Into the valley of death ...

Reuters

Into the valley of death ... the raison d'ete of Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade comes to mind as Bibi may be getting his wish of the US teaming up with Israel to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. What could possibly go wrong? 

Well, Iran's a real country with hostile terrain and serious military capabilities for starters along with Russian and Chinese backing but that's no problem, right? Iran was set up when entering negotiations  with the US, assuming good faith, regarding nukes when Israel attacked, an act similar to Operation Barbarossa when the Germans launched a surprise attack against Russia in 1941 as prior to said op, they were erstwhile allies. From a military perspective, the possible attack against Iran is suicide as The Art of War is not understood by this deranged administration in any way, shape or fashion. 

In viewing this ongoing fubar, one readily sees Israel's been running US foreign policy for years, leading to 8 trillion dollars spent favoring that country while hurting ours in conducting  a Middle East disaster of biblical proportions. 

The question to ask now is, where the hell is congress on this as a possible WW III looms.

German soldiers advance through northern Russia. German flamethrower crew burns down a house in the background. German Panzer IV stuck in the snow with white camouflage paint. Soviet Ilyushin Il-2s hovering over German positions near Moscow. Soviet POWs on the way to prison campsSoviet soldiers fire artillery.

Trump weighs joing Iran strikes after calling for 'unconditional surrender'.

US President Donald Trump is considering whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, as the conflict continues for a sixth day and angry rhetoric ramps up between all sides.

American strikes could involve using superior weaponry to hit an underground nuclear site at Fordo, according to five sources who spoke to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The president met with his national security team on Tuesday to discuss next steps.

n a social media post on Tuesday, Trump threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and said the US knew where he was.

"He is an easy target, but is safe there," Trump wrote. "We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin."

Another post from Trump simply read: "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"

That's odd, we're not at war with Iran for now so how can Trump demand unconditional surrender?
Not logical but then again, is there anything logical in Trump world? And ... in response ...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last year. On Wednesday, he vowed to “stand firm” in the face of what he called Israeli aggression.Credit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday dismissed President Trump’s threats and rejected his call for an “unconditional surrender,” adding to fears of a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

“Intelligent people who know Iran, the nation and the history of Iran will never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because the Iranian nation cannot be surrendered,” he said in a televised statement, according to Iranian state media. “The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage.”

One cannot make this up.The hubris of the US continues to amaze. Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, all losses against entities not possessing nearly the kind of military power of the US, is being ignored when confronting a real country with real assets, defies logic but a demented Agent Orange presses on no matter the cost.

I

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!” he said.

Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

II

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

   Someone had blundered.

   Theirs not to make reply,

   Theirs not to reason why,

   Theirs but to do and die.

   Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

III

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

   Rode the six hundred.

IV

Flashed all their sabres bare,

Flashed as they turned in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

   All the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right through the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reeled from the sabre stroke

   Shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back, but not

   Not the six hundred.

V

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

Came through the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

   Left of six hundred.

VI

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

   All the world wondered.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

   Noble six hundred!

Dynamic soaring

Flying as art form ...

The infrastructure equation ...

Roberts Rurans

We all have been there, stuck in traffic, navigating crappy roads and dealing with infrastructure that's falling apart as we speak. As a personal example, yours truly likes taking trains as there's less hassle dealing with security and the insanity of airports but efficient train service, like everything else, is slipping by the wayside as we speak. For example, going from CT to VA via AMTRAK takes 10+ hours, something patently ridiculous as the distance is less than 400 but the US cannot build a high speed train in any way, shape or fashion. 

To whit.

Most Americans don’t think about infrastructure unless it fails. But when it does, it’s personal. When subways stall or highways clog, you’re late for work. When a bridge closes, your commute reroutes into chaos. When the storm drain overflows, your basement floods. And when transmission lines fail, the power goes out, leaving homes sweltering, grocery shelves empty and businesses offline.

Weak infrastructure makes your life just a little bit worse.

The United States is sleepwalking into an infrastructure crisis — one that will quietly degrade our quality of life and kneecap our ability to compete in the global economy. It’s not just the older infrastructure that’s in need of repair and replacement; it’s also support for the new systems, such as artificial intelligence.

The crisis calls for a national recommitment to modernization — not as a partisan project, but as a precondition for global competitiveness, national security and basic dignity in daily life. And while responsibility ultimately lies with Congress, it’s also with all of us who understand the stakes.

As an aside, try driving in CT, a nightmare of epic proportions as I 95's a death trap,The Merritt's but two lanes and congested to the max and there is no real mass transit save for Metro North, which does function, but it's not enough. As for quality of roads, marginal at best so ... we have all been there without question.

Regarding high speed rail, CA has a most interesting tale to tell ...

Image Credit: Pxhere | CC0 Public Domain (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

When California shifted its bullet train plan into high gear in 2008, it had just 10 employees to manage and oversee design of the largest public construction project in state history.

Consultants assured the state there was little reason to hire hundreds or thousands of in-house engineers and rail experts, because the consultants could handle the heavy work themselves and save California money. It would take them only 12 years to bore under mountains, bridge rivers and build 520 miles of rail bed — all at a cost of just $33 billion….

But significant portions of this work have been flawed or mismanaged, according to records reviewed by The Times and interviews with dozens of people involved in the project. Despite repeated warnings since 2010 about weaknesses in its staffing, the rail authority believed it could reduce overall costs by relying on consultants and avoiding a large permanent workforce. But that strategy has failed to keep project costs from soaring. Ten years after voters approved it, the project is $44 billion over budget and 13 years behind schedule.

And it "ain't" done. 

China's take.

A CRH2A (based on E2-1000 Series Shinkansen) in Xiamen

The economics of high-speed rail in China has been a topic of much discussion.[9][10] A 2019 study produced by TransFORM, a knowledge platform developed by the World Bank and China’s Ministry of Transport, estimated the annual rate of economic return of China's high-speed rail network in 2015 to be at 8%, which is well above the opportunity cost of capital in China for major long term infrastructure investments. The study also noted a range of benefits which included shortened travel times, improved safety and better facilitation of tourism, labor and mobility, as well as reducing highway congestion, accidents and greenhouse emissions as some automobile travellers switch from car use to rail.[11][12] A 2020 study by Paulson Institute has estimated the net benefit of the high-speed rail system to be approximately $378 billion, with an annual return on investment of 6.5%.[13]

Any questions?

Words cannot describe ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington DC on 13 February.
Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Words cannot describe ...

‘Extremely disturbing and unethical’: new rules allow VA doctors
to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans

Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response
to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’

Doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats under new hospital guidelines imposed following an executive order by Donald Trump.

The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law.

Language requiring healthcare professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated.

Doctors and other medical staff can also be barred from working at VA hospitals based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity, documents reviewed by the Guardian show. The changes also affect chiropractors, certified nurse practitioners, optometrists, podiatrists, licensed clinical social workers and speech therapists.

Being a married vet means I passed the test along with the fact I'm an independent but
I know vets who are unmarried and are dems so I guess they don't pass the test.

As stated before, words cannot describe ...

Life finds a way ...

Life finds a way, always. 

Fit for a king ...

 

It “is the only throne fit for this King"

Time keeps on ...

Time keeps on ... Paleo Edits rules :)

It's a toaster ...

© PJ Ace / Screen shot by Gizmodo

This screen grab of stupid stuff to the extreme shows, to the ad agencies, their days are numbered as yours truly has been talking about AI generated video doing a number on advertising and Hollywood for years as it matters not what you create content on as long as the script's good, the talent rocks and the video and special effects pass muster. Well, said predictions made by this rube now rings true as seen by folks generating ads via Veo 3 without leaving the comforts of home. As an aside, I guess as long as you generate content able to be broadcast, it does pass muster but hey, what do I know. :)

Just when I thought I met my slop quota for the month, Google had to go ahead and pile on. With Veo 3, AI-generated video has reached a whole new and stupefying level. YouTube slop; video game slop; VR slop; app slop—you name it. All of that slop, however interesting, disheartening, or inane, has been pretty low stakes, but apparently it’s all pointed in one direction, and that’s straight for prime time.

On Thursday night, Veo 3 made its debut as a tool for AI advertising, becoming the engine behind this commercial for the financial services company Kalshi, which aired during the NBA finals. This isn’t the first AI-generated ad—those have been happening for a little while now and were a pretty major theme at this past year’s Super Bowl—but it’s certainly an ascension for Veo 3, which was just unveiled at Google’s I/O conference last month. But just because AI ads aren’t new doesn’t mean the idea of video generation didn’t simultaneously reach new heights and new lows.

This reminds me of Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future where there is no cash, AI is everywhere and Channel 23 rules ...

Max Headroom

In the movie, Edison Carter (portrayed by Frewer) is a journalist fleeing enemies into a parking garage, crashing his motorcycle through the entrance barrier reading "Max. headroom 2.3 metres" – UK vehicle clearance signs use the phrase "Max headroom". While Carter is unconscious, an AI program based on his mind is created. The AI develops a personality identified as "Max Headroom", and becomes a TV host who exists only on broadcast signals and computer systems. Like Carter, Max openly challenges the corporations that run his world, but using commentary and sarcastic wit rather than journalism.[4],

This amazing take on reality was done in 1985, think about that, I know I have. :)

Remember, when new tech is first created, like CG, it's precious and rare. (Think Silicon Graphics) but within a few years, it's a toaster. - Robert E.

IO ...

IO - Flow

The video's not bad either. :)

Flow ...

Baby steps with Flow, video 1, flying over Jupiter.

Video 2, a small murmuration of Starlings. 

Needless to say, the future of video has arrived. 

Just a little crazier. 3D Fractals in a moonscape.