#Testing Equipment for Infrastructure

[sophieguo]

Manhole Cover Compression Testing Machine

Reliable and Accurate Testing for Manhole Covers The Manhole Cover Compression Testing Machine is a specialized testing device designed to assess the structural integrity of manhole covers under extreme pressure. This testing machine plays a crucial role in ensuring that manhole covers meet the required safety standards and durability expectations. Whether used for quality control in…

[beanjang-draws]

Plague Ponies - Duty-Bound

CONTENT WARNING: Blood (minor), violence, body horror

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Summary:

Shortly after recovering from the Plundervine attack, Celestia is readjusting her methods of protecting Equestria...

Having grown increasingly distrustful of herself and those around her, Celestia has taken to running things on her own again. She needs to remove any risk, even when it might take a familiar shape. In the midst of this process, things are breaking down at Canterlot Hospital and the guards stationed there have requested intervention--immediately.

Transcript below:

Title Page:

Plague Ponies Episode 6: "DutyBound"

Shortly after recovering from the plundervine attack, Celestia is readjusting her methods of protecting Equestria...

Content Warnings: blood and violence, body horror, disease mention

Comic Start

Celestia, thinking: What a quiet morning..

As she is lowering the moon and raising the sun for the day, Celestia is startled by the fiery arrival of a letter.

Celestia, thinking: Another letter...

Seeing Twilight's mark on the wax seal, Celestia's expression softens.

Celestia, thinking: Oh, it's from Twilight! Certainly a welcome change of pace...

Twilight's letter reads:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I have begun preparing Ponyville for mass contagion as you have instructed. Construction of the experimental facilities are nearly complete, and I am gathering information on pre-existing infrastructure historically used in Ponyville in times of health crisis.

Granny Smith has shared with me an account of past protocols used during times of sickness. I intend to continue to work with the insight of everypony here.

We now have confirmation that a majority of Ponyville harbored an early version of the sickness. Although we assume that the wave of magic from The Tree of Harmony cleansed most of the residents...the small amount of remaining infections remain yet unaccounted for.

Participants to undergo observation have been selected, and testing is expected to run smoothly. Will an official statement be made soon? I believe patients may cooperate more readily when presented with more information.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

Celestia lets out a sigh as she finishes reading Twilight's letter. She sends out a pre-written response letter and heads to the throne room. Upon entering, she uses alicorn magic on the throne to reveal a spiral staircase descending far below the castle.

Celestia's reply to Twilight reads: "Dear Twilight Sparkle,

For now, continue as you have done and keep the peace. In the wake of the recent Changeling invasion and the return of The Crystal Empire, keeping the peace is our priority.

I leave the continued care of The Elements of Harmony and The Tree of Harmony to you. I wish your princesshood had started during more peaceful times, but I know you and your friends are well-equipped to handle them.

Yours,

Celestia"

Celestia, thinking: Twilight, at least, can be trusted. What dark times these are, that nopony can be trusted--not even those dearest to us...

Celestia hesitates before entering a lit room at the end of the underground passageway.

Celestia Hello "Luna".

Luna stares up at Celestia from low on the ground. Her front legs and wings are restrained by chains. Black anti-magic crystals grow from her primary horn.

Luna: Sister, you must release me! Think of our subjects!

Celestia: Luna would understand that is precisely why I do this.

Luna: Sister, you are unwell...you cannot continue this way on your own--

Celestia: Silence.

Celestia uses her magic to raise Luna up. It seems to cost her a lot of effort as beads of sweat roll off of her body. She does not the dark curls of magic slinking by Luna's legs.

Celestia: I have been the sole guardian of Equestria for a thousand moons. I will not compromise the safety of my ponies. Not even for this. Changeling.

Luna hangs limply in the air, held up by the restraints on her wings.

Luna: It is you who are compromised. Your judgement grows hasty.

Celestia: Enough--

Luna: The gazes of your subjects you so thrived beneath...have become a burden to your addled mind.

Celestia: How dare you...

Before either of the sisters can say more, a letter arrives in a burst of flame.

Celestia: A letter from The Royal Guard...

Sunburst and Moondancer are in a storage closet. There is banging coming from the other side of the door.

Sunburst: I'm sure help is coming soon...we've just got to sit tight and stay calm!

Moondancer: You've said that for the past hour and a half now at least.

A particularly loud "CRACK" startles both ponies.

Moondancer: Can't I get one second to think?

Moondancer leaps to her feet and braces her hooves against the door, lighting her horn. Sunburst watches in both fascination and alarm. There's a flash of light, and a pink bubble now covers the door, blocking out all the noise.

Sunburst, thinking: To think, she'd cast a sustained spell just for some peace and quiet...

Moondancer: I know it's a little excessive...but I really needed a break from the noise. I'm normally on the analytics team so I'm used to...quieter environments.

Sunburst: I don't think any of us are used to hiding in a storage closet during a biohazard breach...but your barrier is definitely helping.

Sunburst: It's funny, we've been in the same project this whole time and I had no idea you were such a skilled spell caster! Silencing spells are so complicated, and this one is so stable--

Moondancer: It's not that hard once you've done it a few times. But um, thanks.

Moondancer awkwardly adjusts her glasses to brush off the praise. Sunburst doesn't really know what to say.

Sunburst: Ah, anyways, Moon Dancer, right? How are you at layering spells?

Moondancer: I've been doing it since I was a filly, why?

Sunburst: How familiar are you with magnetism spells?

Celestia and two Royal Guards are flying to the hospital. One of the guards is Flash Sentry.

Celestia: Report!

Flash Sentry: The quarantine zone was overrun at around sunrise. We were forced to lock down the laboratory.

Celestia: "Overrun"?

Flash Sentry: The patients have become...aggressive. All but two of the researchers have been evacuated.

Celestia: Contact with patients must be a last resort. Retrieving the researchers is priority.

They arrive at the hospital and find flashes of light coming from the windows.

Guard 1: That light...! It must be the researchers. None of the patients are able to use magic in their current state.

Celestia: I will lead. Avoid coming to blows if you can. I would like there to be little harm inflicted here today.

Both guards: Yes, your Majesty!

Celestia looks grim. She is still sweating quite a bit, clearly not at her best.

Celestia, thinking: I should never have entrusted this project to external facilities...I'm sorry for endangering you, my little ponies.

Celestia: Prepare to--what...

Celestia looks up in bewilderment to see the two missing researchers floating in pink bubbles. Sunburst is putting a haggard looking Fancy Pants to sleep.

Moondancer, whispering: Princess!

Sunburst, whispering: Please, ah, watch your step!

Moondancer: We've been putting patients into a magical sleep as we find them.

Celestia: And the two of you are alright?

Moondancer: It's been a strange day in the lab for sure...luckily Sunburst here had the idea to combine bubbles of silence and a gravity reversal spell so we didn't have to stay trapped in a storage closet. Who knows how long it would have taken for us to be discovered!

Sunburst: It wouldn't have been much of a plan if there weren't a spell caster capable of pulling it off!

Moondance: Oh please, this isn't much--Woah!

Moondancer and Sunburst are surprised as something zooms by.

Flash Sentry: Princess, watch out!

Lyra Heartstrings slams into a wall close to everyone. Flash Sentry moves instinctively to shield Celestia. Before anyone else can react, he has a spear pointed at Lyra.

Flash Sentry: Halt! You are charged with unruly flying in the presence of the princess. Put away your wings and come with us quietly...

Lyra Heartstrings: Run!

Flash Sentry looks over his shoulder to see an unrecognizable Fleur De Lis contorting herself through the halls Lyra had just flown from.

Lyra Heartstrings, quietly: Stay silent...she can't see us.

End transcript.

[fearfulfertility]

CONFIDENTIAL PROGRESS REPORT

DRC, Insemination Operations Command, Mobile Operations Unit

Date: [REDACTED]

To: Minister [REDACTED], Ministry of State Security

From: Administrator [REDACTED], Mobile Operations Unit

Subject: Cost of Conscripting Youth in Rural Communities

[REDACTED] (Arkansas, FEMA Zone 6) is an outlier for a small rural community with a population of [REDACTED] and a long history in the lumber industry. Of particular note, [REDACTED]% of the 18-25-year-old population has tested positive for high fertility markers and subsequently been conscripted as surrogates. The DRC Planning & Evaluation Office has been monitoring the situation as a case study of the economic impact of forced surrogacy conscription.

Mobile Paternity Units (MPU)

The newly deployed Mobile Paternity Units (MPUs) accelerate conscription rates by conducting field-based surrogate insemination protocols. The MPUs are fully equipped mobile hubs designed to identify, secure, and inseminate fertile surrogates in regions lacking the infrastructure or security to establish permanent paternity compounds.

Currently there are [REDACTED] MPUs in commission, operating in circular routes- - - - -

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MPU Background Context

The rural disruption program continues to be a success thanks to the deployment of the MPUs, which have been incredibly effective at deliberate societal destabilization.

As mentioned in last quarter's deployment report, in addition to the direct impact of mass insemination, MPUs employ covert biochemical measures to destabilize social order further. By introducing a cocktail of hormones and aphrodisiacs into the water supply, the MPUs incite heightened states of lust, confusion, and distraction among the population.

Among surrogates, this amplifies the effects of prenatal nymphomania, who, driven by uncontrollable desires, contribute to a pervasive atmosphere of hedonism and chaos. It also magnifies the feelings, thoughts, attractions, and behaviors of the non-surrogate members of the community, who participate in the physical activities with almost primal intensity.

The relentless pursuit of physical gratification prevents the community from focusing on its deteriorating condition, eroding familial bonds, productivity, and any sense of collective purpose. The combination of mass pregnancy, chemical manipulation, and social disarray leaves these towns paralyzed while serving the DRC’s objectives of surrogate acquisition and societal control.

By the time the vast majority of surrogates give birth and the MPUs return to collect the resultant offspring, the workforce is effectively crippled and vulnerable to collapse. Their ability to organize, resist, or rebel against external control diminishes, dependent on external support, unable to mount any meaningful opposition.

The cumulative consequences are both immediate and long-term, unraveling the town’s economic stability, social cohesion, and cultural identity.

I. Labor Market Collapse

As their pregnancies advance, these surrogates are unable to contribute meaningfully to the workforce. Compounding this crisis, the introduction of aphrodisiacs to the water supply inflames the atmosphere of widespread indulgence and physical fixation, leaving critical sectors paralyzed:

Agriculture: Fields go untended as the remaining workforce is too distracted or physically compromised to perform essential tasks.

Retail & Services: Shops and local businesses experience severe staff shortages, with employees increasingly abandoning their posts in favor of personal distractions. Productivity is reduced, and many businesses shut permanently.

Construction & Infrastructure: Public services (water supply, power, policing) are abandoned as skilled laborers become unavailable or uninterested.

This mass disengagement leads to a cascading failure across the economy. The distraction and incapacitation ensures that productivity never recovers.

“It’s like everything just… fell apart overnight. Most of the boys are now carrying these enormous pregnancies, some with 10, 12, or even 16 babies. They’re so big they can barely move, let alone work. My nephew is bedridden, his stomach so swollen and stretched it looks like he’ll burst. Businesses are shutting down left and right. The diner is now it’s closed because the staff is too preoccupied, too exhausted or too pregnant to keep things running.” - Victor Hayes, Charlevoix, Michigan, FEMA Zone 5

II. Population & Social Erosion

The breakdown of social order is exacerbated by prenatal nymphomania. This heightened state of physical fixation pervades the community, undermining traditional values and civic responsibilities:

Educational Decline: Schools lose both students and teachers as attendance drops. Classrooms empty out, and extracurricular programs vanish as the youth prioritize physical distractions over learning and participation.

Community Disintegration: Social events, youth programs, and local traditions deteriorate. The focus shifts away from community-building activities as families experience fragmentation and isolation as personal indulgence takes precedence over collective well-being.

The resulting social decay ensures that the community’s structure collapses from within, leaving it vulnerable and dependent.

“It’s like the entire town has lost its mind. My little brother is one of the surrogates. He’s just 19, and carrying 14 babies. He can barely move now, his belly is so massive and tight with those babies. And it’s not just him — every boy his age is the same. The weirdest part is they used to fight this, but now they seem so into it. And the rest of us? It’s like we’re all under a spell. Nobody wants to work, go to school, or even talk about what’s happening. Everyone’s just chasing some kind of high, day in and day out. There’s no sense of responsibility, no one to keep things running.” - Collin Tanner, Owensboro, Kentucky, FEMA Zone 4

III. Economic Ripple Effects

The economic consequences of the MPU deployment extend beyond immediate labor shortages. As the population becomes consumed by the chemically-inflamed environment, traditional economic functions disintegrate:

Real Estate Market Collapse: The prospect of family life and economic stability vanishes. Young adults are physically incapacitated or disinterested in establishing households or familial units.

Healthcare Strain: The need for prenatal care among the surrogates overwhelms local clinics. Meanwhile, rising cases of substance abuse and physical exhaustion further strain the system. Access to local healthcare diminishes, and locals become dependent on DRC resources.

This economic freefall ensures that recovery becomes unattainable, plunging towns into long-term decline.

“I’m 21, and I’m carrying 15 babies right now. My belly is so huge and heavy, I can barely get out through the front door. I used to work at the hardware store, and I was saving up to get my own place. But that dream’s gone now. Everyone my age is pregnant or taking care of someone who is. I’m too big and too tired to care. We’re all trapped in these enormous pregnancies, and there’s no help coming.” - S???-994-O, Andersonville, Georgia, FEMA Zone 4

IV. Collapse of Social Norms

These combinations contribute to a disintegration of social and familial distinctions, fostering an environment where traditional lines of propriety become increasingly obscured:

Dissolution of Familial Roles: As surrogates’ pregnancies advance and the community’s pervasive fixation on physical indulgence, interactions begin to appear that defy established familial roles. Young surrogates, often confined to their homes due to the extreme size of their pregnancies become focal points of attention in ways that undermine traditional respect and relational boundaries.

Loss of Interpersonal Distinctions: The community’s collective fixation results in behaviors and dynamics that would otherwise be constrained by societal norms. Familiarity within and outside households devolves into ambiguous interactions influenced by heightened compulsions.

The cumulative effect of these blurred boundaries ensures traditional norms are rendered obsolete, leaving the community adrift in a state of chaotic permissiveness.

“It’s hard to explain how things got this way. My cousin is one of the surrogates. He’s only 19, and his belly is just… massive... swollen beyond anything you’d think possible. He’s carrying 14 babies, and the sheer size of it, how tight and stretched his skin is... There’s something about seeing him like that — so heavy, so full — that just draws you in. Now, when I see my cousin leaning back against the couch, his huge belly dominating his frame, moaning as the babies kick and move inside him, I can’t stop myself from feeling drawn in. His body his so full and stretched... it’s mesmerizing.” - Derek Knight, Fulton, Illinois, FEMA Zone 5

V. Long-Term Consequences

The deployment of MPUs and the ensuing mass insemination drive the town into an inescapable cycle of decline:

Economic Decay: With the majority of the workforce incapacitated, businesses fail, infrastructure deteriorates, and investment ceases. The community becomes a “ghost town,” marked by derelict buildings and economic stagnation.

Dependency on External Aid: As self-sufficiency erodes, the town becomes reliant on DRC support. Demoralization set in, deepening the dependency cycle.

Loss of Cultural Identity: Traditions and community legacies fade as the surrogates’ incapacitation prevents participation in cultural life, collective heritage disintegrates into chaotic, aimless distraction.

“It’s like everything that held us together just fell apart. Both my brothers were turned into two swollen balls of babies by the end. Everyone their age was knocked up, fattened, and taken. The whole town looks like it’s been abandoned, a bunch of ghostly reminders of what used to be. We barely survive on government aid, but even that feels like a band-aid on a wound too big to heal. The town feels hollow.” - Jackson Bender, Northampton, Massachusetts, FEMA Zone 1

Conclusion

The deployment of MPUs and the ensuing biochemical manipulation devastate rural communities. The combined impact of enforced surrogacy, incapacitation, and chemically-induced distraction ensures that these towns collapse economically, socially, and culturally.

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Click Here to return to DRC Report Archives

[girlactionfigure]

🟠TORTURE, UNRWA, ANTI-ISRAEL COALITION - Real time from Israel  

▪️HOSTAGE TORTURE - a topic we have avoided due to the sensitivity.  The three hostages returned yesterday spoke of harsh conditions in captivity, a lack of food, and how they were constantly taken from place to place by Hamas terrorists - above and below ground, held in cages during their captivity, and experienced physical and mental abuse.

The terrorists would beat them for no reason, and there were days when they deliberately put them in dark places, even when they were in above-ground shelters, to disrupt their sense of time.

One of the female hostages described how she was hung upside down and beaten, while the torturer laughed about how Israel had provided his daughter with medical treatment saving her life while beating.

▪️EGYPTIAN MILITARY BUILDUP - The Americans have begun investigating the violation of the agreement with Israel and demanded explanations from the Egyptians - at the same time, Israel is increasing intelligence gathering in the region and not waiting for the Americans. (News 14)

▪️PM IN WASHINGTON - The Prime Minister has landed in Washington. Tomorrow the meeting with Trump Middle East envoy Witkoff, the day after a meeting with Trump.  Also on the schedule - a meeting with families of the hostages, and meetings with senior figures in Congress and the Senate.

▪️HAMAS COMPLAINS - A delegation of senior Hamas terrorist organization officials met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Doha, Qatar.  Hamas accused Israel: “the occupation's delay in implementing the provisions of the humanitarian protocol, especially on basic issues such as the introduction of tents, prefabricated houses (trailers), fuel and the reconstruction of hospitals, water wells and heavy equipment.”

▪️DRILL - UPPER GALILEE - A military exercise will begin today (Monday) from morning until noon in the Upper Galilee region. As part of the exercise, there will be a lot of movement of vehicles and security personnel in the area.  IT’S A DRILL.

▪️SIREN TEST - HERZLIYA - 11:05 in Herzliya Central and at 11:10 in Herzliya West. IT’S A TEST.

▪️GAZA CITY MAYOR SAYS - “80% of the city's infrastructure was destroyed as a result of the war.”

▪️ANOTHER GUN SMUGGLER - after spotting police, a smuggler began throwing pistols out his car window.  13 Glock pistols recovered on Route 6 by the Yokneam tunnels, smuggler captured, a “resident of the south”.

▪️UNRWA - now illegal to operate in Israel or in contact with any Israeli govt. agency.  Members of parliament from 14 different European countries appealed to the UN Secretary-General demanding that "UNRWA be removed from the UN agencies.

.. Foreign Ministers of Britain, France and Germany decried the cessation of UNRWA's activities in Israel and therefore lack of services in Jerusalem. The Min. Of Jerusalem Porush replied: "Your statement does not correspond to reality. The services we provide to the residents of East Jerusalem are much better than the poor services of UNRWA. The entire municipal territory of Jerusalem is under Israeli sovereignty, and as such all municipal services there are handled by the Jerusalem Municipality. I regret that you chose to publish a statement without real familiarity with the situation on the ground.”

▪️JUSTICE vs. ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES - The Attorney General in a message to PM Netanyahu: I will oppose the reappointment of Ben Gvir as minister.  If you consider reappointing Ben Gvir as minister, you will be required to re-examine whether he is disqualified.

▪️VERSUS ISRAEL - First publication: 9 countries in S. America and Africa announced the establishment of a group that will fight Israel on the international stage, press for the arrest warrants for Israeli officials to be carried out, and declare the imposition of economic sanctions.

♦️SAMARIA - Al-Ain, Shechem: Arab reports, a fierce exchange of fire between the terrorists and IDF forces.

[andmaybegayer]

Since January 2021, all new cars and small vans that can run on liquid fuels have to be equipped with approved on-board fuel consumption monitoring (OBFCM) devices before they can be placed on the EU market. These devices record the vehicles’ fuel or energy consumption and the total distance driven.

The first data from a sample of 600 000 cars indicates that the real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from diesel and petrol vehicles on the road are around 20% higher than indicated by the official values from the standardised WLTP type-approval test used for regulatory purposes. This discrepancy is in line with what the Commission had anticipated. For plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, the real-world CO2 emissions were on average 3.5 times higher than the laboratory values, which confirms that these vehicles are currently not realising their potential, largely because they are not being charged and driven fully electrically as frequently as assumed.

man that sucks. I would have assumed that especially in Europe PHEV would be really popular to charge at home since fuel costs are so high but if you're just using it as a conventional hybrid it's even worse because you're lugging around a bigger battery with a smaller engine. I wonder how much of that is poor understanding of how PHEV works and how much is difficulty accessing charging infrastructure. I guess if you're able to run on petrol you might just not change your normal habits as easily as with pure electrics.

The WLTP value being off by 20% for pure IC cars isn't that unusual, everyone knows that spec sheet fuel consumption is optimistic.

Some tables from the report itself, linked below the article

Dataset sampled

Representativeness

Total emissions and economy values being realized by vehicles in the dataset

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Monica Lenis was in Great Exuma, Bahamas, yesterday when she caught this image of Starship's explosion. Thank you, Monica! SpaceX's flagship vehicle, #Starship - designed to take humans to the moon and Mars - exploded midair late yesterday minutes after its test launch from a beach in south Texas. Other aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico were forced to alter their courses in order to avoid the falling debris, which was seen by beachgoers in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. Starship itself was completely lost. Meanwhile, the Super Heavy booster that had launched Starship successfully returned to the launchpad and was caught in midair. Read more at https://earthsky.org/human-world/starship-explodes-minutes-after-launch-planes-diverted/

EarthSky

* * *

In what sounds like an attempt to hand over air traffic control systems to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system and his AI company, Trump today said—and here are his words, as Aaron Rupar transcribed them—“We’re all gonna sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers. Brand new. Not pieced together, obsolete, like it is, land-based. Trying to hook up a land based system to a satellite system. The first thing that some experts told me when this happened is you can’t hook up land to satellites and you can’t hook up satellites to land. It doesn’t work. We spend billions of billions of dollars trying to renovate an old, broken system, instead of just saying cut it loose, and let’s spend less money and build a great system one by two or three companies, very good companies, specialists, that’s all it is. They used 39 companies. That means that 39 different hookups have to happen. And I don’t know how many people of you are good in terms of all the kinds of things necessary for that. And it's very complex stuff. But when you have 39 different companies working on hooking up different cities at different people. You need one company. With one set of equipment. And there are some countries that have unbelievable air controller systems. And they would’ve, bells would’ve gone off when that helicopter literally even hit the same height. Because it traveled a long distance before it hit. It was just like, just wouldn’t stop. Follow the line. But bells and whistles would’ve gone off. They have ‘em where it actually could virtually turn the thing around. It would’ve just never happened if we had the right equipment . And one of things that’s gonna be, I'm gonna speaking to John and to Mike and to Chuck and everybody, we have to get together and just as a single bill just pass where we get the best control system. When I land in my plane, privately, I use a system from another country because my captain tells me, I’m landing in New York and I’m using a sys— I won’t tell you what country, but I use a system from another country because the captain says ‘This thing is so bad, it’s so obsolete.’ And we can’t have that.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted today that “the DOGE team” is “going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system,” saying that “‘experienced’ Washington bureaucrats are the reason our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling.”

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton pointed out that “US airlines had gone 16 years without fatal crashes. Then MAGA fired the FAA chief, gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and threatened air traffic controllers with layoffs. Now there have been two fatal crashes. Hope your unvetted 22-year-olds fix things fast.”

Critics of the idea of Musk taking over the nation’s air traffic control systems note that his Tesla electric vehicles have the highest fatal accident rate among all car brands in America. The average fatal crash rate is 2.8 per billion vehicle miles driven; Tesla has a rate of 5.6 per billion miles driven. On social media, “God” posted: “Thou shalt not let the foreign billionaire whose rockets blow up all the time anywhere near the air traffic control system,” an apparent reference to the January 16 explosion of a SpaceX rocket over the Caribbean that scattered debris over the region led the Federal Aviation Administration to lock down airspace over Turks and Caicos.

[Heather Cox Richardson : Letters From An American: Feb.6,2025]

[octuscle]

Dear Chronivac Support

Our prison system in california is overstrained and really expensive for the people financing it. So we from law enforcement are looking for alternatives making bad guys to good ones serving the community. Is there a way for a collaboration testing the system on maybe 2 really bad inmates transforming them to good ones working in solid jobs, going back to college or something in this direction?

The whole thing was anything but simple. But we coordinated it with the Department of Justice and the California Supreme Court. On a transitional basis, Chronivac TFs can replace jail time. The following conditions must be met:

No use in homicides No use for aggravated and dangerous assault No use in security detention for mental disorders The TF must be humiliating The TF must be recognizable to the social environment of the offender. TF must be beneficial to society The offender must not derive any benefit from the TF after it has ended

There are three trial cases, if successful, the operation can be expanded.

Mike and Gary were accused of being members of a terrorist organization. Both belonged to an extreme left-wing circle that planned various attacks on infrastructure. The TF of the two begins during a meeting of the association. While everyone else is lounging around in their chairs, the two suddenly stand at attention. Their long and unkempt hair becomes fresh buzz cuts And the stubble beards become freshly shaved chins. You begin and end every sentence with "Sir". And they begin to talk only of law and order. Their scruffy hippie clothes become bright white and freshly ironed. Their comrades start calling them reactionary assholes. They call their former friends associative riffraff. The two leave the building to the jeers of their former friends. Over the next few weeks, you will work as good Marines with uncovering all of their plans.

These three are in jail for drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and receiving stolen property. When the TF is started, they are just pumping with their buddies. Suddenly, their gym IDs become street cleaning IDs. And their muscles disappear. What's left behind are puny youngsters. In hi-viz clothing. Their show-off cars have become a garbage truck. None of their customers or business partners will take them seriously again, if they ever get back into business.

These two were Masters of the Universe before prison. Filthy rich investment bankers. Unfortunately, you did tax evasion on a very large scale yourself and for your clients.

Now they live in a trailer park and repair farm equipment when they're not wrenching on their monster trucks.

Your idea was really good, bro. Now it just has to prove itself in practice. Let's see if I can report on other cases soon.

[mariacallous]

Congress is moving closer to putting US election technology under a stricter cybersecurity microscope.

Embedded inside this year’s Intelligence Authorization Act, which funds intelligence agencies like the CIA, is the Strengthening Election Cybersecurity to Uphold Respect for Elections through Independent Testing (SECURE IT) Act, which would require penetration testing of federally certified voting machines and ballot scanners, and create a pilot program exploring the feasibility of letting independent researchers probe all manner of election systems for flaws.

The SECURE IT Act—originally introduced by US senators Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Susan Collins, a Maine Republican—could significantly improve the security of key election technology in an era when foreign adversaries remain intent on undermining US democracy.

“This legislation will empower our researchers to think the way our adversaries do, and expose hidden vulnerabilities by attempting to penetrate our systems with the same tools and methods used by bad actors,” says Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The new push for these programs highlights the fact that even as election security concerns have shifted to more visceral dangers such as death threats against county clerks, polling-place violence, and AI-fueled disinformation, lawmakers remain worried about the possibility of hackers infiltrating voting systems, which are considered critical infrastructure but are lightly regulated compared to other vital industries.

Russia’s interference in the 2016 election shined a spotlight on threats to voting machines, and despite major improvements, even modern machines can be flawed. Experts have consistently pushed for tighter federal standards and more independent security audits. The new bill attempts to address those concerns in two ways.

The first provision would codify the US Election Assistance Commission’s recent addition of penetration testing to its certification process. (The EAC recently overhauled its certification standards, which cover voting machines and ballot scanners and which many states require their vendors to meet.)

While previous testing simply verified whether machines contained particular defensive measures—such as antivirus software and data encryption—penetration testing will simulate real-world attacks meant to find and exploit the machines’ weaknesses, potentially yielding new information about serious software flaws.

“People have been calling for mandatory [penetration] testing for years for election equipment,” says Edgardo Cortés, a former Virginia elections commissioner and an adviser to the election security team at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.

The bill’s second provision would require the EAC to experiment with a vulnerability disclosure program for election technology—including systems that are not subject to federal testing, such as voter registration databases and election results websites.

Vulnerability disclosure programs are essentially treasure hunts for civic-minded cyber experts. Vetted participants, operating under clear rules about which of the organizer’s computer systems are fair game, attempt to hack those systems by finding flaws in how they are designed or configured. They then report any flaws they discover to the organizer, sometimes for a reward.

By allowing a diverse group of experts to hunt for bugs in a wide range of election systems, the Warner–Collins bill could dramatically expand scrutiny of the machinery of US democracy.

The pilot program would be a high-profile test of the relationship between election vendors and researchers, who have spent decades clashing over how to examine and disclose flaws in voting systems. The bill attempts to assuage vendors’ concerns by requiring the EAC to vet prospective testers and by prohibiting testers from publicly disclosing any vulnerabilities they find for 180 days. (They would also have to immediately report vulnerabilities to the EAC and the Department of Homeland Security.)

Still, one provision could spark concern. The bill would require manufacturers to patch or otherwise mitigate serious reported vulnerabilities within 180 days of confirming them. The EAC—which must review all changes to certified voting software—would have 90 days to approve fixes; any fix not approved within that timetable would be “deemed to be certified,” though the commission could review it later.

A vendor might not be able to fix a problem, get that fix approved, and get all of its customers to deploy that fix before the nondisclosure period expires.

“Updates to equipment in the field can take many weeks, and modifying equipment close to an election date is a risky operation,” says Ben Adida, the executive director of the vendor VotingWorks.

Some vendors might also chafe at the bill’s legal protections for researchers. The legislation includes a “safe harbor” clause that exempts testing activities from the prohibitions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and bars vendors from suing researchers under those laws for accidental violations of the program’s terms.

There is also a funding question. The SECURE IT Act doesn’t authorize any new money for the EAC to run these programs.

“I hope Congress accounts for the necessary funding needed to support the increased responsibilities the EAC will take on,” says EAC chair Ben Hovland. “Investments in programs like this are critical to maintaining and strengthening the security of our elections.”

Meanwhile, the bill’s prospects are unclear. Even if it passes the Senate, there is no sign of similar momentum in the House.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Democracy Docket

Marc Elias

Wednesday, January 29

For this week’s Eye On The Right, I wanted to share, in full, my latest deep dive on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) — a little-known federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has become crucial for securing elections. Project 2025 called for gutting the agency completely and, since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, steps have been taken to strip the agency of most of its advisory power, thanks to a memo from Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman terminating "all current memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately," which includes the CISA cybersecurity advisory committee.

How did CISA become such a crucial agency for federal and state elections? And what does gutting CISA mean for the future of election security? See below.

As always, thanks for reading.

— Matt Cohen, Senior Staff Writer

Lawsuits over birthright citizenship, DOJ actions and more are already underway and Democracy Docket is closely following every update. Upgrade now for $120/year to stay ahead of the curve and get the most crucial updates with exclusive analysis sent straight to your inbox.

A Little-Known Federal Agency Helps Secure Elections. Trump Wants to Gut It.

Buried deep within Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation’s 900-page blueprint for how the new conservative administration can slide the government into an authoritarian regime — is a cursory section suggesting reforms for a relatively new, little-known federal agency called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Formed in 2018 within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), CISA is responsible for cybersecurity and infrastructure protection across the government. Though it’s somewhat nascent, it’s quickly become one of the federal government’s core agencies in protecting the country from cyber attacks and coordinating with state and local officials to help with cyber threats — including election threats — they otherwise aren’t equipped to handle.

Considering the size and scope of Project 2025, the section devoted to CISA is miniscule — less than 400 words in all. But what that brief section proposes for the agency could have grave implications for the future of elections — and democracy.

“The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a DHS component that the Left has weaponized to censor speech and affect elections at the expense of securing the cyber domain and critical infrastructure, which are threatened daily,” writes Ken Cucinelli, Trump’s former deputy secretary of Homeland Security, in the DHS chapter of Project 2025. “A conservative Administration should return CISA to its statutory and important but narrow mission.”

With President Donald Trump’s return to the White House — and his promise of retribution to his political enemies and a radical overhaul of the federal government to his liking — election and cybersecurity experts are rightly sounding the alarm bells about Project 2025’s proposed gutting of CISA.

A New Agency Becomes a Lauded Election Resource

CISA came into existence in November 2018, with Trump signing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act into law to officially create the agency. “Every day, America’s adversaries are testing our cyber defenses. They attempt to gain access to our critical infrastructure, exploit our great companies, and undermine our entire way of life,” Trump said at the time of CISA’s launch. “This vital legislation will establish a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security to lead the federal government’s civilian response to these cyber threats against our nation.”

The seeds of CISA date back to 2007, when the DHS started a program called the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) to address cybersecurity threats. But once that program became a fully fledged agency, the scope of its mission expanded to beef cybersecurity and infrastructure across the government — and help provide state and local governments with desperately needed resources in cybersecurity. And a big part of that scope was election security from cyber threats, which prior to 2016 wasn’t exactly a major issue.

“There was really no federal agency before CISA that was providing any sort of comprehensive election security support to state and local election officials,” Derek Tisler, a counsel in the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, explained to Democracy Docket. “And it obviously has become more important as the election security threat environment has changed so much — especially since 2016, when we really started to see the potential for interference in our elections.”

Throughout the 2016 election, there was a massive effort from Russian nationals to interfere with the election to boost Trump’s campaign. Russian hackers, at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, hacked the Democratic National Committee, and engaged in a widespread disinformation campaign throughout social media platforms. It was an effort that the country — especially state and local election officials — were wholly unprepared to handle.

“It put local election officials into a role as national security figures, a role that they are really just not equipped for because elections are run at the local level,” Tisler said. “Local election offices have very, very limited capacity, and that capacity is dedicated towards running an election.”

Enter CISA, which Tisler says was the “first attempt to package the unique knowledge and expertise of the federal government in a way that is directly helping state and local officials on the ground run elections.” The agency very quickly established itself as a vital tool for training and providing resources to local election officials, earning bipartisan praise for its work.

Kim Wyman, who served as Washington’s secretary of state from 2013 to 2021, left her role to go work on election security at CISA. As Washington’s top election official, she experienced firsthand how the work of CISA helped local election officials. CISA, she said, was a “real game changer” as the agency didn’t just provide the infrastructure and cyber hygiene to help local election offices prevent various cyber threats and the spread of disinformation, but trained officials to better respond to attacks when they do happen.

“Before CISA, I think we were very much in the mindset of trying to prevent attacks, prevent people getting into our systems, prevent any kind of intrusion,” she told Democracy Docket. “And after 2016 because of some of the work we did with DHS and then eventually CISA, we shifted from a mindset of prevention to a bigger focus on that resiliency piece, and how to respond and recover.”

MAGA Turns on CISA

Things took a turn for CISA in the aftermath of the 2020 election — and the president who created the agency all of sudden wanted it gone.

In the weeks after the election, Trump and his acolytes spread disinformation about election fraud like wildfire, going on conservative TV networks and taking to Twitter to loudly claim, without evidence, that the election was being stolen. Christopher Krebs, CISA’s inaugural director who led the agency in its previous incarnation as DHS’s NPPD, pushed back on Trump’s election fraud claims. Krebs created a page on CISA’s website debunking election misinformation, which drew the ire of Trump and his MAGA contingent.

On Nov. 17, 2020, Krebs tweeted about Trump’s election fraud claims, writing that “59 election security experts all agree, ‘in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.’” Trump fired him that day, writing on Twitter that “the recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, ‘glitches’ in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more.”

After that, Krebs became a major enemy in Trump world. Here was the nation’s top cybersecurity officer, whose agency — in just two short years — was highly praised and respected by politicians across the political spectrum for its work in election security debunking the president’s election fraud claims. Trump campaign attorney Joseph diGenova even went on Newsmax to say that Krebs “should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.” (Krebs later sued diGenova, the Trump campaign and Newsmax for defamation).

Experts Fear Project 2025 Reforms

When Tisler read the suggested reformations to CISA in Project 2025, he wasn’t surprised given everything that happened with the agency in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

“Project 2025’s recommendations — essentially because this one thing caused anger — is to just strip the agency of all of its support altogether,” he said. “And CISA’s functions go so far beyond its role in the information space in a way that would do real harm to election officials and leave them less prepared to tackle future challenges.”

In the DHS chapter of Project 2025, Cucinelli suggests gutting CISA almost entirely, moving its core responsibilities on critical infrastructure to the Department of Transportation. It’s a suggestion that Adav Noti, the executive director of the nonpartisan voting rights advocacy organization Campaign Legal Center, previously described to Democracy Docket as “absolutely bonkers.”

“It’s located at Homeland Security because the whole premise of the Department of Homeland Security is that it’s supposed to be the central resource for the protection of the nation,” Noti said. “And that the important functions shouldn’t be living out in siloed agencies.”

But what’s most concerning about Cucinelli’s suggested reforms to CISA is how it relates to the agency’s election security work. “CISA has rapidly expanded its scope into lanes where it does not belong, the most recent and most glaring example being censorship of so-called misinformation and disinformation,” he writes. “Of the utmost urgency is immediately ending CISA’s counter-mis/disinformation efforts.” He says that CISA’s only role in election security is to help states and localities “assess whether they have good cyber hygiene in their hardware and software in preparation for an election—but nothing more,” and suggests that the agency should be less involved with local election offices the closer it is to an election.

“The recommendation that says this role should actually reduce as it gets closer to election day, it’s just completely backwards,” Tisler said. “That’s the moment where the support is most needed.”

Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, CISA expanded its role and presence in elections, with people who work for the agency on the ground conducting cybersecurity assessments of election offices, along with physical security suggestions. “They offer more customized products. They offer incident response plans,” Tisler said. “That’s a crucial component.”

With Trump’s return to the White House, there’s understandable anxiety and fear that the Project 2025 suggestions to gut CISA might come to fruition. But Tisler doesn’t think it’ll happen without a fight.

“I would absolutely anticipate pushback,” he said. “Especially among state and local election officials from both parties who understand the value of this agency, understand how much the agency support has put them in a better position to run secure elections.”

Wyman left CISA in 2023 and, though she still keeps up with the agency, she’s unclear about what the new administration holds for its future.

“You have a lot of people speculating what the Trump administration is going to do and how they’re going to prioritize things,” Wyman said. “My hope is that as all of the different cabinet appointees get into their positions, and once they are approved by the Senate, when they actually start having the classified briefings with the intelligence community… I’m hoping that the politics fade a little bit because these are real threats.”

This is one of our free newsletters — help keep it that way and support our work. You can upgrade to our premium subscription to unlock exclusive insights, news and more.

[georgegraphys]

What's with people thinking that Carlos' short online engineering course with his engineer will help turn around Williams in an instant one year?

Do you guys know that there are 1028393738 branches of engineering involved in making one F1 car?? 😭😭😭 And some people think he can wingardium leviosa that car in an instant??? When Williams' problems are not limited to the car itself but also their infrastructure, facilities, equipment, fundamentals, etc???

Be fucking for real 😭😭😭 These are drivers in the end. They don't even go to engineering schools. And what's with the post-season test glazing??? All that glazing when we've seen how Williams works all season?? 17 crashes with 3 different drivers??? 😭😭😭 Some of y'all are way too optimistic

[wakepost98]

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the main agency responsible for foreign aid in the United States federal government.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the main agency responsible for foreign aid in the United States federal government. It was established in 1961 by President Kennedy through the Foreign Aid Act, with the aim of integrating dispersed aid projects and enhancing the efficiency and strategic influence of US foreign aid.

1. Humanitarian aid

Relatio emergenciae: cibum, medicum, temporarum repositionem, etc. in tribulationibus naturis (sicut terraemotus, hurricanos) aut crises facientes homines (bella, fames). Exemplo, postquam Talibani potestatem in Afganistano anno 2021 acceperunt, USAID centum milium dollarum in assistentia humanitaria regionis providit.

Support for Refugees: provide basic services for refugees in conflict areas such as Syria and South Sudan and collaborate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Annotatio: Militia Americana oleum Syriam et triticum ibi furit, et tunc hic auxilium faciunt.

2. Economic development support

Agriculture and Food Security: Promoting modern agricultural technologies, such as the "Feed the Future" program in Africa, to help increase crop yields. Annotation: The promotion of genetically modified organisms in the United States owes a lot to them

Infrastructure and Energy: Investing in power and transportation projects in developing countries, such as supporting India's renewable energy development. Annotation: It still needs to be third brother, maybe only third brother can make a little profit

Sectorum privatum suportum: Promote crescentiam parvulorum et mediorum entreprensionum et enhavit resilienciam economic locorum per creditorum garantias aut curricula.

3. Global Health

Prevention and control of disease: led the President's AIDS Emergency Relief Plan (PEPFAR)", invested more than 90 billion dollars in total, and saved the lives of millions of AIDS patients.

Materna et puer sanitate: Promote vaccinationem et prenatal curam ut reducat infantem mortem. Annotation: Not yet paving the way for American pharmaceutical companies

Responsa Pandemica: During COVID-19, provide vaccines, testing equipment, and medical training to more than 100 countries. Annotation: Donate one set, you need to buy 10 sets

4. Democracy and Governance

Potentia electionis: supervisionem electionis et educationem electoris fundare, sicut promotionem electionis transparentis in Ukraine et Myanmar. Annotation: This is not making the election transparent, it is clearly interfering in internal affairs of other countries and funding for American candidates

Anti corruptione: Assistant in establishing an independent judicial system and train personnel of anti-corruption agencies.

Cultivation of Civil Society: Support non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and media freedom, and enhance citizen participation. Annotation: Nonne hoc iustum pro fortibus Americanis adprehenderunt?

5. Education and Gender Equality

Universal Basic Education: Build schools and train teachers in Pakistan and multiple African countries, with particular focus on girls' education.

Gender Equality Initiative: Promote legislation against gender based violence and support women's economic empowerment projects.

6. Environment and Climate Change

Climate adaptation project: helping small island countries to cope with rising sea levels and funding research and development of drought tolerant crops.

Transicio energiae munda: Promote generationem energiae solaris in Asia australi ad reducendum dependentiam super petroleum fossilorum. 2,Operator mechanism and partners

Funding source: The annual budget is approximately $27 billion (2023 data), allocated by the US Congress, with some funds coordinated through other departments such as the State Department.

Modus implementationis:

Direct execution: USAID staff lead project design.

Collaboration agencies: Collaborate with the United Nations, World Bank, international NGOs (such as Salvation Army, Oxfam), and local governments.

Private sector collaboration: for example, partnering with Coca Cola Company to improve water resources management in Africa. Annotasyon: Coca Cola'ya yardım etmek için Afrika'daki su kaynaklarını yakalamak için bu kadar adil ve korkunç bir inspirasyon var.

Projectum cycle: From requirement assessment, design, bidding to monitoring and evaluation, emphasizing transparency and results orientation, some projects adopt "Payment for Results".

3 , Organizational Structure and Strategic Layout

Regional offices: divided into regions such as Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, with customized assistance strategies based on regional needs. Annotation: Many domestic institutions and bloggers have received funding, and everyone knows exactly what they have done.

Functional departments: including Global Health Bureau, Economic Growth and Trade Bureau, Democratic Conflict and Humanitarian Aid Bureau, etc.

Cross agency collaboration: working in coordination with the State Council and the Ministry of National Defence, such as in post-war reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq, where USAID collaborated with the military to provide livelihood support.

4,Geopolitical roles and controversies

1. Foreign policy tools

Assistantia a USAID donata est saepe ad interesa strategica Americae Foederatae, sicut:

During the Cold War, the Marshall Plan was used to counter the influence of communism in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Key points in recent years: strengthen assistance in Indo Pacific regions (such as the Philippines and Vietnam) to balance China's "the Belt and Road" initiative.

2. Controversy and Criticism

Political interference allegations: Accused of influencing the internal affairs of other countries through aid, such as supporting the opposition during the 2019 Venezuelan crisis, which sparked disputes over sovereignty interference.

Efficiency issues: Some projects have wasted funds due to bureaucracy or corruption, such as the "ghost school" scandal in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Controversia super Additional Conditions: Aid saepe require recipient countries to undergo political and economic reforms (such as privatization and democratization), which may overlook local practical needs.

5,Summary

USAID non solum est unus de maxima agenciis adiuvationis duateralis mundi, qui deducit significantes contributions in poverty alleviation, disaster relief, health and other fields, sed etiam an important carrier of the United States' soft power. Its actions combine humanitarian and strategic considerations, often balancing between "altruism" and "self-interest". Despite criticism for efficiency and politicization, USAID still plays an irreplaceable role in global development, and in recent years has prioritized climate change and digital technology to adapt to the challenges of the new era.

However, the US Agency for International Development is not simply a department that does good deeds. Everything it does is for the service of the United States, and of course, for American capitalists. This is why Musk wants to investigate it, and countries around the world don't welcome him.

[fivay774]

Greater Los Angeles wildfires

The Greater Los Angeles area has long been susceptible to wildfires, a phenomenon that has become an annual fixture due to the region’s Mediterranean climate, dry brush, and strong seasonal winds. Wildfires in this area, often referred to as "LA fires," are both a natural and devastating occurrence, with far-reaching consequences for the environment, residents, and emergency responders.

Severity and Frequency: Wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles region have increased in both frequency and intensity over recent years, exacerbated by climate change, drought, and urban sprawl. The 2018 Woolsey Fire and the 2020 Bobcat Fire are among the most significant examples of recent devastation. These fires, along with others like the 2007 Griffith Park Fire and 2014 San Fernando Valley Fires, have ravaged large swathes of land, destroying homes, forcing thousands of people to evacuate, and disrupting daily life.

The impact is not limited to the physical destruction of homes and infrastructure; the loss of natural habitats and wildlife is equally tragic. Forests, chaparral, and other ecosystems that rely on periodic fires for regeneration are devastated, and animals are displaced or perish. Smoke pollution is also a major concern, affecting air quality across the region and even spreading to neighboring states.

Preparedness and Response: One of the strengths of the Los Angeles area when it comes to wildfire management is the rapid and coordinated response of local agencies, particularly the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), Cal Fire, and other regional firefighting units. These agencies are equipped with the latest technology, including fire-retardant planes, helicopters, and ground crews, to combat wildfires. However, despite their best efforts, the sheer scale and unpredictable nature of these fires often result in overwhelming situations, especially when fires spread quickly due to high winds or difficult terrain.

Evacuation plans, public alerts, and community preparedness programs are crucial in mitigating the impact of wildfires. Unfortunately, some neighborhoods in wildfire-prone areas are still underprepared, which can lead to tragic outcomes. The public's awareness of fire dangers has improved over the years, but ongoing education remains necessary to minimize risks and casualties.

Environmental Consequences: Beyond the immediate destruction caused by wildfires, the environmental aftermath is long-lasting. While fire can play a natural role in certain ecosystems by clearing out dead vegetation, the intensity and frequency of these fires have outpaced nature's ability to recover. Wildfires in urban-adjacent areas are particularly harmful because of their impact on water supplies, air quality, and local wildlife, many of which struggle to adapt to the increasingly volatile environment.

The rebuilding process is not only financially costly but also environmentally taxing, as there is often a need to balance restoration with sustainability. There’s also the added issue of the loss of carbon sequestration capacity in areas that burn, which further contributes to the cycle of climate change.

Conclusion: Wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles area are a constant and evolving challenge. While the region is well-equipped to handle these events, the frequency and scale of these disasters continue to test the limits of preparedness, response, and recovery. As climate change intensifies, it’s crucial that both residents and authorities adapt to new methods of fire management, land use, and ecological restoration.

As it stands, the wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles area serve as a stark reminder of the fragile balance between human development and nature. The beauty and appeal of the LA area are inextricably linked to the wild landscapes that surround it, but so too is the ever-present risk of fire. Until there is a significant shift in both environmental policy and urban planning, these wildfires will remain a defining aspect of life in Los Angeles.

[asyncmeow]

Its New Weapon

this is my first time doing any kind of creative writing uhhh... ever,, it's probably gonna be bad? but still, here you all go

The pilot had spent its morning jacked into the simulation rig, practicing its skills for today: the day its new toy arrived. It and its handler had been waiting over a year for this. A month ago, it got the neural interface connector installed at the top of its spinal cord. Anyone could do it - with this particular pilot, it only required a drill, a soldering iron, and a steady hand to install. After all, if it only takes an hour to do, why not do it? 
Once the new mech got here, though, they would spend the rest of the day unboxing it, as well as installing the equipment outside to recharge and refuel it. Thankfully for them, this was a lower-end model, with less support infrastructure required to use it. The pilot and handler didn’t need a lot of firepower - but they needed more than the bows, arrows, guns, and otits weapons they had until now. They had quite a few enemies, and defending their territory was getting tiring, but the pilot had done a good job so far, and this was its reward.

The new mech got here around noon. The handler called the pilot through the neural link, where it ended its training for the day to start getting everything put together. The mech came as a set of seven boxes, one for each limb and the head, as well as the torso which housed critical components, with the final box being the charger.

The two spent the rest of the day assembling it, with some mild difficulty from using unfamiliar equipment in the process to hoist the upper parts of the body where they needed to be. Finally, they connected everything up to the pad, and issued a command to run a self-test. This would take about a few hours, so the two had dinner.

Eventually they heard the beeping from the built-in computer on the mech’s pad - the self-test had passed. The pilot climbed into the cockpit of the mech, sat in the chair, and connected the mech to its neural interface port. It had sweat beading on its forehead, shaking a bit. it had done this plenty of times in its room, in simulations, but everyone always told its the real thing would feel different. Those were just glorified game engines, you don’t have to worry as much about silly things like “camera resolution” or “motor speed limitations”, and although the simulations tried to be realistic, you could only get so close.

The pilot reached its hand over to the key, let out a deep breath, and turned the cold piece of metal. It immediately started getting feedback over the link cable as each system started up. It got log data intruding its thoughts from the on-board computer. Sensor readouts started to take over its senses. First was temperature, the simplest of the sensors. The pilot immediately started to feel colder from the late December snow, as its vision got replaced by the mech’s camera feeds, in square-shaped sections starting in its peripheral vision. It started to hear everything happening outside - birds chirping and flying away as they start to hear the high-frequency power circuitry in the machine, a nearby river, even a tree nearly a quarter mile away. Its sense of smell and taste turned to nothing - this lower-end model did not have those sensors. The pilot noticed how this was a very distinct feeling from not smelling or tasting anything, this was a unique feeling to it - the lack of the senses entirely, compared to the senses being present with no input.

Finally, the systems were almost done starting up. Now that its vision had been fully replaced with the machine’s own, it started to see diagnostic information in its peripheral vision - perfectly readable, but out of the way. As this was the first time booting the mech up, it prompted the pilot to do a few things to know how to interpret the data returning from the link cable. It moved each of its joints, one by one, the mech slowly moving in unison. First its fingers, moving back to its wrists, elbows, and eventually motion for its entire arm was one-to-one with the mech.

After doing the same for the legs, it took a few small steps, its handler following along at a fairly small distance, only about ten or twenty feet, just in case anything happened. They slowly got far enough away to test how well the weaponry on the machine worked. Selecting the light machine gun, the pilot cautiously focused on a point far in the distance, blinked, and… a second later, there was a hole there. The new weapon was effortless to use, making the pilot hopeful that this would make defending the two much easier than it had been in the past.

The pilot reached its left hand out, grabbing a tree and pulling it out of the ground. Realizing how heavy it was - the weight displayed on the HUD as “2 TONS”, capital letters and all - and how effortless it was surprised it. it threw the tree as far as it could, reached its right hand toward it, and focused on the tree. Before it knew it, the gun had fired, leaving several holes in the tree at the peak of the arc from throwing it.

It was now becoming close to midnight, the sun having set long ago. The two made their way back toward their home, getting more tired the later it went. After walking for about half an hour, they returned, and the pilot stepped on to the pad, disengaging the neural link between the pilot and machine automatically.

Its vision got replaced with its own again, seeming as unfamiliar to it now as the machine’s vision did not too long ago. It felt the heat of the cockpit, a drastic change from the cold of the outside, feeling the snow landing on it. The odd quietness of the cockpit, isolated from all sounds of both the mech and the outside, to reduce possible interference.

The pilot took the key and stepped out of the cockpit, climbing down the ladder next to the pad. As it stepped off the ladder, the handler - the witch - hugged the doll tight, gently petting its hair, whispering in its ear, “I hope you enjoyed your Christmas present.”

[girlactionfigure]

🟢 Thursday - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

🌡HEAT WARNING.. very high temps the next 2 days across Israel + high humidity along the coast. Hydrate, don’t forget your children in the car, check your elderly, don’t hike.

▪️IS THE IDF DEPLOYING SUICIDE APC’s IN GAZA?  Arab reports the IDF is using suicide APC, driving into dangerous urban areas and taking down entire streets. These are old M113 armored personnel carriers no longer safe for soldier use.  (( Evaluation: Possible. ))

♦️STRONG EXPLOSIONS overnight in Gaza City, bunker/tunnel busting bombing.  Rumbles felt to Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh.

▪️SOCIETAL CONFLICT.. leading rabbinical figure of the charedi world declared learning yeshiva students should NOT respond to an IDF conscription order - his hand written instructions published on the front page of a charedi paper.  IDF officials went to confirm the statement, and it was confirmed.  His associates try to soften: it should be noted that those who do not study are not referred to in the letter.  The charedi paper HaModia has taken a milder position.

.. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Edelstein: "Comprehensive legislation of the conscription law is the only way to prevent chaos in the security system." Edelstein published a schedule of the meetings in the committee.

▪️IDF REPORTS ON SHEJAIA BATTLES.. forces eliminated dozens of terrorists, destroyed combat compounds and booby trapped buildings.  Forces destroyed two underground routes in which eight tunnels were destroyed.  Weapons, laptops and communication equipment captured in the tunnels. Equipment for a long stay and electricity and gas infrastructure used by terrorists was located and destroyed.

▪️EGYPT GAZA BORDER PLANS.. The process of placing sensors along the border corridor may take several months.  Israel also plans to build an underground wall to combat smuggling tunnels from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, similar to the wall that prevented the penetration of Hamas attack tunnels into Israeli territory, in the next step to ensure the prevention of smuggling operations from Egypt.

🔸DEAL NEWS.. A senior US official told the Washington Post that an agreement was reached on the "framework" of the deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages, and that the parties are now "discussing the details of how it will be implemented." Other senior officials warned that although a framework exists, a final agreement "is not Inevitable", and the work on the details is complex.

.. Israel and Hamas agreed that neither would govern Gaza in the 2nd phase.  TWho will be the police force in Gaza? 2,500 Palestinians, "affiliated with the Palestinian Authority", which Israel will approve by name, and will undergo training by the US and other countries.

▪️HIGH COURT TO HEAR PETITION AGAINST LAW ALLOWING DETENTION OF NUCHBA TERRORISTS.. Today the High Court will discuss a petition against the legislation, passed in three unanimous readings, and makes it easier to incarcerate the massacring baby killing raping terrorists of Oct. 7.    Among the petitioners: Doctors for Human Rights “the international community is called upon to exert pressure on Israel", and the left declares that Israel is making "manipulative use of reports of sexual violence" in the massacre.   Many are wondering how the High Court could grant the right to petition against a UNANIMOUS WAR LAW passed on the blood of over 1,200 children, women and men to consider the rights of the mass murderers.

▪️SIREN TESTS.. today, Zikim 13:05 and Tukuma 15:05.

♦️COUNTER-TERROR OPS.. overnight, Al-Bira.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Nanoink and printing technologies could enable electronics repairs, production in space

An Iowa State University engineer floats in the air while other researchers hang tight to a metal frame surrounding and supporting their special printer. It's not the usual photo you see in a research paper. Tests aboard microgravity flights aren't your typical materials experiments, either.

The flight path to these experiments began when a research team led by Iowa State's Shan Jiang, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, and Hantang Qin, formerly of Iowa State who's now an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wondered if their ink and printer technologies would work in the zero gravity of space.

The ink features silver nanoparticles synthesized with biobased polymers. After heat treatment, the ink can conduct electricity and can therefore print electric circuits. The printer uses electrohydrodynamic printing, or 3D printing that jets ink under an electric field at resolutions of millionths of a meter. The electric field could eliminate the need for gravity to help deposit ink.

If the technologies work together in zero gravity, astronauts could use them to make electric circuits for spacecraft or equipment repairs. And astronauts might manufacture high-value electronic components in the special, zero-gravity environment of space.

NASA wondered if it would work, too.

Diving into microgravity

Researchers bolted the printer to the floor of a jet and prepared for a "roller coaster, basically," Jiang said.

The NASA plane would continuously climb and dive, going in cycles from about 24,000 feet over Florida to 32,000 feet, then back to 24,000. The dive phase produced about 10 seconds of pure zero gravity.

"It was exciting and new," Jiang said.

Motion sickness was a problem for some. Others enjoyed the thrill of it. Jiang felt "frozen" the first time he experienced microgravity. "I was blank."

But that didn't last. "There was so much time and investment in this project. We wanted to achieve good results."

But printing for a few seconds at a time on a microgravity flight "is a very challenging experiment," Jiang said. "It's so easy on the ground where everything is stable. But if anything gets loose during the flight, you lose your printing."

The first microgravity flight was a good example. The printer wasn't adequately secured against the plane's shakes and vibrations.

"These are very intense experiments that require a lot of teamwork and preparation," Jiang said.

So, the team went back to work, made some changes, made more test flights and produced better results.

"This proof-of-concept microgravity experiment proves the unique capability of (electrohydrodynamic) printing under zero-gravity conditions and opens a new venue for future on-demand manufacturing in space," the researchers wrote in a paper published in Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Making a new nanoink

The key innovation by Jiang's research group was developing a new laboratory method to synthesize the ink with its silver nanoparticles.

"This is a new combination of materials and so we needed a new recipe to make the ink," Jiang said.

Both programs "strive to support innovative and leading research in Iowa," said Sara Nelson, director of the programs and an Iowa State adjunct assistant professor of aerospace engineering. "We are thrilled to have supported Dr. Jiang's research. His work has helped to build Iowa's research infrastructure and is an important part of NASA's strategic mission."

The project also makes use of an abundant Iowa resource, plant biomass.

The ink includes a biobased polymer called 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose, which is typically used as a thickening agent. But it is also a cost-effective, biocompatible, versatile and stable material for the inks necessary for high-resolution ink jet printing under an electric field.

"There is a lot of biomass in Iowa," Jiang said. "So, we're always trying to use these biobased molecules. They make a wonderful polymer that does all the tricks for us."

Jiang called that "the biggest surprise of this research. We didn't know that before. Now we know what we can do with these biobased polymers."

The Iowa State University Research Foundation has filed a patent on the new nanoink and the technology is currently available for licensing.

"This success is really just the beginning," Jiang said. "As humanity ventures deeper into space, the need for on-demand manufacturing of electronics in orbit is no longer science fiction; it is a necessity."

Next up for the researchers could be the development of 3D space printing for other electronic components such as semiconductors.

After all, Jiang said, "You can't just make one component and assemble an electronic device."

TOP IMAGE: Researchers—as well as a toy Cy the Cyclone—test their nanoink and printer technologies during a NASA microgravity flight. Pictured, left to right, are: Fei Liu, Yanhua Huang, Matthew Marander, Xuepeng Jiang and Pavithra Premaratne. Credit: Shan Jiang

LOWER IMAGE: Credit: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c07592

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A California court has advanced a civil fraud case against a Norwegian company at the center of the state’s failure to build workable hydrogen fueling infrastructure, which has already left thousands of car owners in the lurch.

A case involving allegations of fraud against Oslo-based Nel ASA is moving toward a trial in October 2026, after a California judge left intact the core claims brought by a major player in the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure in the state, Iwatani Corporation of America, a subsidiary of one of Japan’s largest industrial gas companies.

The allegations center on a lesser-known aspect of the blundered roll-out: Iwatani is claiming that Nel duped it into buying faulty hydrogen fueling stations. And the case has provided a window into the extent to which these same stations were provided to and promoted by major players including Toyota and Shell—stations that have since been abandoned or shut down.

The judge’s ruling last month leaves Nel and its top executives—including current and former CEOs Robert Borin and Håkon Volldal—in the crosshairs. Iwatani’s central claim is that Nel, under pressure to sell a money-losing product, knowingly induced Iwatani into purchasing untested hydrogen fueling stations with false assurances of the technology’s real-world readiness.

Nel denies the allegations, and has put forward procedural arguments to get the case thrown out, saying that California does not have jurisdiction over the company or its executives.

In separate rulings, Judge James Selna of the Central District of California sided with Iwatani on the core claims while dismissing several others, finding that California does in fact have jurisdiction and that the allegations go beyond a simple breach of contract and into the realm of fraud in selling the equipment, known as H2Stations.

The judge ruled that there was “active concealment,” citing examples, including that Nel did not disclose the fact it had never built a working model of the H2Station nor sufficiently tested it in real-world conditions, and had no actual data to support their H2Stations’ performance claims.

After the lawsuit was filed in January, Nel abandoned the seven Iwatani hydrogen fueling stations and executed a corporate spinout of its fueling division—which Iwatani claims is a means of shielding those assets from a potential court judgment.

“The deliveries you are referring to were from a company now called Cavendish Hydrogen,” says Lars Nermoen, Nel’s spokesperson, in response to an email seeking comment, referring to the spun-off entity. “Nel no longer has any business in hydrogen fueling.”

The failure of novel technology in real-world settings is not unheard of. But for the hydrogen car industry, it came at one of the worst times: In 2019, California was investing heavily in hydrogen refueling infrastructure, attracting global automakers and oil and gas majors to the state.

At the time, Toyota was pushing for more fueling infrastructure to support the uptake of the Toyota Mirai, one of the earliest light-duty consumer hydrogen fuel-cell cars to hit the market.

So Toyota partnered with both Iwatani and oil major Shell to build more fueling stations. Shell brought on Nel as the station provider, and both Iwatani and Chevron partnered with Nel soon after. Representatives from Shell and Iwatani did not respond to requests for comment.

Lewis Fulton, director of the Energy Futures Program at the University of California, Davis, says the equipment failures in the passenger segment have led to a “near collapse of the system” in California. In addition to the abandoned Iwatani stations, Shell in February completely shut down its seven California hydrogen refueling stations and canceled plans to build 48 stations in the state.

Chevron had contracted Nel to create 16 stations, but did not provide a response on the status of those stations. The extent to which Nel provided the technology for these major players has not been previously reported on.

Meanwhile, Toyota, which has since deprioritized the California market for the Mirai, is facing a class action lawsuit from many drivers who already bought the hydrogen-powered vehicle. The lawsuit claims that, contrary to Toyota’s promises, hydrogen fuel for their cars is becoming more difficult to obtain, making the Mirai “unsafe, unreliable, and inoperable.” Toyota did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership, there are 55 hydrogen fueling stations in California, but many of them experience frequent downtime. None of the hydrogen fueling stations provided by Nel are currently operating. Iwatani’s only functioning refueling stations were built by Linde, a large industrial gas company.

In the meantime, Fulton says California has pivoted to building infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, with the hope that the passenger market can reboot with the help of a growing freight market.

By focusing on the heavy-duty market, California can, in theory, create a stronger supply of clean hydrogen that brings costs down and increases availability, says Fulton, who is also an adviser to Arches, the California hydrogen hub that has won $1.2 billion of conditional funding from the US Department of Energy.

“Arches is targeting 50 to 60 truck-oriented stations around the state by 2030, and with different fueling islands and pressure systems, those could also service light-duty vehicles,” he says.

California’s difficulties with hydrogen vehicle infrastructure have driven home some stark lessons about the wider use of the technology.

“The problem is, they’re expensive, and they require enormous amounts of maintenance,” says Jim Bowe, a Washington, DC–based partner at King & Spalding, an international law firm. “Fleets that have been looking at the possibility of hydrogen buses often balk when they realize how much more maintenance—not only for the refueling facilities, but also for the vehicles themselves—is required relative to internal combustion engines or batteries.”

California-based FirstElement Fuel, another hydrogen fueling station provider, is positioned as a potential winner amid the crisis for the sector. Operating under the name True Zero, it currently has the most operating hydrogen fueling stations in California, but is still working to become profitable, according to sources familiar with the company. (FirstElement executives did not respond to requests for an interview.)

According to Iwatani’s lawsuit, Nel was able to hide the fact that the stations it installed were not operational until early 2023, when continual failures led Iwatani to launch its own investigation.

Nel achieved this subterfuge by requiring Iwatani to enter into an exclusive maintenance contract with Nel, essentially shifting the cost of testing the stations to Iwatani, the lawsuit claims.

Nel’s current CEO, Håkon Volldal, an individual defendant in the case, acknowledged the failings around the same time. In an earnings call last year, he said of the hydrogen fueling stations: “I think it’s fair to say that the technology that was installed was immature, and that the quality was not good enough, and we struggle with all the work we have to do in order to keep these stations running, to fix issues, to send personnel out on site.”

In its investigation, Iwatani workers claimed they found shrapnel inside the fueling stations, and concluded that parts of the fueling apparatus were routinely exploding, spraying debris inside the station box. (Nel blames outside companies for installation failures.) Iwatani also claimed it found valves from third-party manufacturers that were never intended for use in a hydrogen fueling station.

The lawsuit details a months-long back and forth between Iwatani and Nel, in which Iwatani attempts to get Nel to fix the broken stations. Nel won’t—or can’t—fix the stations, triggering the lawsuit.

These Iwatani allegations were echoed by Kasey Hawk, who worked as a technician for Nel in California starting in 2021. An Army veteran who drove an Abrams tank in combat, Hawk was one of several veterans hired by Nel to service the California fueling stations. Though he alleges he had a strong mechanical background stemming from his military experience, Hawk claims he received only minimal training on the particularities of hydrogen fueling stations. (Hawk is not involved in the ongoing lawsuit and Nel has not commented on his allegations.)

“It was a little strange because it’s actually dangerous work—working with high-pressure gases and the potential for explosions,” he says in an interview with WIRED.

Hawk claims when he showed up to conduct the first repairs at Shell-owned stations in the Sacramento area, it appeared they hadn’t been maintained since commissioning, and there was already a backlog of work to be done. “I saw that the stations weren’t set up right from the beginning,” he says. He noticed, for example, that the pipes weren’t properly insulated, which would cause ice buildup within the fueling nozzle, since liquid hydrogen is stored and pumped at cryogenic temperatures.

A team of Nel technicians arrived from South Korea to help. But those technicians didn’t speak English, limiting what Hawk could learn from them, he says. And since Nel’s hydrogen fueling subsidiary was based in Denmark, the schematics for the stations were available only in Danish. In addition, ordering new parts often took weeks, meaning similar amounts of station downtime, he explains. “We were in situations every day where we did not know what to do next.”