Happy #FreeCADFriday! This week I've been working on re-modelling the case for the Morserino M32 Pocket. At least four different people had worked on the case. It was initially made in FreeCAD, but then was modified with other software, and the current case that QRP Labs is shipping was edited in s…
One early morning in November, on my way to bird watching...
(There're actually hundreds of birds on that lake, just out of view, but I wanted to capture that quiet mood and surreal light first...)
#MorningWalk #Autumn
The US military has always had a massive global advantage against enemies by having bases all over the world. There are bases in every NATO country. This would appear to be a powerful threat to anyone willing to oppose American hegemon, and under normal conditions it would be.
But a lot of those kids serving on those bases joined, not because they love America but, because they needed a ticket out of poverty. They joined for the education, for the money, maybe a bit for the adventure, but, more than anything, to escape the ghetto or podunk backwater that trapped them. Under normal times, this is the best deal they could expect. Maybe they risk their lives, usually they sit around being bored for a few years, and they get to come out with respect and paid college.
But what they are being offered is normal in most of the countries they're stationed in. Free healthcare, cheap or free education, is just what citizens in a lot of countries have come to expect. If the US attacked a NATO country, how many would snap up citizenship if they were given a chance to defect? Bonus points for taking some hardware with you, I'm sure.
But there are some who love their country. There are some patriotic Americans on those bases. Some of them joined specifically to protect the US from all enemies, foreign *and* domestic. Given a chance to fulfill that oath or violate international law, what happens?
There are a good number of former military folks too who now are unsafe in the countries they served, who would do just about anything for citizenship in any EU country and almost any NATO ally. Some of those folks know things they swore an oath to never share, but the country they swore an oath to has betrayed them. Today there's no value in leaking those secrets, but in a war between the US and NATO allies things would be different. Some of those former military folks still believe in their oath, and know exactly who the real enemy is. What happens when there's a real threat of war, when they can use their knowledge to fulfill that oath to protect the US against those domestic threats?
There are a bunch of civilian tech workers who have become targets of the regime. Some of them had clearance, or know about the skeletons in the closet. They know about critical infrastructure, classified systems, all sorts of things that would be extremely valuable to an opponent. But the opponents of the US have always been a frightening *other*, never familiar societies these folks look up to, have visited, have thought about moving to, are trying to escape to.
All I'm saying here is that invading Venezuela and kidnapping the president has a very different calculus than does attacking Greenland. I don't know if Trump or his people are able to understand that, but if he and his folks aren't then I hope European leaders are. But more than that, I hope it never comes down to finding out.
But perhaps we should all think about what we would do to make sure things ended quickly if American leadership ever made such an incredible mistake.
November was the first month the Hospitality House gallery on Market St & 6th in #SanFrancisco owned its own building and it is now making a difference in the lives of its in-house low income local #artists . The Community Arts Program offers tea and snacks to the people who walk through its doors — but also pat…
Australia is connecting Snowy 2.0 to the grid with 800 new transmission towers, unlocking 2.2 GW of renewable power.
Vikram Solar opened a 5 GW plant in Tamil Nadu, scaling India's solar capacity.
Bolivia created the Loma Santa Indigenous Conservation Area, protecting Amazon forests under Indigenous stewardship.
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Ben Johnson promoting Press Taylor to Bears offensive coordinator: Sources https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7030790/2026/02/08/bears-offensive-coordinator-press-taylor-ben-johnson/
How many seconds are there in a year? If I tell you there are 3.155 x
10^7, you won't even try to remember it. On the other hand, who could
forget that, to within half a percent, pi seconds is a nanocentury.
-- Tom Duff, Bell Labs
Mela vor dem Regal Mülltüten: "Meh, haben die etwa keine Karlsruher Restmülltüten mehr? Sind die aus? Haben sie die aus dem Programm genommen? Muss ich jetzt wirklich zum Restmüllhof rausradeln um mir welche zu besorgen? Warum ist das Universum immer gegen mich?"
Auch Mela: *sich frustriert abwenden, um zur Kasse zu gehen* "Oh!"
Commanders QB Jayden Daniels leaves game after landing hard on previously dislocated left elbow
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jayden-daniels-injury-commanders-qb-elbow-vikings…
Cowboys DT Quinnen Williams loves embattled DC Matt Eberflus' scheme
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-dt-quinnen-williams-dc-matt-eberflus/