Northern Israel
In a little over three months, Israelis have had to deal with more than a thousand attempted terrorist attacks. The latest attack turned deadly. And yet the world media and politicians continue to completely ignore the constant terror and destruction inflicted on Israeli civilians.
Latest Arab Terror Attack Is One of a Thousand Since March Targeting Israelis

* * * * *
The latest embarrassment for the UN group will likely lead to more calls for UNRWA to be formally classified as a terrorist organization
Exclusive: US Probe Finds 101 More Staffers for UNRWA ‘Gaza Relief Organization’ Are Hamas Soldiers From October 7: Schoolteachers, Principals Exposed as Terrorists
Despite the 2023 October 7th terror attacks on Israel seeing over 1,200 mostly civilians being brutally killed by jihadists and hundreds more being taken as hostages, 28 per cent of students polled said that they viewed Hamas’ actions that day as “defensible”.
Over One in Four UK Undergraduate Students Say October 7th Terror Attacks on Israel ‘Defensible’
Judith Miller: Two Israeli journalists conduct an unsparing analysis of the failures that led to Hamas’s atrocities.
How Israel Can Prevent the Next October 7
When the Israeli navy detained Greta Thunberg and other pro-Hamas radicals who were trying to “break the siege on Gaza,” the global sob-sister class went crazy on cue. . .The Global Sumud Flotilla, traveling overland from Tunisia, found themselves seized by Libyan forces and held incommunicado for weeks, and the world’s moral police said . . . nothing. Crickets. No marches or protests. No front-page coverage alleging torture and beatings.
The pro-Gaza brigade whose suffering you never heard of — and why

CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
Some lives matter more than others
DSA Campaigner for BLM Candidate Beats Up 98-Year-Old Man
Organizers instructed participants to “Be as loud as you can. Be as obnoxious as you can. Make these people hate us. Make sure they know you hate them.”
Left-Wing Scum Stage Mock Assassination of Charlie Kirk Outside TPUSA Event
The murder of Henry Nowak at the hands of a protected minority -- and the police -- has become the spark that set Britain ablaze.
Minneapolis to Hampshire: Mass Derangement to Murder
The silence surrounding Henry Nowak’s murder reveals which victims command outrage and which are simply ignored.
The Ideological Needle and the Damage Done
Roger Kimball: Multiculturalism promised diversity, but by weakening assimilation and shared identity, it risks unraveling the cultural bonds that made America one nation.
The Hyphen and the Melting Pot
The world has always known psychopathic tyrants who oppressed everything and everybody, but in our time they disguise themselves as champions of social justice.
The Mask Of The Savior
“The FBI’s most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
Patel Fires Five Tied to Anti-Catholic FBI Memo
A superseding indictment filed this week against the Southern Poverty Law Center is probably the signal that a long legal battle is starting.
The New SPLC Indictment Is Probably Also Just The Tip Of The Iceberg
What's old is new again for today's Democratic Socialists.
Germany's National Socialist policies seem strangely familiar

"DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST/GLOBALIST BORDER BLOODBATH," AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY
The advisory aims to protect legitimate businesses from unfair competition, prevent wage suppression, and safeguard taxpayer funds from being siphoned into illegal schemes. Banks are encouraged to file suspicious activity reports and collaborate with ICE to combat these practices. Ignoring such advisories could result in severe regulatory and reputational consequences for financial institutions.
Treasury Pushes Banks Over Payroll Fraud Connected to Illegal Immigrant Labor.
The policies were put in place by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
Rhode Island Judge Strikes Down Trump Immigration Freeze
The safety of federal officers and their families and the future of America hang in the balance.
The ICE mask contrived controversy takes an ugly turn
Democrat electeds who exercised their rights to inspect the facility came out recounting complaints from those inside — but now GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew (NJ) has done his own walk-through, and notes the detainees have access to “full soccer fields and an excellent gym” with squat, fly bench-press and leg machines. Not to mention the library computer rooms, yoga sessions and even aromatherapy.
Democrats embraced tapestry of lies about ‘inhumane’ conditions at Delaney Hall (They wove it - jjs)

THE GREAT SOMALIAN SIMOLEON SWINDLE
‘The American people are tired of a government that treats their citizenship as cheap, their laws as optional and their generosity as an invitation to be exploited.’
Senators Explore Avenues To Denaturalize And Deport More Fraudsters And America-Haters

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE COURTS, WASTE/FRAUD/ABUSE
California’s decline was not destiny but the product of political choices that turned America’s greatest success story into a cautionary tale.
California’s Choice
Kvetching, complaining, and lawfare -- anything to try to stop the beautiful city the capital is becoming under President Trump's leadership.
Trump's beautification of Washington, D.C. infuriates Democrats

WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM
“I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans.”
3 Middle Eastern Men in U.S., Including Navy Sailor, Dreamed of Helping ISIS Kill Americans
Washington has managed political Islam as a distributed system rather than confronting it, and that same framework now defines the struggle playing out in Texas.
The Shell Game and America’s Institutional Enemy Inside our Gates
There is unending propaganda about an Islamic Golden Age of the past that today's Islamists want to recreate.
The West Owes Islam Nothing
“There is a culture of fear.”
British Cop Sacked for Asking Questions About Islam

OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY, PLUS VARIOUS & SUNDRY GODLESS HEATHENS
The elephant in the room of liberal multiculturalism.
Antisemitism is a Diversity Problem
“When the city’s leader can’t even speak out against raw antisemitic violence invoking the darkest libels of the past, it signals to every hater that such cruelty is tolerable in New York.”
Antisemitic Crimes in NYC Surging As Mamdani Ignores Another Violent Subway Attack
“There is real concern that Abdul would not be able to beat Rogers and then potentially lose us a majority possibility in the Senate.”
Establishment Dems on Edge As Anti-Israel El-Sayed Surge Continues in MI Primary

SHAMPEACHMENTS, 2016 CLINTON/OBAMA COUP, CONGRESSIONAL PERSECUTION, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, MUELLER DECEPTION
James Comey and E. Jean Carroll hopefully will open wide the gates to widespread punishment for the leftist crimes of the last ten years.
The DOJ’s Broken Windows

FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Trump and Welker also sparred over allegations of fraud in California’s primary election, especially as socialist Democratic Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman benefited from late ballot counting which increased the likelihood Republican candidate Spencer Pratt could be boxed out of the November general election.
‘I’ve Had Enough, Thank You Darling’: Trump Walks Out On NBC Interview
CBS News' shakeup and the future of the mainstream press.
The Woke Newsroom That Got Fired
"I’ve been in combat for this country. In Afghanistan and Iraq, Kuwait. Been shot at."
Scott Pelley Takes Military Cosplay To New Level In Deluded NYT Interview
A personal experience reveals the fraudulent nature of fired '60 Minutes' correspondent
Scott Pelley Isn’t a Serious Journalist

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
The Federal Reserve, under new chairman Kevin Warsh, is likely to prioritize controlling inflation over cutting interest rates, despite calls from President Donald J. Trump to reduce rates. The seeming stabilization of the labor market over the last three months may influence the Fed’s upcoming policy decisions during its mid-June meeting.
U.S. Economy Beats Expectations, Adding 172,000 New Jobs in May.
Is the money you earn yours, or does it intrinsically belong to the government?
Government's Insatiable Lust for Your Money
Zohran Mamdani’s regulatory agenda will make dining out and ordering in costlier than ever.
The Progressive War on Cheap Eats
No, they aren't losing money. Living with Democrat rule is worse.
California's tax policies are so bad billionaires are willing to pay extra to flee

RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
. . . two counties in southeastern New Mexico – Lea and Eddy – now account for 78 percent of oil produced on U.S. onshore federal lands. It’s a stunning, unprecedented dominance by such a compact land footprint.
Will New Mexico’s Next Governor Kill The State’s Golden Goose?
Shed no tears for the loss of another cog in the global warming propaganda machine.
Climate Alarm On The Run, Part II
Repealing the EPA’s biofuel boondoggle ought to be a no-brainer—but can reformers overcome the “liquid pork” regime?
A Simple Policy to Reduce Food Prices
California didn’t just embrace green energy; it embraced dependence on China, leaving consumers to pay the price at the pump and on their utility bills.
How China Captured California
For Brussels’ net-zero ideologues, it is deeply inconvenient that people are beginning to focus on reality.
Can Romania Lead the Way Out of the EU's Green Nightmare?

CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
Police believe the two suspects were "probably shooting at each other."
Festival Horror: At Least 12 Shot As Hunt For Suspects Intensifies
In the Tenderloin, the “Hondos” have cornered the fentanyl market.
Honduran Drug Gangs Rule the Streets of San Francisco

ABORTION
The tragedy is not Valentina’s life with Down syndrome; the tragedy would have been never letting her live it.
Down Syndrome Babies Like My Little Sister-In-Law Are Not Defects To Eliminate

SECOND AMENDMENT
Democrat Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB 749, into law on May 14, drawing immediate suits from pro-Second Amendment organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC). Clarke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Bass, who announced his refusal to enforce the ban on May 29 alongside Clarke County Sheriff Travis M. Sumption, told the DCNF he discussed the implications of the legislation with the sheriff before their joint statement.
These Local Prosecutors Are Taking The Fight To Abigail Spanberger’s Semi-Auto Gun Ban
The National Rifle Association (NRA) filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in August 2025, seeking to invalidate the state’s three-day waiting period on Second Amendment grounds. Uthmeier announced his office’s decision to end the legal battle in a statement.
Florida Ends Legal Fight With NRA By Conceding Gun Law Violates Second Amendment

THE 2020 AND 2022 ELECTION HEISTS & AFTERMATH
How does the third place candidate win the majority of late arriving ballots?
The LA Mayoral Election is Being Stolen
3 reasons this was fraud.
LA Mayoral Steal Pushes the Limits of Fraud People Will Accept
“We’ve seen this now probably for about a decade out there. It’s those votes that get tabulated after election day, they tend to be almost always or heavily, heavily Democratic.”
Surprise! California Dems Surge in Post-Election Day Mail In Ballots
Because the appearance of fraud is just as bad as its actual existence.
Californians Deserve Better Than Endless, Fraud-Prone Vote Counting
In California, a person can register to vote with a gym membership card, drug prescription, public housing card, or criminal pardon. Wait till you see the entire list.
Wait Till You See What ‘IDs’ California Accepts for Voter Registration
If passed, election integrity in the state would be significantly strengthened, mitigating voter fraud, identity theft, foreign interference, and other corrupt practices. The measure could also reverse declining public trust in elections. Whether the proposal is strengthened to prevent mail-in fraud remains to be seen. However, the data is clear that there is overwhelming bipartisan support for voter ID among the public, including roughly 70 percent of Democrats nationwide.
Vast Majority of Voters Want Voter ID in This State.

DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY, INSANITY
“Democrats believe in respecting the equality and dignity of women, and we always will. And we reject unequivocally misogyny. We reject it. But you know who else rejects it? Graham Platner.”
RIP ‘Believe All Women’ As Democrats Go All in for Graham Platner
Democrats are casting Platner’s accusers as unreliable after treating the word of Kavanaugh’s suspect accusers as gospel.
Dems’ Shrug At Platner Scandal Proves Kavanaugh Hearings Were Always A Partisan Witch Hunt
Fetterman told Platner he could clear the matter by showing that every recipient of his messages was an adult.
John Fetterman Says He’ll Start Wearing Suits If Graham Platner Proves He Didn’t Send ‘Dick Pics’ To Minors
If you want the bluntest of all perspectives on Platner and the identicide behind him, you simply have to catch up to a blue collar Mainer.
Platner’s Pine Tree State Appeal Is All About The Leftist Saps Who Moved Here

* * * * *
David Harsanyi: They had a chance to be normal. They chose crazy.
Are Dems in Any Position to Lecture Anyone About Candidates?
For Jeffries, “leadership” means willful ignorance about any facts that might get in the way of taking power.
Hakeem Jeffries just doesn’t want to know about the monsters he’s trying to elect
Dingell-berry used repeated obscenities while defending her work on Cuba and Venezuela, in a clip making the rounds on social media. The question that preceded her remarks is not audible in the available video, and the recording cuts off
Michigan Dem Rep Debbie Dingell Loses It, Drops F-Bombs In A Viral Clip
The taxpayer-funded plan, which Paige Cognetti commissioned as mayor of Scranton, said the city should work to 'equalize outcomes between more and less advantaged groups'
Pennsylvania Mayor Running for House on Record of ‘Cutting Waste’ Spent $75K on ‘Equity Plan’ That Called To Put DEI at ‘Core of Every Decision’

POLITICS
Massie’s defeat signals a GOP split: a donor-backed old guard prevailing for now, and a younger America First faction challenging wars, debt, and executive power.
Thomas Massie’s Defeat Exposes the GOP’s Post-Trump Identity Crisis
Rubio recently said he would be the first to support Vance if he ran for president in 2028, and it is unlikely Don Jr. will run. Therefore, if one were to add Rubio’s and Don Jr.’s numbers to Vance’s percentage — since those two are likely to support Vance from the get-go — it would show Vance starting with a dominant majority of Republicans at 66 percent with the total of those three combined.
Poll: Vice President JD Vance and Kamala Harris Dominate Potential 2028 Candidates

BIDEN CRIME FAMILY REVELATIONS
Miranda Devine: Maybe it was a comedy routine the former first couple had practiced, but it fell flat. There wasn’t much laughter from the audience. Who humiliates her 83-year-old husband in public to try and boost lackluster book sales? “Dr.” Jill Biden — that’s who: a 76-year-old egotist who, in her delusional attempts to rewrite history, now claims that she thought Joe was having a “stroke” when he malfunctioned and started babbling more unintelligibly than usual during his first and final debate against Donald Trump almost exactly two years ago.
. . . Yep, that’s exactly what we assumed, since we had been watching Joe glitch for more than four years, despite the best efforts of his “American Politburo” of minders, led by the ambitious Jill, to conceal her husband’s frailties.
Democrats can’t escape the Bidens and their drama — even if they’re done covering for them
The burst comes as the Biden family name faces another round of damage. “CALL ME DOCTOR” Jill Biden has a new memoir out, and Joe's age, decline, and 2024 debacle remain part of the national conversation. Hunter stepped into the noise with the same scandals trailing behind him, but with a new tone; he's trying to turn the evidence locker into a comedy set and the family defense into a personal comeback tour.
Hunter Biden Is Posting Like the Biden Name Needs Rescuing

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami largely passed about five hours after the quake. Six shanties on stilts were damaged in a coastal village in Zamboanga del Sur due to the quake and taller waves, officials said.
A 7.8 magnitude quake in the Philippines kills at least 16, fells buildings and sets off a tsunami

* * * * *
Europe’s EU project has reached its limits: a centralized bureaucracy replacing politics itself, draining legitimacy, and pointing back toward sovereign, competitive states.
Europe 2.0, Beyond Brussels: The End of the European Union as We Know It
South Korea’s travel ban on an American ambassador reveals a regime more afraid of scrutiny than committed to democratic norms.
American ‘Ally’ Imposes Travel Ban on American Ambassador
Lammy, who also serves as the left-wing Labour Party government’s Justice Secretary, said that while the “starting point” should be equality before the law, it is not always appropriate to be treated “the same”, noting the disproportionate arrest rates of certain ethnic minority groups, such as Roma travellers [Gypsies] and black Britons.
UK Deputy PM Says Equality Before Law Doesn’t Mean Treating All Ethnic Groups the ‘Same’ After Nowak Killing
Official British cowardice claims another innocent victim.
The Needless Death of Henry Nowak – and Britain’s Shame
The shocking post came in response to an opinion column endorsing a political opponent.
Latin American Trump Rival Tweets ‘Heil Hitler’

THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"
The meeting comes in the wake of a Russian drone strike that killed three people waiting at a bus stop in southeastern Ukraine. Another person was wounded in the drone attack in Balabyne in Ukraine´s southern Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on his Telegram channel.
Starmer(bahnfuhrer) Hosts Zelensky, Merz, and Macron for Downing Street Ukraine Talks

DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
The Defense Cyber Defense Command (DCDC) is one of the newest agencies in the Department of War. It has one mission: to protect America from all digital threats that could undermine U.S. national security.
The Pentagon Gears Up For An Internet-Based War
“This case illustrates the lengths to which the Chinese Communist Party will go to undermine our democratic institutions and degrade our political freedoms, but it also demonstrates the FBI’s resolve to defend the homeland from threats to our national security.” – Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division
American ‘Journalist’ Pleads Guilty to Working for China.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE+Fauci-created CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS
Americans are older, wiser, and still very, very angry.
A COVID memoir

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
Researchers also noted a broader deterioration in adult mortality beginning around 2010, driven largely by heart disease, and warned that the United States could face prolonged stagnation or even declines in life expectancy if the trend is not reversed. This trend has continued with subsequent generations, exacerbated by factors such as obesity and the opioid epidemic. This could have significant implications for public health policy and economic planning.
Americans Born After 1970 Are Dying Younger.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April aiming to “accelerate innovative research models and appropriate drug approvals to increase access to psychedelic drugs that could save lives and reverse the crisis of serious mental illness in America.” While some experts have touted the antidepressant effects of psychedelic-assisted mental healthcare treatments, others have raised concerns about potential ethical issues and gaps in psychedelic research.
How Trump Admin’s Psychedelic Drug Research Push Could Shake Up US Mental Healthcare System
ObamaCare, among many other disasters, is Obama’s legacy
Obamacare is a fraud X 2.

ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
In a new record for the farthest measurement yet achieved (10 billion light years away), astronomers have now used the Webb Space Telescope obtain a reasonably accurate measurement of the mass of supermassive black hole in the early universe, estimated to be six billion times the mass of our Sun.
Astronomers measure weight of supermassive black hole 10 billion light years away
If the leak rate has suddenly jumped from one pound per day to two pounds a day, that suggests the situation is worsening, and doing so at an alarming rate.
NASA clarifies air leak situation yesterday on ISS

CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
What was once controversial (when Rush Limbaugh said it) is now mainstream.
Rush Was Right
The bottom of the box office barrel for Star Wars is unquestionably Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), which petered out with a $214
million domestic gross and a $179 million overseas gross, for a global total of $393 million. . . That’s catastrophic math for any blockbuster. For a Star Wars movie, it revealed a major disturbance in the force, and that disturbance went by the name of Kathleen “The Force Is Female” Kennedy. Remember, Solo is a movie that told fans that the legendary Lando Calrissian would be revealed as a robot-humping “pansexual.” I don’t know what a pansexual is. I don’t want to know what a pansexual is. But I do know it’s gross.
Nolte: Disney’s ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Flops Hard in Weekend Three
Christian Toto:Aussie animated series breaks Fathom Entertainment record, He-Man stumbles
YouTube Scores Again! ‘Amazing Digital Circus’ Crushes Box Office
HelloFresh tries to roll back the clock to a much more explicit era of Pride.
HelloFresh Crosses Line With Repulsive Pride Month Ad. It’s Sickening.
“The DC Pride priorities have always been to spotlight queer characters, serve as a launchpad for new, year-round DC storytelling, and celebrate our roster of incredible talent,” DC editor Andrea Shea said in a statement, according to Attitude.
DC Comics Publishes Pride Month Issue with Trans ‘Wonder Woman’
Decline is not fate but a choice; the argument holds that America endures by defending its institutions and rejecting narratives of inevitable collapse.
Decline Is a Choice—Success Isn’t Inevitable

HITHER & YON
Woodrow Wilson rejected the Founders’ constitutional order, replacing it with expert-driven administration that still defines American government.
Woodrow Wilson’s War Against the Constitution

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TIP JAR : Your support helps keep the lights on and is truly appreciated. Note: We are on Stripe, not PayPal.

Close it up

Posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:41 AM Comments

Daily Tech News 8 June 2026

—Pixy Misa

Top Story

The Sound Blaster Katana V2X is a walking disaster. (Ars Technica)

It's a USB speaker. How bad can it be?

Well, it is a USB speaker, yes. It also supports Bluetooth connectivity for your mobile devices. At the same time.

And it makes it easy to upgrade the firmware should you need to do so.

Over Bluetooth. Without authentication. While it is plugged into your PC.

Meaning that anyone within Bluetooth range can reprogram it with arbitrary functionality. Make it open Powershell and wipe your hard drive? Sure. The only problem there is the lack of imagination.

Oh, and Bluetooth is always on, even when the device is powered down to "sleep" mode, so just turning it off won't save you.

Creative - the company that sells Sound Blaster devices - states that it does not regard this as a vulnerability, which leaves me to wonder what kind of creeping cosmic horrors they would regard as vulnerabilities.

Posted by Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM Comments

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - June 7, 2026 [Doof]

—Open Blogger

From sun

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday night ONT. First one of June 2026. Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

Posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM Comments

Gun Thread: First June Edition!

—Weasel

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving hell did it get to be the First June Edition? For those keeping track at home, there will be four June Gun Threads this month. That is to say one per week, on Sundays. Please do try and keep up, 'kay?

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM Comments

Food Thread: Brisket, Patty Melts, And Other Fine Foods

—CBD

Pastrami is the quintessential Jewish deli meat, and when done well can be delicious. It can also be too lean, dried out, and very disappointing! Too many delis around here overcook the pastrami and dry it out, and even worse, buy into the hysterical diet insanity that fat is bad, and sell lean meat that is devoid of flavor.

Of course pastrami is nothing more than smoked and spiced corned beef, and corned beef is nothing more than salted brisket! And do we know where a lot of good brisket is made using a very different technique? Why yes...we do!

Texas!

But Unlike pastrami, Texas brisket is almost always smoked with a simple preparation of salt and black pepper. That is not a bad thing, and in fact, a good Texas smoked brisket is one of the glories of the food world.

So what happens when you combine the two? Magic. Magic is what happens!

A friend was kind enough to bring a brisket from a place in Austin for a small gathering. And when I say "a place in Austin," I mean a pizza joint. This is where the fabric of the universe is torn, and the strong forces start doing strange things!

This unassuming pizza place (called "Pieous") makes absolutely spectacular pastrami, that is really a blend of the best of Jewish deli pastrami and Texas brisket. I hesitate to describe it further because I have never had anything like it, and it is better than either of its progenitors! It has the smoke of Texas, the interesting spiciness of the deli, but it blends them perfectly into something unique.

It reminds me of a place in Northern Maryland...also a pizza joint...that makes the best crab cakes I have ever had. The pizza is crap, but damn, the crab is amazing.

Anyway, if Austin weren't terminally weird and leftist, this pastrami would be a damned good reason to move there!

******

I live in New Jersey...the land of the diner. Well, to be accurate, the land of a certain kind of diner that does lots of things adequately, but very little is done well.

But there are other diners to be had, and one in particular has piqued my interest. It is the quintessential New England coffee shop/breakfast joint/lunch joint, and it does what it does with very little regard for anything other than good food and pleasant company. Everyone who works there is friendly in that particular New England way, but that friendliness is made easier by a kitchen that keeps it simple and tasty. Oh, the coffee is good and hot.

But the best part on my last visit was the waitress and her earrings!

Well, the patty melt was excellent too. And cooked to medium-rare, which shocked me!

******
Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies are as advertised. They are indeed outrageous, and in a good way! Absolutely delicious, and worth a try, especially if your dessert taste favors less sweet options. These are very chocolaty without being sweet. Fantastic, even though the recipe is a typical Garten one...a few too many steps and a few too many bowls!
******

Thick cut fries twice-cooked in duck fat. It does not get better than that.

Duck fat adds a rich deliciousness that is absolutely a game-changer if you are a fry aficionado, and the thick cut gives enough surface area for the potato to soak up that flavor. Cooking them twice (the first cook is lower temp) is essential because of that thick cut, otherwise the outside would burn before the inside got cooked.

Yes, I ate that pastrami AND those fries on the same weekend. And yes, I need to go clothes shopping for some elastic-waisted pants.

******

Peking Duck is a great dish, and can be had in the United States with a little luck that the Chinese joint that is making it has not succumbed to the all-too-common failing that Americans don't know good Chinese food, so just mail it in!

But that platter is from a restaurant in Hong Kong, and no, sadly I was not at the table! It sure does look good though, and the report is that it was delicious.

And stupidly expensive. Thank God for expense accounts!

******

******
The garlic is doing well! For now. It was 42 degrees this morning, and I am unsure how well garlic will tolerate that. I know all of you are worried, but it is still tall and green and healthy! And if they survive the deer and squirrel apocalypse, and actually grow into something edible, I will be in garlic heaven! In case it doesn't, send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!

Close it up

Posted by CBD at 04:00 PM Comments

First World Problems...

—CBD

If there was a Platonic Ideal of oven mitts, that would be it!

Except...the designers clearly fell down on the job and did not design it to last forever, so my three mitts (I bought two more as soon as I realized that it was perfect) are not long for this world.

Sadly, the manufacturer discontinued the design in favor of a clearly inferior one, but probably cheaper and easier to manufacture.

I have considered having it copied and manufactured for myself, and even hit up you maniacs for advice, but the small-run required is not cost effective.

The alternatives are grim: keep using the mitts and accept the occasional burn as they fall apart, then stop using mitts altogether, and accept burns every day; or stop cooking.

It is a real struggle!

Posted by CBD at 02:00 PM Comments

The Democrat Party Is The Party Of Violence And Hatred, And They Are Proving It Every Day

—CBD

[Hat Tip: TC]

The normalization of violence and class/racial/ethnic hatred is a hallmark of totalitarian regimes. Consolidate power, then kill your enemies is the tried-and-true playbook, and the reality is that nothing else will work. A non-violent socialism will fail eventually because of the innate desire of man to better himself, and socialism restricts that possibility.

And they know it. The ruling class of every totalitarian regime in history has internalized the primacy of violence, and see it as a tool to acquire and use power. So the exposure of violent tendencies in a Democrat politician is surprising only because he has allowed the mask to fall away. The violence and hatred is simply part of the political philosophy! From Democrat politicians raping children to their street thugs burning cities...they are indistinguishable from the totalitarians of history because they ARE totalitarians.

Platner Has Best Fundraising Day After Being Accused of Assaulting Women

Graham Platner, the likely Democrat Senate candidate for Maine, who got an SS Nazi tattoo and lied about most of his past, and cheated repeatedly on his wife while she was undergoing IVF was featured in a New York Times article describing how he had abused an ex and discussed raping people.

And raised $200,000 making it his biggest fundraising haul since Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race.

A whole lot of Dems and lefties are voting with their bucks and supporting what they like .

Violence against women? Rape as a tool of power? That is perfectly acceptable for the Democrat party because the acquisition and exercise of power over the people is the only thing that matters, and any tool that allows them to achieve those goals is perfectly reasonable.

How else to explain Platner's fundraising haul? All of those middle-aged blue-haired lunatic women who find him exciting are curiously quiet when it comes to his casual misogyny. And if they find rape to be acceptable, they certainly won't blink an eye at his Jew-hate.

'What else do we have?' Maine Democrats signal they'll stick with Graham Platner, some with regret

That is a clear signal that power is more important to any ethical standards in the Democrat Party. They would rather have a violent rape-fantasizing Nazi than cede the election to a milquetoast ersatz Republican.

Posted by CBD at 12:00 PM Comments

Book Thread: June 7th, 2026 (MP4)

—Open Blogger

Good morning, ‘rons and ‘ronettes. It’s time once again for the monthly MP4-hosted Sunday Book Thread. As it’s June, it’s time for Royal Ascot!

So ask the barman at the Enclosure for a 1995 Louis Roederer, covfefe or tea and let’s get started!

Posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM Comments

Daily Tech News 7 June 2026

—Pixy Misa

Top Story

I mentioned before how PCIe switches - at least ones operating faster than PCIe 3.0 - are prohibitively expensive and reserved for enterprise customers except for the ones built into every mainstream PC motherboard. All but the cheapest models have a chipset, and that chipset's primary function is to act as a PCIe switch.

And hobbyists have started tinkering with using AMD's B650 chip, which is a serviceable and reasonably priced example - plus one that already works because every operating system has drivers to support it.

Now it's moving beyond a hobby. (Tom's Hardware)

Raspberry Pi shop WisdPi announced its PROM21 All In Expansion Card - the codename for the chip in the B650 chipset is Promontory 21. For $199 - not cheap, but it's a small production run - you get four extra M.2 slots, five 10Gb USB 3 ports, a selection of USB 2 headers, and an OCuLink header that can provide four PCIe 4.0 lanes or through an adaptor cable four SATA ports (the magic happens in the chipset, so the cable is easy). And it's a single slot half-height half-length card so it will fit easily into any PC.

Minisforum is preparing a similar card.

This would have been much more interesting before storage prices went into orbit, but at least it exists.

Posted by Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM Comments

Saturday Night Club ONT - June 6, 2026 [D Squared]

—Open Blogger

School is out, summer is in. Time for some backyard barbecue and quality time spent with good people in good places.

Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino (with a dash of guest Doggo tonight!). We built this place for you so you can have some fun. Come in in, grab a drink or 3. Keep it light and friendly. Jerks need not enter the premises (the moose out front will keep watch).

Posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM Comments

The 1980s Movie [Lex]

—Open Blogger

When conceiving this post, I began broadly. I came up with a slew of titles that I believed represented “a 1980s movie.” My list included Hoosiers (1986), Mr. Mom (1983), Nine to Five (1980), Cloak and Dagger (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Risky Business (1983), and The Karate Kid (1984).

Why these movies? I deliberately left out blockbusters from the 1980s, such as E.T., Star Wars, and any of the Indiana Jones pictures. Spectacles and blockbusters have been a given since at least the 1920s, so I didn’t feel a high budget movie qualified as representative of any particular decade. Different appetites (sword and sandal, war, sci-fi), yes, but no distinctive aspect that would tie any big-budget series of films to a decade.

I also put Academy Award-style films to the side—for the same reason. Movies seeking Oscar glory are always going to exist and don’t necessarily possess anything unique to a decade. Finally, I did not count the burgeoning independent film scene of the 1980s or foreign films.

What then, in my estimation, made the films on my list “80s” movies, other than the years in which they were produced? These mainstream domestic pictures, in my opinion, were particular to the 1980s because they were mid-budget fare, well-structured, quite clear in their dramatic purpose, and reflective of the more ordered zeitgeist of the Reagan era.

Many films will mirror the times in which they are produced, but I think there was something more distinctive to a middle grade 1980s movie than in other decades. Of course I have to check my bias. I came of age in the 1980s and am more familiar with the movies of that era, but I think I can dismiss these prejudices with a quick review of film history.

After the silent era, Hollywood entered its golden age, and the studio system, though legally dashed in the mid-1940s, managed to hang around through the 1950s and even into the 1960s. By the end of the 1960s, there were new rules, and the 1970s, many say, was the most free-handed decade for mainstream filmmakers as Hollywood reorganized itself.

By the 1980s, order took hold again and corporations edged out the latter-day studio mogul. Thus, you had a decade finally free of old studio rules but somewhat brought to heel by the new, conglomerate powers that be, as well as a Reaganesque social ethos. The result for cinema was the kind of middle tier films on my list.

Did this category of film exist in other eras? Of course, but they were more akin to b-roll or schlocky genre movies than solid, medium budget pictures with clean and compelling metaphors. To me, these are the hallmarks of a 1980s movie.
This type of movie hung around into the 1990s until the internet came along and probably destroyed quality filmmaking at the mainstream level forever.

You’ll never see a movie like Mr. Mom on 3,000 screens again. Blame it on Covid or CGI (now AI) or streaming or the unslakable thirst for prequels, sequels and origin stories, but the simple, effective, and meaningful medium-budget picture of the 1980s is likely not to be produced again—at least for broad consumption in domestic movie theaters.

Circling back, I thought I could discuss most, if not all, of the films on my list. But the more I wrote, I realized it would be too long an essay. So, I decided to dissect one movie I believe is emblematic of what I consider a 1980s movie. That film is Cloak and Dagger.

***
Cloak and Dagger is about a boy and his father (Dabney Coleman) who recently lost their mother/wife and are in the throes of grieving. The father works on an air force base and is frequently absent. The boy, Davey (Henry Thomas), is left to his own devices much of the time and often spins tales about espionage and conspiracies. He’s aided in these fantasies by the fictional character Jack Flack (also played by Coleman), who is a master spy of some kind. He eggs Davey on, much of the time to no good, until of course they stumble upon a real spy ring.

But the plot is incidental to the real power of the movie. Davey and his father are still reeling from their loss. Davey needs his father to help him get over his trauma, but the father is too busy—and too wounded himself—to give Davey the support he needs. Thus, Davey descends into the world of imaginary spies and secret missions to salve his wounds.

Jack Flack can only be seen by Davey, and the dramatic purpose of the movie is similarly shaded by the plot. Cloak and Dagger is not about a tween boy who [SPOILER ALERT] uncovers a conspiracy to encode secret military plans in a video game cassette. It’s a movie about grief and healing.

Cloak and Dagger might seem a little silly to modern eyes, but even its title is an indicator of its deftness. ‘Cloak and dagger’ of course defines the nature of the story, an adventure tale fraught with disguise and menace. At the same time, the title underscores the metaphor of the movie: Davey and his father are themselves caught in a personal caper.

Davey needs his widowered, hard-working father to be there for him. He needs his father to be his hero, and that’s why at the very end of the film [SPOLIER ALERT again] the two figures merge with the real father taking the place of the imaginary Jack Flack, and both father and son realizing they will have to behave differently to get past their grief. This movie is not about spies and secret tapes but a boy who needs his father to be his hero, not a mythical, cartoon version of one.

***
My debut essay on AoS was about the difference between clever and good screenwriting, and Cloak and Dagger epitomizes the style of good writing found in the 1980s, medium-budget range, which is almost a lost art now.

In that essay, I explained that a movie need not be a straight drama with a serious tone (from the 1980s think Ordinary People or Chariots of Fire) to be considered “good.” Offbeat films, even silly ones can fall into the good camp of screenwriting as opposed to the “clever,” which means the movie is more about its plot hook and therefore superficial.

Perhaps it’s no accident, then, that several of the movies on my list are goofy, veering towards hokey—with Cloak and Dagger the goofiest and hokiest of my choices.

Putting aside its playfulness, Cloak and Dagger is a tight, three-act movie with well-rounded characters, effective dialogue, smart pacing, and, above all, a strong dramatic purpose with which viewers can connect. The conclusion, [last SPOILER ALERT], where Jack Flack and the father merge with the father assuming the dominant role is one of the more touching final moments in a movie that I can recall.

Cloak and Dagger was a modest financial success and played on almost 1,200 screens. Had it not been up against the Summer Olympics I believe it would have gone wider and done even better business.

Much of Cloak and Dagger’s success in the 1980s and its impact since then, I believe, is due to its light touch, and, to me, a great deal of what makes an 80s movie just that is an insouciance mixed into the potage.

Saturday Night Fever is a movie that is almost inseparable from the 1970s, but it has many characteristics of an 80s movie—at least according to my definition. Yet there is one key difference which would keep it off my list.

Saturday Night Fever’s final moments leave things open-ended. As the credits roll, we don’t quite know what Tony Manero has achieved or if he has changed, but we know when Bender raises his fist at the conclusion of The Breakfast Club that something significant has shifted within him. The same can be said in the concluding frames of Cloak and Dagger, and that’s what defines an 80s movie—the cleanness and assuredness of its arc as a story.

This is the effect of Reagan’s America, a little bit square but surely a better and more self-confident era for the United States and filmmakers. There are no loose ends or dumb plot holes in my idea of a 1980s movie, and the stories are entirely believable within the context of the world they establish.

It was “morning in America again” or so Reagan said in a political ad in the 1980s. Our movies were also finding themselves again in this decade, and I’m not sure other decades can say the same.

Of course, I expect to be challenged on this theory. It is all a little speculative. Were there smaller, compact, issues-pictures in the 1950s, for example? Undoubtedly; but I’m not sure any of them could be called a “50s” movie. Were Magnificent Obsession or All That Heaven Allows or Imitation of Life (three wonderful Douglas Sirk pictures) unique to the 1950s or just produced then? I can see a case either way, and I expect my conceit to be tested.

In that spirit, what’s a “1980s movie” I’m leaving out? Or what other decade has a type of film particular to that time period? Prove me wrong, in essence, or point out that the type of movie I’m describing falls in other eras and is not unique to the 1980s.

Maybe the 80s will only be remembered for its music or big hair and shoulder pads, but I’m making a case that a certain type of film should also be indelibly written into that decade.

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 07:30 PM Comments

Hobby Thread - June 6, 2026 [TRex]

—Open Blogger

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. For this week, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) is on target. It spun and spun and ended up deciding on an archery theme for this Hobby Thread.

A what? Yes, an archery thread. This is like the gun thread except with different launching apparatus and projectiles, less bang and boom, and no movies about the wonders of ball bearings. But fundamentals still matter...

Posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM Comments

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, June 6

—K.T.

Courtesy Terry Glenn

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

Posted by K.T. at 03:29 PM Comments

Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, June 6

—K.T.

My terrace garden is pretty small so each blossoming is a little thrilling.This tiger lily was one tiny plant two years ago. I had trouble getting a good photo because they are in the planter and it is taller than I am. Of course, if you've met me, that is not difficult. Sharon(willow's apprentice)

Thrilling photos! You did well in compensating for the height of the planter!

*

Hi KT, The first Hog Wild daylily bloomed, plus white lilies (each stalk is like an entire bouquet).
Miley

What a gorgeous daylily! Interesting to see the differences in flower form between the daylilies and the lilies.

*

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Pawpaws spotted at the creek yesterday. They are not ripe yet so DO NOT EAT. They will make you really sick. September or so they will be ready.
- fd

Let us know how they taste!

*

In some earlier threads this week, there was some discussion of kale as a murder weapon, or at least as a non-food item. Suitable only as decoration on salad bars.

But for gardeners, there is another species of kale. The Siberian kales, related to rutabagas, are noted for bolting late in the spring. A kale breeder at Wild Garden Seeds says about Red Ruffled kale, "Rodrigo . . . harvested a treasure of "kale raab" from it during the hungry gap, before spring has arrived and markets are spare. He commented on the caliper of the tender stems, their weight, and sweetness. Leaves grey-green with purple-red veins and stems."

The Siberian Kales are not very decorative because they start to wilt almost as soon as they are picked. But they are easier to eat than regular kale.

Winter Red Kale

Red Russian is the only variety of kale "napini", "raab", "rapine" - or whatever you want to call the bolted stems and buds - that I have eaten. The flavor is fine, considering that the plant bolts in very warm weather here. The flowers are perfectly edible, too. They would be highly appreciated at a time when other veggies were not available in stores.

Perhaps even Piper's Ghost might enjoy the little yellow flowers.

*

Gardens of The Horde

Hey, KT
Summer has arrived in Cowtown. Water lilies, dragonflies and rainbow minnows are flourishing, and bullfrogs have spawned. And the Pancho pup is keeping the squirrels away.

R/s

CrotchetyOldJarhead

Thanks for sending in the great photos!

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, May 30

I closed the comments on that post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

UPDATES FROM LATE COMMENTS

Thanks to our commenters, plant I.D.:

Always like to see the Silk tassel bush (Garrya elliptica) putting on its annual show , looking good in Hyde this morning. pic.twitter.com/n1jmqU4nGm
— Jamie warren (@Jamiewa50042387) January 8, 2025

Oregon State University:

Evergreen shrub, erect, dense, to 8 ft (2.5 m) high and wide, may be a small tree 20-30 ft (6-9 m). Leaves opposite, simple, elliptical to oval, 4-6 cm long, leathery, margins entire and slightly wavy and irregularly turned under (revolute), glossy, essentially smooth and dark green above, paler and woolly below; petiole stout, to about 13 mm long, grooved and flattened above. Flowers appear in winter, male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious), male catkin-like clusters are yellowish to greenish then gray, 8-20 cm long ("silk tassels"), female flower clusters are shorter, 5-9 cm long. Fruit are in grape-like clusters, each is round, about 6 mm wide, at first green but finally covered with a purplish-gray pubescence; may be present through the summer if not eaten by birds.

Sun or part shade. Not fussy about soil type, if well-drained. Considered a good foliage plant, can be grown as a hedge, moderate irrigation needed. Prune immediately after flowering. A few male cultivars with especially long "tassels" are available, 'James Roof' (30 cm), 'Evie' (25 cm).

From The Famous Pat*:

Name that tree: Husband and I used to live in the Bay Area of CA, and we strongly believe that tree is Garrya elliptica, also called Garrya, or Coast Silk Tassel.
Teresa in Forth Worth (and anyone else with sporadic asparagus): Cook the few spears you get, cut them up and add them to a salad - little tasty surprises as you go. Or cook them with corn or green beans. (We've pretty much given up on our asparagus bed. This year I planted broccolini at one end of the bed. And if I need space next year, I'll just overprint the asparagus some more.)
(post 1)

Did autocucumber say "overprint" instead of "overplant"?

We may need to do a feature on asparagus - choice of variety (for climate), planting and care.

*

Pat*'s Hubbie:

@40 > I have a question for you Morons, I have tried, unsuccessfully, for years, to eliminate Creeping Charlie from my lawn (northern MA). I have tried every weed killer mentioned on the interwebs and have pulled up as much as my old body will permit and yet it thrives. HALP!
Triclopyr is your huckleberry.

Martha Stewart has some additional advice and a nice photo for those who don't know what Creeping Charlie is. Related to mint, like lots of invasive plants.

*

Pat*

(overplant!)
From Boise area: lows 48-61 F, highs 72-91. Some heavy wind gusts, lots of sycamore sticks down - so far we've raked up half the lawn. Lots of blooms - fireweed, peony, blue penstemon, bearded iris, chamomile, larkspur, wild rose hedge (I'm gathering petals).

Checked the fruit trees - most have no fruit, or just a few. Strawberries are producing! Garlic scapes got cut off. Potato bags had to be topped up. Some of the orange bell pepper starts look very bad, but the reds and poblanos are OK so far.

Under Puttering At Home, we bottled beer, a style called Kentucky Common - made with corn, which we hadn't worked with before. It comes out short of 5 percent alcohol, with a very light flavor - what Husband calls "construction beer", and fancy people call "sessionable".

(post 2/end)

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Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

*

Close it up

Posted by K.T. at 01:00 PM Comments

Discussing American Things as we approach the 250th anniversary of the country

—K.T.

Air Conditioners are even accessible to poor folk now

An Important American Invention

In 2015, the Washington Post declared that the refrigerator was history's greatest invention, but also noted this important point: "Europe to America: Your love of air-conditioning is stupid."

With the recent news of mounting deaths due to heat in Europe, the latter position is becoming somewhat embarrassing.

Back in 2019, the Smithsonian actually published a positive piece on the American invention of air conditioning: The Unexpected History of the Air Conditioner

The invention was once received with chilly skepticism but has become a fixture of American life

Working inside an office during a heatwave in June. A dinner party in July. Buying chocolate in August. If you talk to Salvatore Basile, author of the book Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything these things wouldn’t have happened in America without the ability to cool the temperature around us.
“It has shaped our world to the extent that people can carry on very normal lives during the hot months, which would not have happened before,” Basile says.

Today, almost 75 percent of U.S. homes have air conditioning, but for an appliance that has become a near necessity for Americans, one of the first of its kind was surprisingly unconcerned with human comfort.

At the turn of the 20th century, humidity threatened the reputation of Brooklyn’s Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographic and Publishing Company’s high-quality color printing. After two summers of extreme heat disrupted business and caused swelling pages and blurry prints, the printing company found that a nascent cooling industry could offer help.
Willis Carrier, a 25-year-old experimental engineer, created a primitive cooling system to reduce humidity around the printer. He used an industrial fan to blow air over steam coils filled with cold water; the excess humidity would then condense on the coils and produce cooled air.

“Not only did it solve the problem, but [the cool air] started to make people comfortable, and then the lightbulb went off,” Basile says.

Even Carrier knew that his initial invention was not the most effective way to control humidity and continued tinkering with the technology. By 1922, Carrier had created the safer, smaller and more powerful Centrifugal Refrigeration Compressor, the precursor to modern air conditioning. At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, one of the first practical centrifugal refrigeration compressor’s dating to 1922 is held in historic recognition of Carrier’s feat.

Experts are quick to point out that crediting Carrier as the father of modern cooling technology would overlook decades-long efforts by other inventors who used refrigeration to make hot days more productive or comfortable, though. Long before Carrier was even born, University of Glasgow professor William Cullen evaporated liquids in a vacuum thus creating refrigeration technology as early as 1748. . .

The story of the Florida doctor is interesting. And then there is the contribution of the movies to air conditioning . . .

*

Another kind of American inventor, Martha Stewart, published A Brief History of the Refrigerator. The refrigerator is not all-American, but was refined here. This completes both of WaPo's 2015 topics above, I guess.

What is your favorite American invention?

General Motors refrigerator from 1954

[📹 antiqueappliancerestorations]pic.twitter.com/EIhpyfbttx
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 28, 2025

* * * * *

Less Standard American History

A lot of history buffs check in at this site, but Powerline posted a link to an interesting compilation of potentially important figures in American history:

47 Heartbeats Away from the Presidency

A menagerie of 80 VPs, Speakers, Presidents Pro Tem, and Secretaries of State and Treasury who were first-in-line to inherit the White House from 47 presidents

These 80 included:
A general who won the Nobel Peace Prize and also wrote a musical piece performed by classical masters. Fifty years later, with lyrics added, it topped the Billboard charts for six weeks, making an R&B singer the first African American with a #1 hit. Other recordings featured Louis Armstrong, Art Garfunkel, Van Morrison, Merle Haggard, Cass Elliot, Freddy Fender, and countless others. (Videos below.)

A person of color who predated Barack Obama and Kamala Harris by nearly a century.

A Jewish Christmas tree farmer who lived next-door to a future president who also grew Christmas trees.

A man whose friends claimed (almost certainly wrongly) that he was actually President of the U.S. for one day.

A world-class plant geneticist whose sharp leftward turn and involvement with astrology and mysticism may have cost him the presidency and who learned botany from George Washington Carver, who lived as a guest in his house.

One who was so despised by his fellow senators that he derailed a presidential impeachment.

A 20th century diplomat who had been a right-hand man to Abraham Lincoln and was a poet, novelist, and naturalist.

A man who rose from stock clerk at GM to Chairman of U.S. Steel in 12 years.

Several Confederate officials and/or military officers.

A general described by Winston Churchill as “the noblest Roman of them all.”

A dying man who spent almost all his heartbeat-away time in Cuba.

A wit who said, “What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.”

Another who said the vice presidency “wasn’t worth a bucket of warm piss.”

You’ll meet these and many more in the chronology below. . .

American history - never boring. Can you identify any of these individuals by the brief statements above, without checking the substack? Have you studied the lives of any of the persons above?

Powerline also remembers D-Day

* * * * *

WEEKEND

The Week in Pictures: Pulling Pelley Edition

On the whole, it’s been a good week. It’s not every week that serves up the kind of supreme schadenfreudey goodness that comes from the firing of the pompous CBS News blowhard Scott Pelley, with more to follow. Less noticed was that NPR laid off most of its climate change reporters this week, too. If NPR is giving up on the climate crusade, it is well and truly over. The strong showing of Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt (fingers crossed about those “late” votes) is also cheering, though it will still be an uphill fight to November. England continues to spiral down the drain, but after their George Floyd-in-reverse moment, I am cheered to see anti-police riots in Birmingham. Oh, and props to DOCTOR Jill Biden for providing more free entertainment with her memoir. Can Hunter’s memoir be far behind? And Obama’s library opened, with a structure that looks like it belongs in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

* * * * *

Music

John Phillip Sousa marches have become part of America. From the Greenville Concert Band in 2023:

March: Semper Fidelis . . . John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
John Philip Sousa composed 136 marches between the years 1873 and 1931, and he described this march as his best one. Memorable and powerful in every respect, Semper Fidelis, composed in 1888, is the official march of the United States Marine Corps and takes its title from the motto of the Corps: “Always Faithful.” The special importance of this march is shown by the fact that Semper Fidelis was played as a funeral march when the Marine Band accompanied John Philip Sousa’s body on his way from the Marine Barracks to the Congressional Cemetery in 1932.

What is your favorite fun American music?

* * * * *

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

* * * * *

Last week's thread, May 30, No, patriots, there is not an Israeli Bioterrorist on the loose in Vegas

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

UPDATE: A cursory search didn't show anything dramatic in the news about the scheduled June 4 state court appearance for the property manager still charged with improper disposal of hazardous waste.

Close it up

Posted by K.T. at 11:16 AM Comments

The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

[H/T: Sharon(willow's apprentice)]

There is just one little problem with this advice. What if yours truly doesn't want to hear funny jokes in the morning?

*****

Before we enter the Prayer Revival, just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Lake Mills)

1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind. Be nice.
3) Must we address the issue of running with sharp objects?
4) Have a great weekend!

*****

AoSHQ Weekly Prayer List

Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.

Prayer Requests:

3/28 – Hrothgar asked for prayers for a dear and long time close friend and former neighbor, Daniel, who is scheduled for open heart surgery in mid-April. Prayers for his wife would be appreciated as well, as she will be carrying a heavy load for the next few months.
4/18 Update – Daniel survived his complex open heart surgery. He is sitting up and it seems like it went well, but they are not going to release him as quickly as he would like, so he is not happy. Thanks to the Horde for the prayers and please keep praying for his dear wife, who now has even more to put up with.
5/16 Update – Hrothgar sends thanks for the prayers for Dan. Thanks to his attitude and the miracles of modern heart surgery, Daniel is back home and in good spirits and mobile. He still has a lot of rehab ahead, but it sounds like a pretty good recovery to be home only 20 days after being on the table!

3/28 – Jordan61 posted that Mr. Jordan61 is back in the hospital. His sepsis has returned and gotten into where his compression fracture is, and he has vertebral osteomyelitis. The doctor is supposed to come in today and let them know the plan.
4/9 Update – On 4/1 Mr. Jordan61 was released from the hospital with six weeks of IV antibiotics, which Jordan61 is administering every 8 hours. He’s in a lot of pain; they’ve given him oxy, fentanyl, and dilaudid, and nothing seems to touch it. From what they were told, the pain won’t subside until the infection is cleared up. For the time being, he is bed-bound and they are limiting his movement as much as possible to keep the pain to a minimum. Jordan61 will send updates with progress.
4/25 Update – Mr. Jordan61 is making slow but steady progress. He can get up and walk for short periods of time, and can sit in the living room for an hour or so per day. He is halfway through the IV antibiotics, with 3 weeks to go. A physical therapist will be coming to help him build strength and learn how to move without aggravating his back injury. Thank you all for the prayers!
5/26 Update – Mr. Jordan61 had his last antibiotic infusion on 5/24 and his PICC line was removed on 5/26. He will have follow-up blood work in 2 weeks but for now, all looks good!

4/3 – Teresa in Fort Worth posted an update. Her chemo seems to be holding things steady for now. Unfortunately, as she is receiving a steroid, she has gained about 25 pounds. Her blood sugar has also jumped up about 40 points (which only happens when she is on steroids).
4/24 Update – Teresa in Fort Worth provided an update: The pump that was put in to battle cancer in December can only be used for 6 months. After that, it starts to damage the liver. So she may have to go back onto the medication that made her lose her hair and messed up her vision and nails, and then return to this medication after a break. This is not good news, since this new medication is working so well. But for now, she is doing well and is incredibly grateful for the time that she has been given so far.
6/1 Update – Teresa had a CT scan and has seen the surgeon. Everything looks good/stable. There are no new tumors and the ones that are there have pretty much stayed the same or shrunk. No metastises seen. Additional good news is that she can stay on the current medication, and just alternate it with other meds. She continues to respond extremely well to the protocols. She sends her gratitude for each and every prayer.

4/18 – neverenoughcaffiene asked that Devyn be kept in prayers. She is a young mother of 2 with a mass on her esophagus. The Doc said it was scar tissue and hopefully the second opinion will agree.
5/23 Update – Devyn had the biopsy and is waiting for results. Prayers are appreciated.

4/18 – Smell the Glove could use some prayers as therapy and rehab occur after gout/sepsis.
5/2 Update – The gout has cleared and the infection in the lower back is healing.
5/18 Update – Smell the Glove may be out of rehab this week, but still would need wound care at home. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!

4/18 – Sam Adams requested prayers for a friend, Mary F, who was just sent to a long-term recovery facility after having a tracheostomy.
5/2 Update – Mary’s breathing is improving, and they are weaning her off assisted breathing. She is now off the ventilator for 12 hours a day, and they are aiming for 14 hours soon. Many thanks to all of the Moron Horde for the prayers.

5/2 – neverenoughcaffiene requested prayers for parishioners at her church, who lost their newborn daughter, Astrid.

5/7 – turambar asked for prayers for relatives. Mom needs prayers as she was admitted to the hospital to check her heart and cardio. They did not find pneumonia. Two months ago, she fell at her assisted living place, and broke her hip. She also has dementia. Turambar’s uncle fell recently and broke his hip, too.

5/9 – D asked for prayers. He was let go from his IT job and has started a business making and selling lens cleaners to make ends meet. Please contact Annie’s Stew if you’d like more information – either to order lens cleaners, or if you’d like to contact him related to IT job openings (DBA/Network Admin).

5/11 – rez986 asked if anyone had an update on Neidermeyer’s Dead Horse’s health. The last info Annie’s Stew has was from January, 2026, that he’d been given 6 months to live due to heart failure and was being treated and waiting for a transplant at Mayo.
5/16 Update – Dash my lace wings! posted that NDH is recovering well. IrishEi posted that NDH did receive a heart transplant and that she is doing well. She also posted a link to NDH’s X account, and her fundraising page.
5/23 – rez986 sent thanks for the updates on NDH. It is much appreciated.

5/15 – Toad-O requested prayers for his second ex-wife, the mother of his two children. They were divorced 25 years ago, and 3 years later, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the children came to live with Toad-O. The ex-wife is now suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s, and has been living with Toad-O’s daughter and her husband. The ex-wife fell last month and and cracked 2 vertebrae, and just was taken to ER with a rapid heartbeat and low blood pressure due to dehydration. Prayers are appreciated for her and also for the daughter who has sacrificed a lot to care for her.

5/16 – Anna Puma requested prayers for the family of Dan Fordice, who was killed when the aircraft he was flying crashed. He leaves behind a wife, 3 children, and many friends. He was a Warbird flyer, a CEO, and a veteran of the 2/20th SFG.

5/16 – Tonypete asked for prayers for Jane who is dying of breast cancer, and for Cheri who is in jail (again) for drug related crimes.

5/20 – D gave an update on his wife Susan and her continued battle with cancer. Her cancer markers are still headed in the right direction. She is on a new antibiotic, and it is causing some side effects, but it is keeping her out of another surgery, so that is a win. Thanks again to everyone for their prayers. May 1 marked one year since they found out about the cancer, and Susan is doing so well.

5/20 – E gave an update. She and her family were having financial struggles a few months ago, and asked for prayers. E sends her thanks for the prayers, and wanted to let people know that things are getting better, thanks to the Horde’s prayers and their church family. They have resolved their mortgage issue and her husband has resumed his side gig making deliveries. They are also cutting monthly expenses. They would like continued prayers as they deal with the insurance company of the person who crashed into (and totaled) E’s vehicle. Insurance only offered half the replacement value, so that struggle is still going on.

5/23 – San Franpsycho sent a praise report. His prayer to become a grandad has been answered, and Girl F will have a baby in December. Girl F still plans to attend grad school, but will delay a year, which means they will depend on them for child care. This pleases San Franpsycho to the nth degree!

5/23 – Vmom deport deport deport would appreciate prayers. She has been freaking out about her eyesight. Her eye doctor says she has myopic macular degeneration.

5/23 – I used to have a Different Nic could use some prayers as he waits for the results of a biopsy of a mass on his prostate.
6/2 Update – I used to have a Different Nic sent in an update. He has been diagnosed with risk group 2 prostate cancer. It appears to be localized to the prostate but this will be verified via another scan. He has doctor appointments lined up for the next month or so before he starts treatment.

5/23 – George V sends his thanks for the prayers on behalf of his wife, when she had a heart valve replacement. The procedure went very well and she is doing great in the rehab program. But prayers are still needed. There are indications of problems in her lymph nodes that showed up in the scans checking her heart. She will have a biopsy in June, as well as a biopsy on a skin lesion that is looking suspicious. Thank you for all prayers.

5/26 – Doof posted a request for prayers for his mom. She is back in the hospital. She is very weak from one or more infections, and is sleeping a lot. She isn’t really talking when she is alert for a few minutes.

5/27 – Grannysaurus Rex asked for prayers for Sherry, a co-worker, who is being tested for possible cancer of the blood.

5/29 – Bulg requested prayers for his sister, her husband, their four children, and the rest of the family as his sister is dying. She is in palliative care in the hospital, with a lot of blood clots, and is not expected to last long.

5/29 – huerfano requested prayers for her brother, R, whose appendix “got hot”. Luckily he was with his daughter, who got him to ER quickly, and surgery was scheduled for 5/29.

5/29 – Beltway Elite posted that s/he had just signed forms for her/his mom to enter hospice. Mom’s quality of life has been declining since she had a stroke several years ago, and she hasn’t been able to speak or swallow solid food recently.

5/30 – RandomDave posted that he would appreciate prayers as he searches for work. He has had some good job prospects/interviews over the past week.

6/2 – Ellipsis (…) sent in an update. We had prayed for a friend of hers who was going through cancer treatment. It’s been a little over a year, and her port is out now and her hell is over. She is battered and bruised, but clear. Thank you to the Horde for prayers, and praise to Jesus.

6/4 – Teresa in Fort Worth’s niece (Amanda) received a heart transplant a few months ago. One of the complications of that was that her kidneys started failing, and she needed a kidney transplant. On 6/3, she received a new kidney and it appears to be working. Hallelujah! The family is so grateful for the gift from the donor’s family.

For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.

Close it up

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:00 AM Comments

Daily Tech News 6 June 2026

—Pixy Misa

Top Story

SpaceX just launched 50 more Starlink satellites into orbit in a single day, using a pair of its trusty Falcon 9 boosters from facilities at Cape Canaveral and Vandenburg. (Space)

And recovered both boosters, with them landing autonomously on the company's two purpose-built drone ships.

I was curious as to how long it took mankind to launch its first 50 satellites into orbit, and the answer surprised me: Withing four years of Sputnik there were over a hundred satellite launches. "Space race" is no misnomer.

Tech News

Speaking of SpaceX they just signed a deal for Google to pay them $920 million per month for compute capacity in SpaceX's Colossus datacenters. (Tech Crunch)

Which might sounds backwards but illustrates the scale on which the company is operating. SpaceX already has an arrangement with AI company Anthropic, which pays SpaceX $1.25 billion per month to lease compute capacity.
SK Hynix is planning to double memory production at its factories in Korea and China. (WCCFTech)

By 2030. The drought won't break anytime soon.
A coalition of trade associations representing the telecommunications, automotive, and medical device industries has urged the Trump administration to do something about that drought. (Tom's Hardware)

Though it's not clear what they can do. Even direct government investment or loan guarantees for Micron - the one American player among the Big Three memory makers - to accelerate expansion can only go so far because it takes years to build and fit out new factories, and the availability of the equipment for making chips is as constrained as the chips themselves.
The Radxa Dragon Q5E is a small single board computer for embedded projects with a Qualcomm Dragonwing Q-6690 processor. (Liliputing)

(muffled screaming)

Qualcomm is infamous for masking the specs of their processors. For more than a decade every CPU shipped has contained "Kryo" cores according to the company's own datasheets. Those are relabeled Arm cores, but you're not supposed to know which relabeled Arm cores. Could be the A53 from 2012; could be the latest X925. It's all just "Kryo".

It's as if General Motors announced its 2026 Car (TM) with Engine (TM) technology.

Anyway, in this case it has four A720 cores and four A520 cores on a 4nm process, because as soon as one person outside Qualcomm gets their hands on one the real specs leak out.
Intel is planning to refresh its new entry-level Wildcat Lake processors next year - pushing them solidly into the mid range. (Tom's Hardware)

The cheapest model, the 304, has one performance core, four low-power cores, and one graphics core; the other current models have two, four, and two respectively.

The planned upgrade will bring the count of performance cores to four, a perfectly reasonable number for an everyday laptop.
Nvidia's on-again off-again 50 Super range of GPUs might be on again? (Tom's Hardware)

Expected at the end of last year, these models would have swapped 2GB GDDR7 memory chips for 3GB models, with some unspecified other minor improvements. The 5070 with its 12GB of RAM - limiting for some recent games - would be supplanted by a 5070 Super with 18GB of RAM.

Rumours now include a 12GB 5060 Super, plus the new 24GB 5070 Ti Super and 5080 Super.

No leaks of when or how much, but not soon and not cheap.
Brave Origin is a new browser from Brave that costs $60 to remove features from Brave. (Bleeping Computer)

But the features it removes are Brave's own - relatively unobtrusive - monetisation efforts.

(Speaking of which, Tom's Hardware has annoying new ads that fill every inch of whitespace on the page. If you set Brave's adblock to "aggressive" it makes them go away and leaves the page readable again. I don't want website owners to starve but there are limits.)

The $60 is a one-time payment and lets you install the browser on up to 10 systems, so I'd only need two licenses.

And it's free on Linux, so I might only need one.
Asus has a new 13" monitor on offer with a resolution of 3200x2400 - sort of - and a 35Hz nominal refresh rate. (Liliputing)

It covers around 30% of the DCI-P3 colourspace.

Yes, it's an e-ink display, so take that refresh rate with a pound of salt, and the resolution as well: In colour it is cut by half, so 1600x1200. Which is not terrible for a 13" display you would use mostly for reading text, but worth remembering.

I did some digging on the original 2012 Nexus 7 tablet - which I owned (and probably still have in a box in the garage), and which had notably murky colour thanks to the choice of a budget LCD panel. That still offered something on the order of 60% of DCI-P3 colour.
Been very busy at work recently, pushing a new project towards release. Got sign-off from both the QA and marketing teams yesterday, so I finally get a weekend off. Ish.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: What did you say to me? No, honestly, I couldn't find a translation. (Apparently it's in Teda, a language spoken in Chad.)

Close it up

Posted by Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM Comments

ONT: Happy Fun Edition - Friday 6/5/26

—Weasel

060526 three-stooges-curly-in-a-vice scaled.jpg

Howdy all y'all! Weird Dave is on ONT special assignment this week, so yer ol' pal Weasel is filling in. Since the ONT goes up waaaay past my normal bedtime I really have no idea what I am doing, so please bear with me as I figure out the complexities and subtle nuance of the thread.

With that, grab your favorite beverage and settle in for the overnight!

Posted by Weasel at 10:00 PM Comments