MrG's Blog & Notes

* This is an archive of my own online blog and notes, with weekly entries collected by month.

[MON 03 JUN 24] THE WEEK THAT WAS 22

DAYLOG MON 27 MAY 24: On Saturday, Donald Trump pitched himself at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington DC Hilton. It did not go at all well for him; he did get loud cheers, but it was hard to sort them out from the loud boos.

It was not exactly a case of Libertarians embracing sanity, with signs being waved around saying END THE FED -- Libertarians hate the Federal Reserve and tend to like Bitcoin -- and signs saying FREE ROSS -- meaning Ross Ulbricht, creator of the notorious "Dark Web" site Silk Road. Ross is now serving life in prison. Senator Mike Lee, a hardcore Trump supporter, also spoke to the crowd, and was booed at least as much. Joe Biden was invited to speak at the convention along with Trump, but wisely decided not to waste his time.

Libertarians, as I have said repeatedly on Spout, have always had mixed feelings about Trump. He's like them in many ways, except that he has no grand intellectual pretensions. They do not like seeing that the Emperor really has no clothes.

DAYLOG TUE 28 MAY 24: Reports are coming in from Ukraine that the Orc offensive towards Kharkiv is bogging down in its own blood. Reports also indicate that it jumped off with about half the troops needed for success.

Putin, it appears, realized that once US aid started flowing to Ukraine again, he wouldn't have a better chance in the future. Aid is not merely being resumed, it is being enhanced. Allied weapons production is ramping up slowly, with more effective weapons being supplied.

In the meantime, Switzerland is hosting a peace summit for two days in mid-June. Since Putin does not want peace except on his own imperialistic terms, the question arises: Why bother with peace negotiations?

DAYLOG WED 29 MAY 24: There has been considerable frustration in Ukraine and among Ukraine's Allies over Vladimir Putin's ability to fund his war of aggression, with economic sanctions often being called a failure. As an article from NEWSWEEK explains, not really.

Sanctions cannot be airtight; they can, however, be stifling. Consider the difficulties of Russia's gas supply company, Gazprom. At the outset of the war, Putin believed he could use Russian gas as a weapon against European countries aiding Ukraine. Unfortunately for Putin, most of the European countries managed to obtain substitute sources; Austria and Hungary still remain dependent on Russian gas, but they are not enthusiastic supporters of Ukraine to begin with. Russia's European market for gas has dried up, it seems permanently.

Gazprom lost billions of dollars in 2023. China remains a market, but infrastructure to do it right -- a pipeline -- would cost about $100 billion USD. China is not giving Russia a deal on gas purchases, and in fact the Russians may be selling at a loss. Putin is keeping his war going by desperate economic measures, in effect burning all the furniture in the house to keep it warm. He survived 2023 by such means and is able to continue the war in 2024 -- but will he run out of money in 2025? We'll see.

* Trump's "hush-money" court case has now gone to the jury, which will deliver a verdict in a few days. The buzz on Spout was anticipation of a GUILTY verdict, but commented that I was simply "waiting patiently" -- adding: "I've learned that's the only appropriate mindset for observing the workings of the law." -- adding after that: "I'm not worried. Trump ... he's worried."

That got good feedback, with me throwing in a parting shot: "Trump lives in a self-glorifying fantasy world. Reality is intruding on it."

DAYLOG THU 30 MAY 24: This afternoon, reality intruded on Donald Trump's fantasy world in a big way, when a jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. I was trying to play it cool, saying I was content to be patient, but I did get anxious as today went on. Nobody was saying Trump was going to be acquitted, but there was the possibility of a hung jury. Likely not, Noo Yawkers do not like Trump much, and Judge Merchan gave the jury highly detailed and explicit instructions that, the legals said, made a GUILTY verdict almost inescapable. Nonetheless, Trump has got out of tight spots in the past, though these days not nearly as often as he used to.

With the announcement of GUILTY on Spout, something of a party followed. As one of the hundreds of posters, I put up a GIF of Obama doing his famous "mic drop", adding a caption: BOOM CHAKALAKA! I got LIKES out of that.

A Brazilian asked if Trump was likely to go to jail, but I said the murmur among the legals was that Trump would probably get a big fine and probation. How campaigning for president would work under probation is an interesting question. I added that sentencing was up to Judge Merchan, and Trump had greatly flamed off the judge -- so Trump might get some time in jail just to teach him a lesson. Sentencing won't be until well into July -- about the same time as the GOP national convention. [ED: It was postponed until after the election.]

Incidentally, Brazilians got Spout's Chris Bouzy to come out with a Portuguese version of the Spout app, so Brazilians are now common on Spout. BR.GOV hasn't signed on yet, however.

DAYLOG FRI 31 MAY 24: To no surprise, the GUILTY verdict slapped on Donald Trump yesterday set off the MAGA faithful in a big way -- some trying to claim it was really a "big win" for Trump in disguise. Yeah sure.

Congressional pest Marjorie Taylor Greene defiantly stood up for Trump, saying she would unfollow anyone who suggested replacing him as the Republican nominee. That got over 20,000 replies saying, in one way or another, REPLACE TRUMP.

I'm not understanding why people are still afraid of Trump. Bill Maher was commenting that Trump was more dangerous than ever, and will try to steal the election in 2024. I doubt that's any threat, because the people who tried it in 2020 have largely been busted.

There was another comment on Spout about the "undecided voters" going into the election, who I had to compare to the "Bigfoot voters", saying: "Anyone who could say it was hard to choose between Trump and Joe Biden is not a serious or trustworthy person."

In any case, now we wait on the sentencing. I'm hoping Trump gets at least a few days of jail time. I want to see him in an orange prison suit for real, and it will take him down a peg, or more. Backlash? That's the fun part: there won't be a backlash to speak of. The IRISH STAR of Dublin released an article in response to the judgement titled: "Donald Trump Supporters Threaten Civil War As US Braces For Wave Of Violence". From their side of the Pond, they didn't hear the sound of all the partying quite right.

AND SO ON: The Israelis, clearly under pressure from the US and Europe, have released a peace proposal to end the fighting in Gaza. The proposal envisions three stages:

• Stage 1: A six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. There would also be a surge of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
  
  
• Stage 2: All remaining living hostages would be returned, including male soldiers. The ceasefire would then become permanent.
  
  
• Stage 3: The remains of all deceased hostages would be returned. A reconstruction plan would go into effect, based on US and international assistance to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will end when all objectives are achieved, including the return of all hostages and the elimination of Hamas' military and governing capabilities. He says the plan is consistent with these principles. Hamas is responding positively to the proposal, but nobody thinks it's going to be easy.

For myself, I've ceased to take sides in the fighting, instead just wanting the shooting to stop. Once it stops, cleanup begins. That will be hard. In any case, I want the problem to go away. We've got other things to worry about.

[MON 10 JUN 24] THE WEEK THAT WAS 23

DAYLOG MON 03 JUN 24: Regarding the Ukraine War peace summit to be held in Switzerland in mid-month: of course Russia hasn't been invited and is discouraging all its other allies from attending. China is making it clear it is not interested in the event.

That means the peace summit will essentially be a propaganda exercise, intended to diplomatically isolate Russia and its allies. At the very least, Russia and China will not be able to credibly push their own bogus peace plans any more. US President Joe Biden will not attend, sending Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan instead. There have been some Ukrainian complaints about Biden's no-show, but it can be seen as an expression of confidence in the vice-president.

* Along parallel lines, the Biden Administration has promoted a Gaza peace plan and claimed it has Israeli backing -- but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has disavowed the plan, rejecting it as unsatisfactory.

It seems unlikely that the Biden Administration would claim Israeli ownership of the plan if no Israelis backed it, so it may well be the case that the USA is coming down on the side of Netanyahu's political opponents, becoming directly involved in Israeli government infighting.

Netanyahu is obviously under severe internal and public pressure. It is clear is that Joe Biden has lost patience with Netanyahu, and is leaning on him very hard. Where this goes is anyone's guess.

DAYLOG TUE 04 JUN 24: Hunter Biden's trial on gun charges in Wilmington DE just started, with jury selection. Hunter was there with his wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, the two walking into the court hand-in-hind; First Lady Jill Biden was there as well.

Also in attendance was Garrett Ziegler, previously an aide in the Trump White House, and a prime mover in the harassment of Hunter Biden -- who is now suing Ziegler for his activities. Not much background on Melissa Cohen-Biden is available, but all indications are that she is formidable. She confronted Ziegler outside the courtroom, pointed a finger at him, and said in a loud voice: "You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of s***!"

She says that Ziegler had, in the course of his attacks on Hunter, smeared her in anti-semitic terms as well. Ziegler denied everything -- but then he would, wouldn't he? Trump and his people are not noted for either civility or truthfulness. Besides, she was right, Ziegler was not an interested party in the trial; he was only there to troll Hunter Biden.

* Much speculation on Spout about whether Donald Trump will go to jail when Judge Merchan sentences him on 11 July. We'll see what happens -- but I really wish the judge ends the sentencing with: "YOU'RE FIRED!"

DAYLOG WED 05 JUN 24: Dr. Anthony Fauci testified to Congress this week, with Congressional MAGA assailing him for "mishandling" the COVID-19 pandemic. It's the same old trash, attempting to weaponize the pandemic against the Democrats -- shifting the blame for their mishandling of the calamity, which unnecessarily cost hundreds of thousands of Americans their lives. In reality, for the public the pandemic is old news, and the fuss is pointless.

DAYLOG THU 06 JUN 24: I got my Colorado mail-in ballot yesterday -- it's automatically sent out to all registered voters -- for the primary election. I filled it out today, and I'll drive over to the drop-box at the county office campus tomorrow to deposit it.

This election was different for me in that I used Microsoft Copilot to check out the candidates. I'd type in: "Background: <candidate_name> running for Colorado <public_office>." -- and get back a nice summary. It was somewhat superfluous, since I'm going to vote for all Democrats and no Republicans. Incidentally, Colorado has open primaries, I got two ballots, one for each party -- but I can only use one of them. Still, I felt reassured on finding background for the people I voted for.

The ballot also included a special election, to replace Ken Buck in the House in Colorado's 4th District. I voted for the Democrat, of course. The winner will only serve to the end of this Congressional session in January. More interesting is the battle between Lauren Boebert and Ike McCorkle for the same seat in the November general election. What is particularly interesting that McCorkle is a rock-solid US Marine veteran -- whose campaign page pledges, among other things, to back a revived Equal Rights Amendment, focused on women's and LGBT rights.

That from an ex-Marine gunny sergeant -- he ended as a captain, however -- who served four combat tours. (I got that out of Copilot, too.) I see in him a glimpse of the future: traditionally, a tough ex-Marine would stereotypically be a Rightist, favored by rural folks, but what we're going to see more of is the same sort of guys (and gals) who are definitely Blue in color, and rural folks will still vote for them. In this vision of the future, the GOP amounts to nothing.

On consideration, it's not so surprising that stalwart ex-military are trying to turn the USA Blue. There is no more integrated component of American society than the US military; these days it's even accepted transgenders. Anyone in the ranks who has a problem with DEI will be told to get with the program.

DAYLOG FRI 07 JUN 24: I dropped off my ballot yesterday at the country office campus this AM -- noticing a sign next to the ballot box that I hadn't noticed before, saying in effect NO ELECTIONEERING OR GUNS NEAR HERE. Colorado authorities, it seems, are tired of voter interference.

* I'm in my 70s now, and my short-term memory is getting dodgier. I was vaguely thinking for a long time of getting a reminder app for a smartphone, and see if that helped. I finally took the time to figure it out.

I originally thought of a voice recorder app for taking memos, but on checking such things out, it became apparent they wouldn't work very well. Checking the notes would mean having to listen through them, which would be time-consuming. It was much better to get an app that converted voice to text notes. After downloading and trying several apps, I finally found "Voice Notepad".

It works easy: (1) I bring up the app and immediately see a list of short notes I've already made, and can check out at a glance. (2) I touch a button to make a note, I get a pop-up to tell me to talk, and tell the app my comment. Nice feature: I get a list of possible readings of the voice input to select from. (3) Having selected the right reading, I touch the "back" button to go back to the notes list. (4) I can select an existing note to add to it, edit it, or delete it. Simple as a brick. I've only been using it for a little while, but it seems really effective.

So now, I've got my smartphone in my pocket or in arm's reach all my waking hours. Not only do I remember things better, but obtaining Voice Notepad led to a general tightening-up of procedures all down the line. I'll see how well things work over the longer run.

AND SO ON: As discussed in an article from NATURE.com ("Dazzling Auroras Are Just A Warm-Up As More Solar Storms Are Likely, Scientists Say" by Alexandra Witze, 13 May 2024), our Sun has an 11-year activity cycle, and right now it's at a peak. In early May, one big solar flare caused auroras at unusually low latitudes, with images flooding social media.

The specific cause is a cluster of sunspots, known as "active region 3664 (AR3664)", that appeared below the Sun's equator on the side currently facing Earth. The cluster is about 17 times as wide as Earth. Around 8 May 2024, AR3664 got particularly lively, generating at least seven "coronal mass ejections (CME)", blasts of energetic plasma, in the direction of Earth at speeds of up to 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) per second. The CMEs swamped space-weather detectors, being rated as a "superstorm", and set off glowing auroras when they hit with the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. Auroras are typically only seen at high latitudes, but on 10 May they were seen as far south as Mexico.

The solar storm disrupted radio and GPS communications around the world. NASA announced on 10 May that there was no threat to the four US and three Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Some satellites did stop making scientific observations.

Researchers expect that the current solar cycle will persist for some time, the indicator being the number of sunspots they are observing. The biggest storms typically happen months, even years, after this official peak. Furthermore, as Dahl points out, as the solar cycle progresses, sunspots tend to appear closer to the Sun's equator, increasing the chances of CMEs that will hit for Earth and not fly out into empty space.

* Related articles discussed the colors of auroral displays. The color is predominantly green, in part because the human eye is less sensitive to other colors of auroras, and in part because of the altitude of the show. Different gases predominate at different altitudes and in varying concentration, with each gas fluorescing in a particular color in response to solar particle stimulation.

Most solar particles typically collide with our atmosphere at an altitude of around 95 to 240 kilometers (60 to 150 miles) where there are high concentrations of oxygen. When the oxygen is "excited" at these altitudes, it generates green light. At higher altitudes, above 240 kilometers, oxygen produces reds instead. This is because, at lower altitudes, when an oxygen molecule is stimulated by a solar particle, the molecule quickly collides with another gas molecule and then decays. At higher altitude the atmosphere is very thin; that gives an excited oxygen molecule time to decay to a lower energy state before releasing a lower-energy red photon.

An aurora may have a purplish lower border which comes from emissions from molecular nitrogen, at altitudes between 120 and 200 kilometers (80 to 125 miles). Nitrogen can either promptly decay after being excited, giving off blue light, or give off red light after a delay. Blue and red give purple. Very rarely, under intense solar activity, yellow and pink may show up -- as mixtures of red with green or blue.

* Back in 2016, a British intelligence wonk named Christopher Steele built up a file describing the Trump presidential campaign's contacts with the Russians. The "Steele Dossier", as it became known, heightened FBI interest in the Trump campaign -- and led to a backlash from MAGA trolls, who denounced it as a vicious, fraudulent attack on Trump.

Steele himself said the file was no more or less than a collection of unverified tips that needed validation, and he had no intention of making it public -- but it was leaked. Trump eventually sued Steele for defamation in British court; the suit was dismissed as "without merit", with Trump then slapped with a fine of 300,000 GBP for the defendant's legal fees. He appealed, and the appeal has now been rejected. He says he'll appeal again, but it's hard to believe British courts will accept the appeal.

Such bringdowns of Trump are often played up on The Palmer Report (PR), a blog run by one Bill Palmer and friends. This last week the PR reported how the Trump gang is playing up a Facebook posting by one "Michael Anderson" -- stating that his cousin was a juror in the Trump trial, and she had informed him during the trial that Trump was going to be convicted. Of course, Trump is screaming: "MISTRIAL!" -- but it's foolish. Anybody can say anything on Facebook, and such postings can be automatically assumed to be bogus until proven different.

The PR shows Trump no mercy, as of late focusing on his mental decline. I tend to think they've got it turned to 11, but what can I say? Turn it down to 9? Not all the bad things said about Trump are true, just most of them.

One Robert Harrington, posting on PR, stepped back to look at the bigger picture, describing how Flat Earthers and Moon Hoaxers can only maintain their goofy ideas by assuming massive conspiracies that have perfect security. As Harrington points out, the current political situation shows that isn't how the real world works:

QUOTE:

END_QUOTE

There's still some caution about assuming the win in November, I think partly driven by the feeling that the Republicans can't really be in as sorry and completely ruined condition as they look. On second thought, however, I'm reassured: But they are. The Republican Party today looks like a sap from a Looney Toons cartoon who has wandered off the edge of a cliff -- but will only fall when he looks down.

[MON 17 JUN 24] THE WEEK THAT WAS 24

DAYLOG MON 10 JUN 24: I have a neighbor across the street who's a Trump fan. Today I noticed he was flying Old Glory upside-down, which I vaguely knew was a Trump sorta thing. Later I got the specifics: flying a flag upside-down is a distress signal, It's been done in many protest campaigns, the Trump variant being over the "sToLeN eLekShUN". I didn't need to know the specifics to be annoyed, and I wanted to do something about it -- but what?

I fly Old Glory on national holidays, when I remember. I think: *Why not now?* So I put it up -- then went over to my neighbors, Kent & Freya, and rang the doorbell. I asked Kent if he had a flag he could fly, and when he asked why, I pointed across the street: "Did you see that?"

"Oh yeah, geez, that!" I replied: "I was REALLY annoyed!" "He must be in distress." "Heh! Not as much as he's gonna be over the longer run." I suggested to Kent he fly his flag too, and he did later. I said to Kent: "I was thinking of putting a Confederate flag on his lawn -- but naw, this is plenty good enough." I'm not big on indignation, but I'm good with mockery.

* Spout's Chris Bouzy ran a poll on Spout asking if Joe Biden was responsible for the Gaza crisis. The poll came back with 2% UNDECIDED, 5% YES, and 93% NO. Social media polls are usually just for laughs, but this one rang true.

Spout is Left of Center, trolls not being welcome there, and the poll clearly reflected a legit sample of liberals. Only the Redlined Left would say YES, and 5% sounded like a valid number. If the poll had been on Xitter, JB would have done much worse, because the trolls would have voted him down.

DAYLOG TUE 11 JUN 24: The verdict came in on Hunter Biden today, and it was GUILTY. That was disappointing; I was hoping for a hung jury. The sentencing won't be for at least four months. I'm hoping he gets probation, but the judge does not seem lenient. On the plus side, although the matter is heartbreaking for JB, the verdict did him a lot of good: nobody can credibly use Hunter against him any longer. When JB was asked if he would pardon Hunter, the answer was a solid NO.

* Today, Ukraine publicly announced the introduction of its "Unmanned Systems Forces" military branch. It's not clear how the Robot Forces will work, but it does point directly to the dominance of robot weapons in the war.

To that end, much has been made of AFU drones hitting two advanced Su-57 fighters in Russia, hundreds of kilometers from the border of Ukraine. The interesting thing about that these aircraft were almost certainly at well-defended airfields, and they got hit anyway.

Reading between the lines suggests that the attack drones were accompanied by jammer drones and decoy drones. As Ukrainian production of drones ramps up, we'll be seeing more tricks. The Ukrainians have been crushing the Russian Black Sea Fleet with their sea drones, along with air drones. The Russians seem to be helpless to stop the drones -- suggesting that every attack introduces something new.

DAYLOG WED 12 JUN 24: The US has now announced a new set of sanctions on Russia, focused on Russian companies involved in the war, as well as foreign companies that help the Kremlin evade sanctions. It's hard to stop the flow of "dual-use" components -- the Russians just set up more front companies in intermediary countries -- but it is possible to make such components more expensive and their supply more uncertain.

* Regarding Hunter Biden's conviction on gun charges: Joe Biden has said Hunter will not be pardoned, but now appears to be leaving the door open for commutation. The judge in the case, Maryellen Noreika, seems determined to be harsh on HB, but the vague hints of commutation may be to encourage her to sentence HB to home arrest / probation. Putting HB in jail is problematic, because he requires Secret Service protection -- he needs it -- and commuting the sentence to home arrest could be seen as merely prudent.

[ED: HB's status has clearly changed after Joe Biden said he won't run for re-election, but what happens now with HB is still unclear. He did cop a plea in the tax case. The sentence in the firearms case won't be delivered until after the election.]

* I've mentioned repeatedly in the past that a Center-Right party is unlikely to emerge, because America's Center has shifted Left. Joe Biden is now the Centrist candidate. That leaves GOP "Moderates" with no place to go.

On further thought, it's even worse for them than that. All the Republican "Moderates" can do is support more or less the same sort of policies as MAGA, just not in as extreme a fashion. Voters do not care about weak-tea MAGA. The Republican Party is doomed.

DAYLOG THU 13 JUN 24: Today, the US Supreme Court judged against a group of doctors who were out to ban the "abortion drug" mifepristone -- the court saying that the doctors had no standing to press the suit, not having suffered any damages themselves. The doctors claimed mifepristone represented a health hazard, which is nonsense -- substantial adverse reactions only occur 0.3% of the time. However, more than a few states still ban mifepristone; the war is not over yet. I'm wishing it were over, but that won't be for a while.

* Reports by Western intelligence from Ukraine say the Orcs are getting hammered: 1,000 killed a day in May -- killed That means Ukraine is getting new and effective weapons in serious quantity.

The puzzling question is: What kind of new weapons? Ukrainian operational security is very tight and nothing leaks out. The clues will come out of photos taken by the Orcs of fallen dud Ukrainian weapons -- there's always a few.

In the meantime, the USA having passed new sanctions, Russians have reacted with a wild rush on banks. It is impossible to say how much longer Vladimir Putin can hold out, but sooner or later he will abruptly cave in.

DAYLOG FRI 14 JUN 24: House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke of having constructive conversations with Donald Trump. This was leaving out a reported phone call in which Trump, in between a carpet of F-bombs, demanded that Johnson overturn Trump's conviction.

Of course, Johnson has no way of doing that. 80 US CEOs also listened to Trump speak at their Business Roundtable quarterly meeting, but it wasn't a "Trump meeting" by any means; Jeff Zients, Joe Biden's chief of staff, was also there to give a pitch -- and the big takeaway reported for the CEOs was that they thought Trump was senile, rambling on like a "drunken uncle" at a family gathering.

* I was hoping that today SCOTUS would announce the decision on Trump's expansive claims of presidential immunity from prosecution. Instead, what we got was ... overturning the ban on bump stocks, which turn semi-automatic rifles into jury-rigged full automatic weapons.

All the GOP justices voted to overturn the ban. Words fail me. The only thing I can say is that, given the dismal state of America's gun-safety laws, this only makes the situation somewhat worse. Now I'm kinda worried about what other mad things they will do.

AND SO ON: I've been using Google Assistant -- running on a smartphone on a stand on my work table -- for over two years now, and I've found it extremely useful. Most of it's just trivial stuff, turning on or off the two lights I've got set up on wi-fi, and asking for the weather. However, I can also ask it to perform unit conversions -- kilometers to miles, for example -- and it's much quicker than fumbling with a calculator.

It's also great for getting simple factoids, like the distance between two cities. It can generally answer simple questions, such as when someone was born. If the question is too complicated, I get linked to a web page for investigation. Just this morning, I asked Google Assistant when the Biden-Trump debate was going to happen, and she -- I use a British female voice -- replied (more or less): "Thursday, June 27, in Atlanta, with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderating."

These days, I'm also making much more good use of the Microsoft Copilot generative-AI chatbot. It is, despite limitations, extremely useful as well. In the old days, if needed some particular information, I'd try to Google it to get links to web pages that would allow me to piece together the information. Now I just ask Copilot for the information, and it gives me the answer, along with links if I want to use them. Of course, it only works if I pose an articulate question.

I'm finding out more I can do. For example, some Japanese-language tutorial web pages give me Japanese text, but not the "romanji" -- roman text -- equivalents. I can dope out the Japanese "kana", the phonetic set, but the Chinese-style "kanji" can have different readings, and it's a chore to figure them out. Some web pages use "furigana" -- painfully tiny kana characters above a kanji character to give its proper reading -- but some don't bother to even do that.

I finally decided to tell Copilot: "romanji: <pasted kanji>" -- and to my surprise, I got the romanji. I'm also surprised that I can ask fairly difficult questions on Japanese syntax and usage, and get useful answers. I even asked Copilot if it had anything to do with the OpenAI chatbot, OpenAI being backed by Microsoft -- but Copilot said it was derived from Microsoft in-house work, and warned me about some of its limitations.

[MON 24 JUN 24] THE WEEK THAT WAS 25

DAYLOG MON 17 MAY 24: In reaction to the Supreme Court's rejection of Congress's ban on bump stocks for semi-automatic rifles, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is talking about moving swiftly on passing the ban again.

Now, I realize Schumer has forgotten far more about legislating than I'll ever know, and I'm certain he knows what he's doing. The question is: What IS he doing? Can he really restore the ban against SCOTUS opposition?

That doesn't seem too hard to believe, because it appears the SCOTUS rejection of the ban on bump stocks involved ridiculous tapdancing on the definition of "machine gun". Could a new ban with a more explicit definition make SCOTUS think twice about voting it down?

On the other hand, Schumer is talking about a unanimous vote -- some Senate procedure I know nothing about -- and he may just be trying to make the Republicans look bad (or worse than they already do) ahead of elections. Eh, maybe it's both.

* NPR reports that trolls are now busily spreading disinformation online that sunscreen is dangerous to use. Of course, that's nonsense. I cannot figure out what motivates people to say such ridiculous things. The ultraviolet is strong here in mile-high Colorado, so sunscreen is essential for people who spend much time in the Sun. I did have a skin tumor some years back; it wasn't serious, the doctor just sliced it out, but it was a wake-up call. I get a skin checkup in September.

Along parallel lines, I went in to Kaiser Permanente for my yearly checkup, and unexpectedly got another COVID booster. I got to wondering how many vaccinations I've had in my life -- maybe a hundred? Half that many? Twice that many? Hard to say. What's not hard to say is that, other than feeling rocky for the day after sometimes, I've never had any problems with vaccinations. Antivaxers talk like I'm taking my life in my hands getting a vaccination. They lie; again, I don't really understand why.

DAYLOG TUE 18 MAY 24: The MAGA Right has been continuing their propaganda offensive against Joe Biden, these days notably with "cheapfakes" -- disinformation videos produced by selective editing, to show JB "lost and confused".

The White House has been hitting back, notably with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling out the "cheapfakes" and the outlets, such as the NY POST, that peddle them. Of course the POST doubled down on the fakes, but the idea was to get the real story into the news flow. There's been much concern over the threat of AI "deepfakes", but it's hard to see it's such a worry -- because we're already saturated with fakery, and AI doesn't bring much new to the party.

* Regarding Chuck Schumer's effort to re-ban bump stocks, discussed yesterday: The GOP has already shut it down, so I guess Schumer really was trying to make them look bad. GOP == I2-C4-F2: ignorant, incompetent -- conflicted, confused, compromised, complicit -- fraudulent & fascistic.

* In Ukraine War news, Armed Forces Ukraine has scored major successes against the Russian Black Sea fleet with their sea drones AKA "sea babies". The latest effort along such lines looked like a small fishing boat with an outboard motor.

It had a covered deck, and a frame above the rear mounting a sensor turret. Apparently it is intended mostly for patrol / scouting and running supplies, not for use as a kamikaze drone. One wonders if it has a laser target designator in the turret to direct drone and missile attacks. As far as using it for supply goes, it hints at support of AFU Special Operations Forces in Crimea. There may well be hundreds of SOF there, presumably to provide intelligence.

On another front, the AFU is now obtaining thousands of volunteer troops from prisons. Since bringing in hardened criminals is not a good idea, convicts can only be recruited if their crimes are on a restricted list -- negligent homicide, for instance. Violent criminals need not apply.

DAYLOG WED 19 MAY 24: Donald Trump is, as usual, being a nuisance, headlines today saying that, if he's elected, corporate CEOs who didn't back him would pay for it. I replied on Spout: "Cry more, Trump."

Later on in the day, Trump announced plans to cancel all student relief programs. I thought: That's the most ridiculous campaign pledge ever. -- and posted on Spout: "Wotta loser."

Polls keep saying Trump is a big election challenge to Joe Biden, but I just don't see it. I keep saying: He lost handily in 2020, he'll be in better shape in 2024? Campaigning from criminal court? When he barely knows what planet he's from? With good reason, Trump is denounced as a villain -- but he's not a serious person, not even as a villain. He's like a villain in Saturday-morning cartoons. He doesn't even rate being a villain in Marvel Comix.

Trump and JB are scheduled to debate on the 27th. No audience, mic is off when it's not turn to talk, no prepared notes. Trump will be "lost and confused" through the debate, and it will be a disaster for him. Will he be a no-show? If he doesn't show, he will be conceding defeat. Trump is doomed either way.

* There's talk that sanctions on Russia have been ineffective, but all inspection suggests they are highly effective. China has been working to fill the gap left by the exit of Western firms from Russia, but transport infrastructure is a bottleneck.

One particular bottleneck turns out to be shipping containers. They are loaded with cargo sent to Russia, but Russia doesn't have cargo to put in them to send back. The result is that empty containers are piling up in Russia, scarce in China, and shipping is getting more expensive. Certainly, a profound shortage of containers in China makes it likely empty containers will be shipped back from Russia, but that increases expense as well.

DAYLOG THU 20 MAY 24: It appears F-16s are about to arrive in Ukraine. Ukraine is likely to be cautious in their use. The thought is that flying the F-16s too close to the battle lines risks their destruction. It is difficult to believe the Ukrainians don't know that, and so they certainly have specific and thought-out ideas of what they want to do with them.

My own thought is that they want the F-16s to engage Russian air power that has been carrying glide bombs and other munitions to attack Ukraine. The Russians have been dropping such munitions from out of range of AFU defenses but with long-range AMRAAM missiles, F-16s may be able to pick them off. Hints are that the F-16s headed for Ukraine are being upgraded to the latest "F-16V" configuration, most notably with AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR). The hints are that Ukraine asked for SABR, and the older AN/APG-68 doesn't have adequate range to support extreme-range intercepts.

Not incidentally, the USA is now prioritizing deliveries of Patriot and NASAM surface-to-air missile loads to Ukraine. This means postponing deliveries to countries already in the queue; I assume they consented. NASAMS is a ground launcher for AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, in this context being known as "Surface-Launched AMRAAM (SLAMRAAM)". Interesting question: are the Ukrainians receiving the heftier and more formidable extended-range SLAMRAAM-ER? Nobody's talking.

Other Ukraine War news says the Orcs are building up forces to take the town of Borova, southeast of Kharkiv. That is clearly a threat, but I suspect the current AFU munitions buildup will crush them. We'll see by the 1st of September. [ED: That was optimistic.]

DAYLOG FRI 21 MAY 24: I have an account on the DeviantArt DreamUp image-generation system, and occasionally run across some interesting accounts by others. Recently I came across an account that features images of imaginative celebrity couples.

How about Marilyn Monroe and Nat King Cole? Hedy Lamarr and Marlon Brando? Hedy Lamarr and Christopher Walken? That one threw me. Ava Gardner and Jamie Foxx? Hedy Lamarr and Chris Evans? Evans of course as Captain America, works for the time period. Liz Taylor and Mel Gibson? Liz Taylor and Prince? There was other stuff in that account, celebrities as zombies for example; much of it is "Not Safe For Viewing", so I won't give the account name. That could lead to problems. I found it a clever and inspirational idea.

AND SO ON: As discussed in an article from GIZMODO.com ("Apple Updates iMessage With a New Post-Quantum Encryption Protocol" by Lucas Ropek, 21 February 2024), Apple has now introduced an update to its "iMessage" encryption, which the company grandly calls its "most significant cryptographic security upgrade" ever.

The new scheme, labeled "Post-Quantum Level 3 (PQ3)" addresses a weakness in the current RSA method of "asymmetric encryption" -- that is, an encryption scheme in which a freely-distributed "public key" can be used to encrypt a message, but only a secret "private key" can then decrypt that message. The problem with RSA is that it is computationally dependent on multiplications of large prime numbers -- and the new emerging "quantum computers" are capable of rapidly factoring such multiplications back out again.

PQ3 uses a new, more secure asymmetric encryption scheme that can't be cracked by fast factoring. It is based on a "post quantum secure" algorithm known as "Kyber", developed by researchers at the US National Institute for Technology and Standards (NIST). Apple modestly announced: "To our knowledge, PQ3 has the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world."

The only difficulty with PQ3 is that quantum computers haven't really arrived yet. However, Apple is sending a message to its users that it is serious about security. When quantum computers do become common, they won't have an advantage in cracking PQ3. In the meantime, PQ3 provides security just as good, likely better, than RSA.

* Nigel Farage, one of Britain's foremost fascist trolls, stuck his foot in it by declaring that the Ukraine War was the West's fault: "We provoked this war."

Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the comment was "completely wrong and only plays into Putin's hands," accusing Farage of "appeasement" that was "dangerous for Britain's security". Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Farage's comments were "disgraceful", while Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey called Farage "an apologist for Putin".

In response, Farage of course gaslighted his comments, condemning Vladimir Putin and the invasion, but still insisting that the expansion of NATO was the real cause. Anyone familiar with the origins of the war knows that's nonsense; it was driven by Putin's determination to restore the Russian Empire of the Tsars, along with his tyrant's fear and loathing of Ukraine's democratic revolution.

Sunak has called a general election for 4 July. There was some puzzlement as to why he did so, since the general belief is that the Tories will be slaughtered at the polls. Investigation suggests that Sunak realized that the Tories would suffer worse if they stalled the election until it was mandated. Sunak seems to be sensible, if not sensible enough to give up on the Tories. Farage's Reform Party -- once the Brexit Party -- is expected to pick up a few seats in Parliament, which will be doing good by their standards. Rightist trolls seem to be going out of fashion, however, so that's likely to be about as far as they will get.