Friday, March 20, 2026

Jared Kushner’s conflicts of interest become even more controversial

Son-in-law and "Jack of all trades" made his way into the news once again.  There's some reporting by the NY Times (behind a paywall), and a summary in the second link.  The first includes another summary plus a clip of Rachel Maddow talking about it.

As a summary, Kushner has had *private dealings* with Saudi Arabia in his business of private equity.  They (the country and prominent individuals) have invested significant sums (like, billions) into his company and he is helping broker a deal for them to purchase Electronic Arts (you know, an American gaming company, which would now be foreign owned - Make America Great!).  

He is also the chief envoy to middle east affairs.  He has met in a weirdly official US capacity with Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia - without any official title (and likely in violation of federal law).  Conflict of interests abound, and because he doesn't have a title, he doesn't have to report on the money he accepts.

Anyway, Saudi Arabia rather publicly lobbied for the US to attack Iran, and then we did.  And perhaps not surprisingly, since the attack began, Sadia Arabia's crown prince has shown up on the White House call log frequently. 

The thing to remember is that for T-rump its always. ALWAYS.  About the money, and enriching himself.

If only we had some means of looking into this and holding everyone accountable for their actions.  Too bad the DOJ is totally corrupt, and Congress turns a blind eye, isn't it?


Wednesday, March 18, 2026

China Tried to Block the Gobi Desert with Millions of Trees, Only to Turn a “Biological Void” Into Carbon-Sink Territory

Planting trees at the deserts edge has an ecological benefit, helps maintain the size of the desert, and acts as a carbon sink that actually helps scrub more of the earths gasses. 
 

As VA Looks Ahead to Dementia Needs, Study Finds Immune Cells Attack Alzheimer’s Plaques in Brain | Military.com

Certainly, plaque buildup is one of the big contributing factors to Alzheimer's.  So eliminating the plaque is important to the prevention of the disease. 

I'm intrigued by the notion that building up certain immune cells can help this to happen.  It's a fairly simple application, and theoretically inexpensive. I look forward to seeing how this turns out as they study it further. 

Huawei launches another major battle over streaming against Disney

Hmmmm. Technology is ever evolving. Companies come up with solutions to problems and patent the methods they come up with. 

Other companies wind up creating something similar, and then get sued by the first company for infringement. And then it's up to a court to decide who owns what - and whether any money will need to change hands to satisfy the claim. 

It's a crazy world these days. And development happens so quickly. I don't know who's in the right here, but Disney has to defend themselves against infringement on their streaming platform. 

African soccer confederation strips Senegal of Africa Cup title and declares Morocco the champion | AP News

This is so bizarre. Back in December, you had the AFCON soccer championship that pitted Senegal against Morocco. 

It was wild! I summarized a lot of what happened here:
Chaos at the AFCON 2025
https://youtu.be/e2YAcAJvmbw

But now - months later - FIFA is stripping Senegal of their win. If I understand the ruling correctly, it's because the coach sent the Senegal team to the locker room. So they essentially were ruled to have "abandoned the game" … of course he did this to reign in the chaos. The fans were out of control and the players were hot. He was trying to de-escalate the situation. 

And in my humble opinion, he was completely right. And coming back now to change the outcome is just stupid. 


And of course Senegal responded …

This 12-Year-Old Built a Nuclear Fusion Reactor at Home, A World First for His Age

This young lad got an interest in nuclear power when he was just 8 years old. And while building a nuclear reactor wasn't feasible for him, he did manage to get engaged with a project incubator program in Texas. 

And built a working fusion reactor! 

There's still some validation and testing required, and it remains to be seen if it could be viable at scale. 

But, wow. Curiosity got him a long way! 

And what have I done with my life?! 


And meanwhile, in Britain, there’s a $266 (USD) retrofit of a coal power plant into a fusion reactor. Which is impressive in its own right. But definitely a little pricey. 

The archaeological discovery of the century: a city resembling Atlantis has been found at the bottom of a lake

This is a pretty remarkable find… in very shallow water. An entire city appears to have been affected by an earthquake a century ago, and a lake rushed in to cover it. 

I'm constantly amazed at how little we really know about our own human history. 

NASA just picked a new upper stage for its SLS moon rocket amid Artemis shakeup | Space

NASA made a big announcement about a change to the Artemis moon program, and after so many problems and delays, this was expected. 

There are several pieces to this announcement. The first is that they're going to away from the more intricate design that required several different types of rockets to be built, and they'll be focused on one type of rocket. 

Next, they're evolving the thinking on the lunar module. The design will be simplified and (if I understand it correctly), they'll be changing to a model more like the Apollo rockets lunar module, where they won't be landing the whole unit. 

And finally, the plan is to increase the frequency of launches to accelerate the program. 

Meanwhile, SpaceX and blue origin are also on the hunt to get to the moon and have some plans to build out solutions that may get us there sooner, too. 


Astronomers Just Watched Two Planets Smashing Into Each Other 11,000 Light-Years Away

The basic story is that the astronomers got lucky in a way. They saw two planets at the right angle (relative to earth) at about one astronomical unit away pass near each other and then saw the spectrum emitted changed and a cloud of debris appears to have formed. 

Josh D’Amaro officially takes the reigns as the CEO of Disney

Attached are two articles with slightly different points of view on the succession that's happening. 

I'm hopeful that the company manages to get it right this time and that Josh is ready to step in as the leader of one of the most recognized brands with a long and illustrious history. 

But one thing that I can't quite understand: why him? What makes him more qualified than anyone with experience with the company? (And if I wanted to sound petty, why wouldn't someone like me even get consideration). 

A brief summary of his bona fides: he graduated with a degree in business in 1993 from Georgetown. He went to work at Gillette for a couple of years.

Then, he moved to Disney as vice president of sales and travel trade marketing. 

And it's been a rise ever since.

It's not like he's a wunderkind, exactly. 

But as I said, I hope it works out. 


Other nations danced for joy at the World Baseball Classic. Team USA played toy soldiers | World Baseball Classic | The Guardian

Good story.

And for what it's worth, the outcome of the world baseball classic was somewhat satisfying. Not that I rooted for the US to lose or anything. Just was happy to see a Latino team play well and win. 
 

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

All 5 fundamental units of life’s genetic code were just discovered in an asteroid sample

Wow. Scientists have looking for what defines life. They came up with 5 "fundamental units of life" that are genetic markers that establish the baseline. 

And they have found all 5 of the returned sample from the asteroid Ryugu. Which suggests that life could exist beyond the earth. It doesn't mean it does, of course, it just shows that the things that make life do exist elsewhere. 



Monday, March 16, 2026

Torsional flexibility of the thoracic spine is superior to that of the lumbar spine in cats: Implications for the falling cat problem - Higurashi - The Anatomical Record - Wiley Online Library

This may seem a little silly and perhaps trivial. But, a group of scientists decided to figure out WHY cats always land on their feet when they fall or jump. 

The rigor they put into their experiment is enviable. It's quite well thought out. 

In the end, what the discovered was that cats have two spinal regions which can twist independently, so a cat can start turning part of its body and then can turn the rest. 

Studying the world around us is the essence of science. 
 

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Messi can suck it.

I was a fan of his. I mean he's the GOAT of soccer. 

But not only did he go to the White House (that's forgivable IMHO because his team won), he also played it up for the orange menace. That's a bridge too far. 

Monday, March 9, 2026

New iron nanomaterial wipes out cancer cells without harming healthy tissue | ScienceDaily

This is a leap forward in dealing with cancer cells; they attack cells with an iron based particle that gets into the cells and destroys them from inside. 

So far, tests have proven to have a positive outcome. What happens next is more trials that hopefully will lead to human testing at some point. 
 

DNA Test Proves "Chimera" Incidence in Washington Woman - Global Genes

Genetics can be a little crazy…

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Out of control wealth inequity

Here's a little something for you.  

The "top 1%" refers to the top 1% of households or individuals in a country with the highest income or net worth, representing an elite group with significant financial resources

At the end of 2024, to be considered in the top 1% on net worth in the US one had to have around $10 million, which is a shit ton of money…

But at the end of 2025, that number leapt to $11.5 million.  As you might expect, this is the largest one-year leap in that number.  

And why did it grow like that? Because the top .1% - the roughly 900 people (a wildly insignificant percentage of the population who are billionaires) control $7 trillion of the wealth.

And their wealth grew by such a large margin, that they moved the value of the larger group by 15%. For reference there are about 1,500,000 people in that group. 

That is simply nuts.


Thursday, March 5, 2026

This plastic is made from milk and it vanishes in 13 weeks | ScienceDaily

Scientists racing to tackle plastic pollution have created a surprising new contender: a biodegradable packaging film made partly from milk protein. Researchers at Flinders University blended calcium caseinate with starch and natural nanoclay to form a thin, durable material designed to mimic everyday plastic. In soil tests, the film fully broke down in about 13 weeks, pointing to a realistic alternative for single-use food packaging.

Leopards adapted to South Africa's Cape so successfully that they're genetically unique

Well. What do you know?  These leopards evolved and adapted, based on their environment.  

Shocking. Said no one with half a brain ever. 

Disney's Disability Assistance Program

As I've noted in the past, Disney has always been inclusive, and had a program to make it easier for people with specific issues (like, say, autism) could get a pass to have a return time, so they didn't have to wait in line ... because in some cases that would be impossible.

Knuckleheads abused the system, and they changed it to be more complicated - but still made it so that people with certain conditions didn't have to wait in lines. But.... Disney doesn't like the way the current system is setup, given all the technological innovations they've put in place and the fact that the system can (and is) still be abused.

Couple that with the very weird climate around any sort of "differences" in people that we have in society today, and Disney wants to rethink their strategy.

They are asking shareholders to weigh in on whether they should create a sort of executive review panel to look into this further and come up with better solutions.

And one might assume that the outcome might be that they will find a way to provide a better solution - for a price.  It might be more inclusive, but surely will ask people to spend more.

Paramount Won't Say Whether Middle East Money Is Funding Its WBD Deal - Business Insider

The FCC wants to "quickly approve" the merger of paramount and Warner brothers. But how did this come to pass?

Why three nations in the Middle East funded it! So it's not US based media anymore. Now it's all owned by T-rump loving countries. 

I guess we don't have independence anymore. 

The 2026 World Cup faces big challenges with 100 days to go : NPR

The future - as it extends to the World Cup - remains kind of uncertain.  

There are questions about security at games and around the venues (the images from last year of the game in Miami still come to mind), and fan events are getting cancelled due to lack of structure, stability, and money. 

Homeland security blames the shutdown and assorted things, but yet still has plenty of money to round people up and fly them to a third world prison. Go figure. 

Meanwhile, we have the ongoing conflict in Iran that surely will prevent fans from attending … and there are questions about whether the team can/will participate. 

Mexico also has a host of issues - mainly because the US helped kill a drug lord which caused chaos that has been spiraling. 

And countries from Europe and Africa are voicing concerns. 

Under 100 days until the games kickoff. And nothing is certain. 

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Stupid is as stupid does

The orange menace opts to attack another sovereign nation for reasons that make no sense. Iran didn't do anything to incite the US, but he attacked purportedly to make a regime change.  That's a war crime, something he should be held accountable for. Innocent people are dying at his hands. 

But what makes this so much worse is that there really is no plan here.  The objective and end game are unknown.  Heck, apparently many allies were caught off guard, too. That's a contributing factor to why Kuwait shot down some US planes; they had no idea what was happening. 

And there is this oddity too.  The US is making statements about how the Iranian military needs to surrender.  Except that this message is not getting through.  The internet was suppressed in Iran by their government. And the US made no effort to turn it back on or provide another means to get online.  Also, in all his cost cutting, T-rump cut funding for Air America and other propaganda tools.  Meaning that no one is relaying information to Iranians on our behalf.

Telling people to surrender has no effect if they can't hear you.

There's also the matter of people traveling anywhere in that region and getting stuck.  They are paying for an "extended vacation" with no end in sight,  missing work and their families, with no means to get home. Heck, there's not even a plan.  Often, the US government would alert people to leave or not travel, and / or have an evacuation plan for citizens (which the citizen must reimburse the government for).  

And because of this surprise war, the markets don't know how to react, and thus go down. And because it's a Middle East conflict, gas prices go up… which affects our economy.

It's all just nuts. 

Monday, March 2, 2026

Kryptos - the sculpture at CIA headquarters.

Back in 1990, artist Jim Sanborn created a sculpture for the CIA that was appropriate in that it had 4 parts which had a code embedded on them. The codes were all different and he challenged anyone to decipher them all. 


3 were deciphered fairly quickly by cryptographers at the CIA, though the results were kept secret for a few more years. 

But the 4th one remained unbroken. Until a couple of reporters figured out a way to break the code via a side door - at the national archives. 

They're not saying what the answer is, and the code itself remains undeciphered still. 

And the person who owns the key to all of it tells us that there is a 5th cypher that hasn't revealed itself yet. 

This is kind of amazing and the article breaks it down for us.