Old, Polluting Jet Engines Are Being Scavenged To Power Datacenters
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/03/climate/jet-engines-ai-data-center-generators-boneyard.html
Paywall removed: http://archive.today/IeCoF
UK’s most polluting power plant could power country’s largest AI datacenter
Drax burns millions of tons of wood pellets shipped across the Atlantic Ocean from the US
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/nov/03/uk-drax-power-station-ai-datacentre
Abdul El-Sayed stands up for trans people & their rights in “hostile” 60 Minutes interview
“The folks who want to make this a topic of conversation don’t want to be talking about the real issues that we face in our lives,” he said.
China has likely resumed making weapon-grade uranium at Emeishan
Satellite imagery and capacity analysis reveal that Beijing is expanding its uninspected Emeishan centrifuge facility—a move strongly suggesting an end to China’s nearly four-decade pause on producing weapon-grade highly enriched uranium to fuel its rapidly growing nuclear arsenal.
https://thebulletin.org/2026/11/china-has-likely-resumed-making-weapon-grade-uranium-at-emeishan/
Oh look, the "centrist" Democrats are fucking over a progressive nominee again, literally endorsing a Republican
One of the things I loved the most about Juan Atkins is he made songs about “nerd shit” (which I am a huge fan of). Sci/fi, spacetime, spaceships, UFOs, cyborgs, electromagnetic storms, the relationship between humanity and technology. Like a continuation of Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine. His music truly lived up to the word “techno”
For a track to remember Juan Atkins by: he was half of the duo Cybotron, who created the electro / proto-techno track “Clear”.
The track is based on Kraftwerk - The Hall of Mirrors, but it isn’t a sample but rather an elaborate recreation of the melody which isn’t ambient like the original but tightly synced to the (not quite four-on-the-floor yet) beat.
🎵 Clear the old program
Out with the old and in with the new
Out with the old and in with the new
Out with the old and in with the new
Now isn't that a better view?
RIP Juan Atkins, the creator of techno, who fused Kraftwerkian melodies with the four-on-the-floor pulse of house music.
Glad I got to see him once, he was also a masterful and unconventional DJ and kept putting out awesome tracks until the end
Feliz Día de los Muertos. Time to play the greatest video game nobody remembers.
“But now we dance this grim fandango,
And wait four years before we rest."
Ministry - Every Day is Halloween
It seems I forgot a few critical details about this scene now that I just rewatched it.
First, the whole thing is a thinly veiled allegory to 1984 when O’Brien tortures Winston Smith and asks how many fingers he’s holding up, holding up four but wanting Smith to respond five.
Then at the end, Picard reveals to Troi that he did see five lights… which feels a lot like 1984 when the proverbial bullet enters Winston Smith’s brain and he loves Big Brother
I often get asked why I don’t use AI agents. I don’t trust them. Incidents like this are an example of why.
https://opensourcemalware.com/blog/trojanized-claude-code-extension-plants-persistent-ssh-backdoor
There are people on Reddit who are like “how can you claim that? nobody’s operating these today” in response to some of the first demonstrator aircraft becoming available, and pointing out how the production models will be hybrids with traditional turboprops for cruise phase.
And it’s like… most of them seem willfully ignorant to the fact that battery technology will continue to improve and increase their specific energy which will make these aircraft more and more practical and extend their all-electric range.
Battery electric will still favor small planes that aren’t going very far, but that’s still an important sector for aviation, and one of its most heavily polluting ones currently.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/10/261027063708.htm
Looks like China has its own 100% battery electric 19-seater regional short haul aircraft.
Nobody’s going to be building a battery electric 737 replacement but for these smaller regional planes taking short flights (which make up the vast majority of overall flights, and currently have the worst emissions per unit passenger-distance) the future sure looks like battery electric, at least to me.
https://www.twz.com/air/chinas-ce-25a-electric-commuter-airliner-demonstrator-emerges-in-photos
Ummm… disturbing headline
“US Army Starts Practicing Digging Mass Battlefield Graves”
https://www.newsweek.com/us-army-starts-practicing-digging-mass-battlefield-graves-12633724
I have a hypothesis that any leader who constantly needs to fire people, particularly others in leadership positions, is in fact a bad leader.
EVs are outselling gas and diesel cars combined in the EU:
https://insideevs.com/news/813621/ev-beats-ice-europe-sales/
It’s hard to pick my favorite Patrick Stewart moment but I think I would have to go with the final, episode ending gruffy and injured but unbroken scream:
THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!
"It's very important for leftists in the U.S. to understand that this woman, Erika Hilton, was key to Lula's success in the second round of Brazil's presidential elections yesterday.
Hilton, a Black trans woman who became the most voted for congresswoman in Brazil's history this month, was the driving force behind the historic constitutional amendment to end the six-day work week that came into force with Lula's support on Oct. 15.
This historic victory of the Brazilian working class -- and Bolsanaro's opposition to it -- drove voter turnout in Lula's favor in the second round more than any other factor.
If you are celebrating Lula's reelection, or just feel relieved that the fascists didn't recapture Brazil, then you should also recognize the role of trans people in the socialist and working class movements, and act accordingly."
Source: https://bsky.app/profile/melindamagpie.bsky.social/post/3myrv5ymip22c
RIP Sir Patrick Stewart, one of the greatest actors to ever grace this planet. 😭 🪦 Dolly, Tim Curry, Catherine O'Hara, who else is 2026 going to take from us.
As it were, I saw someone recently did a 4K remaster of the video for the Picard Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m-x8nrwqx0