The Islamic State Is Using AI to Resurrect Dead Leaders and Platforms Are Failing to Moderate It https://www.404media.co/the-islamic-state-is-using-ai-to-resurrect-dead-leaders-and-platforms-are-failing-to-moderate-it/
From Translink
Westham Island Bridge Repair Update
🧵1/9
TransLink is moving urgently to restore the Westham Island Bridge following a marine vessel strike on January 20. Engineering inspections have confirmed significant structural damage and, while repairs are complex, work is starting to minimize disruptions and safely reopen the bridge to vehicles as soon as possible.
Detailed inspections show that Pier 5, one of the bridge’s primary support structures, was severely…
I have determined the perfect transportation system
Walking is for going to another block
Biking is for going to another neighborhood
Train is for going to another city
Driving is for going to another state
Flying is for going to another continent
Ferry is for going to another island
Iceland Air flights ICE43E, ICE615, and ICE623 are flying over southern Quebec (almost to Vermont) right now. They took off from KEF within 4 minutes of each other, and it looks (from the tracker) like they're flying in a formation of sorts.
(They have different destinations.)
I've never noticed this before. Seems weird.
(I first noticed on my radio-powered ADS-B tracker, but they're on FlightRadar24 etc.)
From Translink
Westham Island Bridge Repair Update
January 22, 2026
Delta, BC – Earlier this week, a marine vessel hit the Westham Island Bridge, causing damage that required the bridge to be closed to vehicle traffic. TransLink owns and maintains the bridge, and crews moved quickly to assess the damage and pursue the fastest possible repair.
TransLink has now received an updated assessment from our structural engineer following today’s inspection work.
Day Five in the Improv Narrative house, and we're in the format I like most really. A few instructive games in the first half and a couple of longer narrative stories in the second half.
The island game was supposed to teach something about not deliberately getting obstructive.
A scene where your players are told they are on one island and must end up at some point all on the other one the other side of the stage.
Set a scene, make some characters, but nobody said it was supposed to be difficult to get from one island to the other.
Yet barriers are deliberately thrown up, actually imaginary barriers since the whole thing is imaginary after all. Why should there be sharks or a quest for a boat or the sea deep and cold.
You can just wade across. You can just have a boat. You can just levitate yourself over with your hive mind psychic abilities.
Unsure about this.
There must be conflict and peril and challenges which are mastered in a story, you can't set up a hero's quest only to have the hero just happen to have a holy grail in the stationary cupboard. Already got one you see. Use it for storing pens.
Still. Finding the crowbar doesn't have to be a quest. There can just be one in the boot. Don't let things get bogged down in difficulty.
Watched a story about a lazy fellow falling into a life of crime and villainy because of his tardiness and fulfilling his teacher's prophecy that he would indeed end up as a criminal if he didn't buck up his ideas. Good repeated themes of characters making lists of his failures and nice stage-focus work when everyone was on stage at once.
Played a preacher organizing a wedding in a story about friends running a hotel.
Fun to have Reverend Priest finding sin everywhere again. Easy wipe-off sin in this case. We may have come to an end too early. Perhaps not enough obstructions put in the way. 😆
#improv #london #hooplaImpro
Cuba rejects U.S. Embassy request to bring in fuel, calls it ‘shameless’
The Cuban government this week refused a request by the U.S. Embassy in Havana
to import diesel fuel for its generators,
calling the ask “shameless,”
given the Trump administration’s fuel blockade on the island,
according to diplomatic cables reviewed by The Washington Post.
The denial could force the embassy to order nonessential staff to leave Cuba in May
or “possibly earlie…
Oil prices have climbed again amid mounting supply fears after the US struck Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil hub and Donald Trump demanded allies help reopen the strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.8% to $104.98 per barrel during early trading on Monday.
Another weekend of violence across the Middle East compounded concerns over the conflict, and its ramifications for global energy markets.
Trump claimed on Saturday that US strikes had “totally …
Trevor Noah Sues Donald Trump Over Alleged Threatening Messages
Following Explosive Truth Social Rant
A high-profile legal and political controversy has erupted
after comedian and television host Trevor Noah filed a lawsuit
against Donald Trump,
alleging that the president sent “damaging, intimidating, and dangerous” private direct messages
following a public dispute tied to comments made during the Grammy Awards