Pelagic

Fascinating discussion to look back at, glad to see I was wrong and nuclear is having a bit of a renaissance moment these days. Although not in Europe quite yet.

Added to BLDR

Out of pure curiosity does anyone know why Exxon uses Moebd instead of the more common formatting of Mboed or mmboed? I figured it was a typo at first but it seems they use it in everything.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/09/22/the-kremlin-pulled-sailors-off-the-decrepit-aircraft-carrier-admiral-kuznetsov-and-sent-them-to-fight-and-die-in-ukraine/

There's a good discussion of BLDR here, there might be some Q&A about it at the end of the video as well although I think most of those focused on their TDW position.

Interesting, and I'm sure there's a trade organization of notaries doing everything in their power to preserve the status quo. I saw a further comment in the twitter thread regarding a new couple who needed a notary for some marriage documents and the notary took a percentage of their net worth as a fee which seems egregious considering most notaries in the states charge a flat fee.

Has anyone been to a notary reading session in Germany to confirm this actually happens? Feels like a law that was put into place 300 years ago and no one has thought to revisit since. https://x.com/nathanbenaich/status/1862208030596636770

Ukraine has been operating HIMARs for two and a half years, I think they've figured out how to plug in the coordinates of static sites like ammunition dumps you can clearly see on Google or Yandex maps by now. The idea that western troops are there at every second holding their hand is laughable when you look at the volume of GMLRS strikes since they were provided in 2022. And if you think there's some massive capability barrier between using the same system for GMLRS and ATACMS, they've been operating ATACMs for over a year against sites in Russian occupied Ukraine. They're perfectly capable of using the system themselves.

Article by the WSJ that gets into the details of how Russia recruits and pays contract soldiers, as well as compensates their families. The war has been an economic boon for some of Russia's poorest regions it would seem, which is also why popular opposition to it from those regions is limited. And a seemingly effective means for the Russian state to transfer wealth from wealthy districts to poorer ones. https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-ukraine-war-military-death-pay-6cfe936e Archive version - https://archive.ph/wtrq3

Seems like Gaetz, Gabbard, and RFK Jr. are something of a political litmus test Trump is imposing on the senate. If he can get them through then it's a signal the senate is onboard for just about anything, especially during Trump's first 100 days. Allegedly Musk is threatening to fund primary challengers to Republicans who hold up nominations or other legislation, a threat that likely holds less weight against senators who might be up for re-election in 4 or 6 years, than house members.

This would have worked in the first 6 months of the war and should have been done then but almost all soldiers fighting for Russia in Ukraine currently are contract soldiers who are *usually* from the lowest socioeconomic rung of Russian society, signing up to fight for a few thousand dollars a month. You're just creating an even larger incentive to sign up with a defection bonus. And an even larger incentive for Russian commanders to throw their men into attacks they're unlikely to survive. Ukraine does pay out defection bonuses for those surrendering equipment, however Russia has gone to extreme lengths to target those who defected in order to deter it (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68337794). Russia has for practical purposes an almost unlimited capacity to send people from its poorest regions to fight in Ukraine and take casualties at current rates. And somewhat counterintuitively as their economy worsens, higher interest rates, cost of living increases etc. that capacity increases because the pool of potential recruits who need that $4,000 a month or so grows. And it's not clear that people in the more prosperous regions of Russia have a strong view on the deaths of their countrymen, especially since they're "volunteering" for service in Ukraine unlike as was the case during their invasion of Afghanistan which utilized conscripts where casualties were a major reason for their withdrawal. It's a tough position for Ukraine currently, and their best option is still the one that the West has sought to avoid all along, hit Russia in their pocketbook by targeting crude exports. Who knows, it's been primarily Biden who's discouraged long range strikes into Russia, maybe if the UK and France take the lead on things, that changes the calculus as they've been in favor of allowing them.

Yes, once you get them set up they're fairly easy to care for. I went from having a pool outside to having one on a screened in patio. The difference is night and day between the amount of work required. The screen is mainly intended to keep bugs out to make the patio enjoyable but it also keeps so much organic matter out of the pool that it requires maybe a quarter of the work my previous pool did. If that's an option then a definite yes, without the screen I'd say it's a toss up. In any case I'd recommend going a size larger on the pool pump than recommended for your pool and go with a quality automated cleaner. Between the two I basically only need to add tablets to a floater once a week and wash the filter every 3 months or so, which I was doing weekly with my previous pool. Most of the modern pumps have a dual power setting where you can run them on high 1 or 2 days a week for a full cleaning and then low the rest of the week for reduced electricity draw.

This is a pretty interesting piece on hurricanes that occurred before recorded history and some of the ways scientists analyze their impacts. https://www.americanscientist.org/article/uncovering-prehistoric-hurricane-activity

For Russia troops are fungible. 10,000 NKs on the border with Ukraine somewhere in Russia allows them to transfer troops to occupied Ukraine. Or as some are suspecting they'll employ them in an offensive against Ukrainian held positions in Kursk. Russian troops who volunteer to fight in Ukraine get paid around $4,000 a month which is part of the "allure" of joining the Russian military, as pay is significantly higher than what they can make elsewhere. And also why Russia has had some success recruiting non-Russians to join their military. I wonder if NK troops will be paid similarly or does that money just get kicked up to the NK regime. There's also been some mention of Russian contract soldiers who signed up to fight in Ukraine not receiving benefits when fighting in Kursk (Russia) and their families being denied the death benefits they would have normally received. No doubt Russia faces an ever growing manpower shortage but perhaps there's some more nuanced issues with regards to the specific terms of contract soldiers that they think NK troops might help alleviate.

Interesting read on a specific very high risk property on the beach in Sarasota, it's still there but more in the water than on land now post Milton. Article is from 2013 but has some rate breakdowns. https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2013/05/28/a-residence-of-extremes/29178399007/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGDZbhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZR5dMS_qIoWaXYDD3DX4I8dE2uuW8-pfGq4WLm8jIufR0R7sgjxr9rrJw_aem_GpTTAgrFZc8bstQwvHEALg