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| Cosmic rays seeding life at a distant icy planet! |
OK, this was actually quite interesting. And not particularly surprising, if you ask me. There is *something* about cosmic rays, isn´t there?
Cosmic rays could help support alien life on worlds outside the "Goldilocks zone"
What is a robot or robotic jockey in camel racing?
A robotic jockey is a small remote-controlled device used to replace human jockeys in camel racing. Here's how it works and why it was introduced:
It’s a lightweight robot mounted on the camel’s back.
The robot is equipped with:
A whip mechanism (usually a soft padded whip) to encourage the camel to run faster.
A speaker or device to issue commands.
The robot is controlled remotely by the camel’s trainer or handler from the sidelines using radio signals.
Historically, camel racing in places like the Middle East used young boys as jockeys, some as young as 4 or 5 years old.
Due to child labor concerns, safety, and international pressure, many countries banned the use of child jockeys.
Robotic jockeys were developed as a humane and ethical alternative.
They allow the sport to continue while protecting children and improving animal welfare.
Eliminates child exploitation.
Provides consistent control over camels.
Can be programmed or adjusted remotely for better performance.
Reduces risks of injury to jockeys.
Mainly in Gulf countries like the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The technology is continuously improving for better control and reliability.
If you want, I can share videos or more technical details about how robotic jockeys work!
THE LOCAL SUPERMARKET HERE IN SWEDEN PLAYED MY ASS, WTF. From now on, I´m going to ask my new friend about product lines before I make expensive purchases. Also, Trump must sanction...I don´t know...Swiss cantons or something?!
No, Dubai Style Chocolate by Lindt and what people refer to as "Dubai Chocolate" are not necessarily the same thing. Here's the distinction:
Lindt's Dubai Style Chocolate: This is a specific product marketed by Lindt, often featuring flavors and ingredients inspired by the Middle East, such as dates, saffron, pistachios, or cardamom. It’s a premium Swiss chocolate infused with flavors popular in Dubai and other Gulf regions.
"Dubai Chocolate" (General Term): This usually refers to chocolates made in Dubai or brands that are popular in Dubai, like Patchi, Mirzam, or Al Nassma (camel milk chocolate). Some people also use the term to describe luxury chocolates sold in Dubai's upscale malls and airports, often featuring gold leaf, exotic nuts, or traditional Middle Eastern spices.
So while Lindt’s Dubai Style Chocolate is inspired by Dubai flavors, it’s still a Swiss-made chocolate, whereas Dubai Chocolate can refer to locally made or widely sold chocolates in Dubai.
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| - What´s up, dawg? |
Besökte Lidl. Såg ett stort anslag redan i ingången: "Dubai Choklad slut". Detta göder de kriminella gängen. På något sätt. För det har Aftonbladets Jonna Simma sagt. Tror jag.
Ger en helt ny innebörd åt Margaret Thatchers uttalande "the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people´s money". Ja, det verkar som att järnladyn hade fel!
Vi skulle även kunna säga att realsocialismen möter senkapitalismen...
Nordkorea slog till på två minuter: Världshistoriens största kryptostöld
So I just saw a French science documentary, "Alter Ego", on Swedish TV about cloning. Artificial human cloning of non-human animals, to be exact. Remember Dolly the cloned sheep? For whatever reason, the European Union bans this kind of cloning, so the industry thrives in the rest of the world. In the docu, they interview Americans and Argentinians who clone horses (including race horses), Chinese who clone pet dogs, and a hyper-modern lab in the United Arab Emirates financed by the Emir of Dubai which clone dromedaries (camel races are popular in some nations). In the United States, there are supposedly cloned deer with exactly the qualities a wild-game hunter wants!
There are also discussions to clone mammoths and other extinct animals, such as the dodo. Maybe this is a bit too much hype? One scientist actually believes that cloning birds is extremely difficult to impossible. Another opines that "cloned mammoths" would really be genetically enhanced elephants which can live in cold weather! However, the cloned foal of a Przewalski´s horse (this species or sub-species is extinct in the wild) is real, so here is a possible avenue to save endangered species. It seems cloning can even enhance the genetic diversity of a species. The two-humped Bactrian camel (which is almost extinct in the wild) is mentioned as the object of another possible rescue mission.
The documentary doesn´t discuss human cloning and no Raëlians are interviewed. The production is clearly pro-cloning and I do wonder after watching it why the EU has banned cloning. How does this help us? How does it help the animals? Is it just some weird superstition? On our "enlightened" continent! In reality, the applications are almost endless. Imagine killing off all wolves, but keeping their DNA around for future re-creation just in case.
Hmmm...
The first half of a conversation between conspiracy theorist Jay Dyer and scholar Richard Spence (the second half is behind a paywall and as usual, I aint payin´). The discussion centers on Aleister Crowley, the somewhat notorious British occultist. Spence believes there is good evidence that Crowley really did work for British intelligence in the United States during World War I. His main target was German intelligence, rather than the Irish-American community. He apparently presented himself as an Irish nationalist to the unsuspecting Germans. Spence suspects that Crowley continued to be an "asset" after the war, as well.
A more speculative proposal that comes up in the discussion is that Kim Philby was a "triple agent", who was really working for the British even as he "betrayed" the UK and defected to the Soviet side. Conversely, Spence believes that anti-Soviet spy Sidney Reilly (one of the supposed inspirations for James Bond) actually *did* work for the Communists! In general, Spence paints a very unflattering picture of the intelligence community. Most spies don´t really care about their fatherland, and are mostly taking care of their own personal interests. Crowley was different, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. He was loyal to Britain according to the principle "Right or wrong, my country".
So Swedenborg was a French agent, Blavatsky may have been a Russian agent, Crowley was a British agent, Roerich was an (involuntary) double agent...
Spence doesn´t think its strange that an occultist is a secret agent. There are three kinds of people who are of considerable interest to intelligence agencies: missionaries, explorers and reporters. They meet a lot of people in far away lands, and have seemingly legitimate reasons for actually being there. An occultist can pose as the two former. Occultists presumably have the additional benefit of not being taken absolutely seriously. The perfect spy! I assume that at least some occultists have a long experience of dissimulation and secrecy (Swedenborg was also interested in ciphers and mnemonics).
Could be of some interest.
Sabine Hossenfelder attacks both climate change deniers and activist climate scientists in this video. Meltdown in the commentary section in 10, 9, 8...
Apparently, far right commentator extraordinaire Tucker Carlson has rediscovered "the abiogenic petroleum theory" (or conspiracy theory), which probably isn´t true. And even if it would be true, extracting all that oil might still fuck up the climate.
On the other hand...Sabine Hossenfelder believes that the problem isn´t the use of fossil fuels per se, but rather the carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere. Translation: if we could only find the technology to stop *that*, we might continue using fossil fuels. Not a popular message in some circles.
Ms Hossenfelder is good at triggering both sides in an infected conflict!
Translation: the Houthi are winning. Or, at the very least, they are not losing.
Egypt selling land to make up for Suez Canal income lost to Houthi terrorism
The Red Sea stand off with the Houthis (de facto North Yemen) continues...
Houthis sever undersea communication cables linking Europe and Asia
Min reaktion när jag nås av nyheten att en av Sveriges mest efterlysta brottslingar (något slags associate till "kurdiske räven") har gripits i Dubai.
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| Flag of Norfolk Island. No known connection to anything mentioned in the article, except that it looks bio-friendly! Credit: In Vitrio |
“The Lost Leonardo” is a 2021 documentary about the drama around the painting “Salvator Mundi”, believed by some to be the work of famous Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. The story is complex and frankly hard to believe sometimes.
After being
lost for centuries, “Salvator Mundi” resurfaced in 2005 at an auction in New Orleans
(of all places), where it was bought for about 1,100 dollars by two US art
collectors. If I understand the “plot” correctly, they later managed to sell
the painting for 83 million dollars! This was after the London National Gallery
had claimed that the painting (which they exhibited) was indeed an authentic
Leonardo. The artwork was originally heavily overpainted and badly damaged, but
was restored by Dianne Modestini, an expert on such things. It´s this restored
version that was shown in London and subsequently brought in the 83
million. Skeptics refuse to believe it´s real, and mockingly call the painting “a
masterpiece by Dianne Modestini”, charging that she added so much to the
original composition that it can´t be considered an independent work anymore.
And how do we know Leonardo made it anyway?
The
subsequent odyssey of “the savior of the world” is even more bizarre. Or maybe
not, if the shadowy and opaque character of the international art trade is held
in mind. The 83 million dollar affair was made by a Swiss art dealer, Yves Bouvier,
on behalf of super-rich Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. The latter subsequently
accused Bouvier of tricking him into buying the painting for 140 million
dollars and pocketing the difference. While the oligarch may be a genuine art fancier,
there is also a more pragmatic reason for his art deals (and that of many other
rich people). Art is a good way to “store wealth” and move it around without
the tax authorities (or Putin?) ever noticing. This is made possible by the
so-called freeport system. In Switzerland, none other than the tricksy Bouvier
owned huge freeports, in which art and other investment objects could be de
facto hidden away. Even sales and purchases of said art can be made at the freeport
facilities without governments being able to track the deals. (Of course, the
governments have themselves to blame: what stops them from cracking down on the
freeports? Exactly.)
When
Rybolovlev realized that Bouvier had scammed him out of a billion dollars during
various art deals (at least if you believe Mr R´s version of events), the Russian oligarch
decided to destroy the greedy Swiss freeport owner. Using all his connections
in the world of banking, finance and law, Rybolovlev managed to get Bouvier blacklisted,
denied bank loans, losing investments, and so on. In the docu, Bouvier claims
he lost everything (including ownership of the freeports). Perhaps to recover
his “losses”, the oligarch eventually sold all his art through a British
auction house (the auction took place in the US). It was at this auction that “Salvator
Mundi” was bought by a then unknown person for a staggering 450 million dollars
– the highest price ever paid for a painting. At this point, the CIA became
interested, perhaps fearing that the world´s largest money laundering operation
was unfolding right under their noses. They soon identified the buyer: a certain Saudi
prince. Somebody at the agency also leaked the information to the New York
Times! “Salvator Mundi” then vanished, and nobody knows where the painting is
today. The documentary speculates that the real buyer is Mohammed bin Salman
(MBS), Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and that country´s effective ruler. “Salvator
Mundi” is supposedly stashed onboard his yacht.
But why
would MBS buy a frankly ugly painting attributed to Leonardo? Even apart from
the fact that it´s blasphemous according to Islam! The docu speculates that it
could be connected to Saudi “soft diplomacy”. In order to present a better face
to the world, Saudi Arabia wants to build a huge tourist facility and “cultural
center” at Al-Ula in the Hejaz. Perhaps the lost Leonardo will be exhibited
there? The Al-Ula business may also be connected to a huge Saudi purchase of
French military hardware…
There have
also been some weird shenanigans surrounding a 2019-2020 Leonardo exhibition at
the Louvre in France. It´s possible that “Salvator Mundi” was supposed to have
been exhibited there, in the same room as “Mona Lisa”, but for some reason the
unknown owner pulled back at the last moment. The Louvre bookstore by mistake
sold some copies of a book claiming that “Salvator Mundi” was authentic, but
the book was quickly pulled as well and all remaining copies destroyed. Maybe
this book is now just as rare as real Leonardo paintings? The reason for the
panicky backtracking is unclear, but “The Lost Leonardo” wonders aloud whether the
Louvre labs at the last moment failed to authenticate the painting, prompting MBS
to withdraw his offer of exhibiting it.
As already mentioned, the makers of “The Lost Leonardo” don´t seem to believe that “Salvator Mundi” is the real deal, although it certainly was a lucrative one! Pesky art critic Jerry Saltz, who is something of a joker, is prominently featured, as are other skeptics. Personally, I have no opinion on the matter, opinionated or otherwise, but the documentary is interesting in its own right, giving a sneak peek into the demimonde of tax havens and the super-rich. According to the all-knowing site Wikipedia, the elusive Leonardo (or is it Modestini) should really have been exhibited at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a joint French-United Arab Emirates project. Let´s be honest: since nobody outside the art world (and hardly even there, it seems) really gives a damn whether it´s fake or not, the UAE probably wouldn´t lose any cred by actually exhibiting it. Real or not, “Salvator Mundi” is probably just as well known as “Mona Lisa” (and "The Da Vinci Code") at this point!
Ovanstående är saxat från Aftonbladet. Det mest anmärkningsvärda är att påstått "västvänliga" (och relativt viktiga) länder som Saudi-Arabien, Förenade Arabemiraten, Brasilien och Indien de facto inte vill följa USA:s linje. Ett annat stort problem för västvärlden är givetvis att Kina inte vill göra det. Det är ett problem eftersom den kinesiska ekonomin är så sammanflätad med den västerländska.
Det är alltså inte riktigt som under kalla kriget. Då fanns det också två stormaktsblock, men USA hade betydligt bättre kontroll på sina allierade...
Observera dock att Ryssland strängt taget inte har ett helt enat stormaktsblock heller. De flesta stater som "borde" stödja Ryssland har valt "vänta och se". Inget av blocken är alltså särskilt starkt...
Det betyder antagligen att varken USA eller Ryssland kan bli globala hegemoner, inte ens om en av dem besegrar den andre i Ukraina.
Fördel Kina?
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The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have recognized the State of Israel. According to rumour, Sudan, Oman or even Saudi Arabia might be next. The peace agreements have been brokered by the United States, more specifically by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son in law. They are being hailed as a great breakthrough, at least by supporters of the Trump Administration.
Well, I'm skeptical. Don't the nations involved in this unexpected peace process have at least *something* in common? Of course they do. They are all opposed to Iran. This is simply an attempt by the United States to create a more firm anti-Iranian alliance. It comes after Trump ordered the assassination of one of Iran's top leaders, and after a series of mysterious explosions both in Iran and other Mideast nations, seemingly directed at Iranian interests.
The closer cooperation between Iran, China and Russia is another reason why the conservative Gulf monarchies have decided to move even closer to the United States. Note also the escalating "cold war" between the US and China, and a potential conflict with Russia over Belarus.
The agreement will perhaps also give the United States increased leverage over Turkey, a NATO member which doesn't seem to know its place in the American-led pecking order.
Now, I'm not a great fan of the Iranian regime. However, in order to really be about "peace", this alliance must do something *truly* radical. Say, broker a peace agreement in Syria. How about letting the secular regime stay in power, let the refugees return, and evacuate all foreign troops and mercenaries?
That might perhaps be worth a Nobel peace prize. That, and a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What is happening now is simply that the marriage of convenience between Israel and the conservative Arab states is being formalized in anticipation of the next Mideast war...
