An exclusive image from Ayatollah Khomeini’s secret bunker before he met his end:
You saw it here first, folks.
That’s War
Correct. Gaza got destroyed because it went to war with Israel. That is what happens in a war you lose. A bunch of fighting people die and some others too.
Waxx, @Solann_zla – La Tendresse (live session)
Concernant les deux tableaux de chevaux mis en avant au premier plan, la grande toile est Chevaux en liberté et la petite est La Foulaison du blé en Camargue, toutes deux de Rosa Bonheur.
Solann – Rome
J’aime à quel point ce clip musical est intime et varié.
Last Night in Soho – Opening Scene
Such a great opening scene and Thomasin Mackenzie is just excellent here (as she is throughout the film). It does three things that most movies struggle with:
1) It immediately establishes Ellie’s character. Who she is. What she values. What she wants. How she is.
2) It provides a context for her life and circumstances, allowing the viewer to avoid minutes of boring exposition. And it’s all so effortless.
3) It also sets up that Ellie is maybe a little more attuned to the invisible world — maybe a little bit presentient — because she knows before her caretaker yells her name that it is going to happen, and that the news is probably good. This establishes the context for the entire rest of the movie.
And because I’ve seen the “behind the scenes” of this bit, I also know that what you see there is all a set. That’s not a real house, and not a real place. It’s all in some massive warehouse-like studio lot. It makes the scene better, so this is not a criticism, but notice that the hallway is quite a lot wider than a normal hallway would be in a house like that, and the doors a bit shorter, the furniture a bit smaller. This is to give Thomasin (and the cameras) room to maneuver, room to dance, while making her seem larger than life in the scene. It makes Ellie the focus while still giving you the clues needed to understand her. And the newspaper dress is great.
Every moment in every film scene is chosen, and this one chose everything just right. Such a brilliant setup. This is exactly how you show without telling.
Fedware: 13 Government Apps That Spy Harder Than the Apps They Ban.
The electronic spreadsheet. Is there any tool as ubiquitous and yet so unloved?
After 16 years and $8 billion, the military’s new GPS software still doesn’t work.
In Math, Rigor Is Vital. But Are Digitized Proofs Taking It Too Far?
Don’t Cheer Too Hard for the Facebook Verdicts.
China cracks down on ‘bone ash’ burials in empty apartments.
Thieves steal Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings worth millions from Italian museum.
Europe Has a ‘Guns vs. Butter’ Problem. War in Iran Makes It Worse.
Eurozone inflation jumps to 2.5% in March.
A Complacent America Shrugs Off New War Technologies.
The Promise of 'Woke 2' Is Fueling a Leftist Fever Dream. Oh hell no.
A-10 Warthogs Are Doing Bizarrely Long Strafing Runs In Iraq.
Inside Ukraine's secret drone warfare juggernaut.
See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing.
Bunkers For U.S. Bases In Middle East Now A Top Priority For Pentagon.
Strait Crooked
I truly do not think Trump had no plan about the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. He knew Iran would shut it down, and I believe his inaction there was deliberate.
Trump is not a genius (quite the opposite), but he is strategic, and he is revenge-driven.
The US could’ve easily kept the Strait of Hormuz open by enough prep in advance. Not doing so was a choice. A poor choice, a misguided one, but a choice nonetheless. And the point of that choice was making our allies look bad, embararasing them, and inflicting pain on the rest of the world for their lack of support (or for being rivals, like China) for our actions in Iran.
Remember, the US is energy self-sufficient now1 and we cannot even refine the oil that comes out of Iran. Our oil infra is not set up for it at all.
Though I do not believe attacking Iran as we did was the best choice, I don’t care even a little what happens to the mullahs there, and they were likely getting pretty close to having a working nuclear weapon (unlike Iraq back in 2003). This would’ve been bad for everyone, but far more so for the rest of the Middle East and Europe.
Thus, the closing of the Strait was Trump’s revenge on those who did nothing to assist in an action that directly benefited them — i.e., significantly degrading Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The rest is just noise.
Get Out
I am 100% in support of every illegal alien being immediately deported.
That’s the bare minimum. I don’t approve of ICE’s methods, but the end goal is fine; it’s exactly what any place that calls itself a “nation” should be doing.
Once Normal
Is it normal to not be offended by men loving my skin tone?
This sort of thing used to be normal — that is, appreciating people for who and what they are. Then a ton of pseudo-feminist PMC liberal women got in a snit and let their intrasexual competition go fucking wild. That led to them declaring everything that was obvious about anyone being “offensive” to admire, especially if it wasn’t you admiring them only.
Then we passed those horrible norms down to Gen Z and mental health-wise screwed them over for life.
Not great.
Pulling Up
I did 16 full-hang pull-ups earlier this evening in one set. The most I ever did in the Army was 19, I think. Pretty good since it’s now more than 25 years later.
Not being weak is its own reward.
The Deceptively Tricky Art of Designing a Steering Wheel.
Painful Side Effect of Statins Explained After Decades of Mystery.
Courts are finally punishing Big Tech for harming kids. Here’s the catch.
The other signalling theory of wokeness.
The U.S. Will Require Travelers From 50 Countries to Pay Up to $15,000 to Visit—What to Know.
Euthanasia evangelists are coming for the young.
In fact, failing to actively manage your country's demographics is a governance FAILURE.
In Ukraine, ground robots are increasingly going on the offensive.
This friendly robot just installed 100 MW of solar power. This was “impossible” a decade ago.
Soldiers Issued Crocs So Trump Can Say He Didn't Put Boots On The Ground.
Black Half Of Tiger Woods Tased By Cops After Asian Half Crashes Car.
European allies say Russia is helping Iran more than the U.S. has acknowledged, sources say.
Cutoff
Woke bullshit almost solely exists in English. We shouldn’t infect anyone else with that nonsense.