Secretary of the Army Nominee Daniel Driscoll

 

stripes.com

Hearings have begun on the appointment of Daniel P. Driscoll for the position of Secretary of the Army. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale Law School, thirty-nine year old Driscoll spent a deployment in  Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division. Since leaving the military he has worked as an executive and investment banker.

If approved Driscoll would be replacing Christine Wormuth, the first female secretary of the army. While there's been some criticism of Driscoll's scope of knowledge of the Army, he seems to have the bulge on his predecessor, who was intent on the electrification of the army in the battle against global warming:

“The Army must adapt across our entire enterprise and purposefully pursue greenhouse gas mitigation strategies to reduce climate risks,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in a statement. “If we do not take action across, across our installations, acquisition and logistics and training, our option to mitigate these risks will become more constrained with each passing year.”

  She graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from Williams College in Massachusetts and a master's degree in public policy from the University of Maryland. We're not sure if her level of expertise includes both climate science and armored warfare, one or neither.

 

Cyber Espionage

Cyber world is an invisible and soundless expanse of communication and control that extends its grip through the technology that created it. 

Finally, we launched Project Upskill, a program designed to empower vulnerable populations with straightforward guidance to strengthen their cybersecurity. Over the past year, we’ve taken this initiative nationwide, supporting regional events across the country to provide tailored support and deliver this critical guidance directly to at-risk communities.

In a world increasingly reliant on technology, each of us plays a vital role in strengthening cyber resilience. By taking proactive steps—like the four simple steps of cyber hygiene; by encouraging universities to consider starting cyber clinics; or supporting high-risk communities—we can all Secure Our World. 

Before graphical depictions of speech, writing, keeping information secret was a matter of trusting those to whom one spoke. Writing and printing leaves a tangible record that can be deciphered by any one, friend or foe, in the future. That's why important government documents are labelled "TOP SECRET". Ex US presidents are hassled for keeping confidential information in cardboard boxes in their laundry rooms. An unrecorded conversation between two spies is more secure than a folder with a red letter warning across the first page.

Now, although the US government works hard at gleaning the plans of potential adversaries by intercepting their digital communications, they are even more dedicated to keeping their own accumulated information out of the wrong hands. Since these pixels are roaming around the internet they are vulnerable to capture by dark forces. Cryptology, hiding and disguising digital information, is as big and lucrative a field as finding the information itself. Its results can't be guaranteed and enormous efforts are made to improve the techniques of interpreting digital signals.

Since no one can know if a record or message of critical importance can be safely hidden from the bad guys lurking on the world-wide web maybe it shouldn't be exposed to the possibility. Everyone seems to be in love with modern technology but every aspect of it should be evaluated in terms of how effective it is for its intended purpose and the negatives involved. Instead of sending an important message over the web it might be better for the sender to whisper it in the ear of a trusted aide for personal delivery. That was a common method in days gone by and seems to have worked well.  

2040 Clean Energy Target

 

 Microsoft and Amazon have acquired property near Xcel's retiring Sherco Power Plant. Credit: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

This photograph shows a portion of the Sherco Power Plant near Becker, Minnesota. It's included with an article that concerns expanding the production of electrical power to meet the needs of planned data center construction and operation.

As is often the case, the picture doesn't show the smoke stacks that release the combustion products of the three boilers at the plant. They're not dramatic enough. Instead, it shows the cooling towers that condense the steam produced in the plant back into water after its energy is used to turn the turbines that produce the electricity that turns the wheels of businesses and homes. The vapor rising from the cooling towers is water vapor, H2O in the form of a gas, the same substance that makes up  clouds. There's speculation that water vapor in  the atmosphere can increase temperatures but water vapor is not a pollutant and causes no harm to the environment. This picture is meant to confuse and misinform the viewer.

The Data Center Fraud

 Federal officials say fast development of data centers is vital to the economy and national security, including to keep pace with China in the artificial intelligence race.

Exactly how are data centers "vital to the economy"? If they were, wouldn't the economy be in some kind of serious predicament now? Maybe it is but how is the absence of data centers responsible, since there haven't been any in the past or present? Keeping pace with China? Why? 

The data center problem is mostly about doubling the production of electricity in the country so that existing demand can be satisfied while stoking generation of power for artificial intelligence. The phony computer filing systems are an even bigger bonanza for the Whigs than the anti-CO2 renewable energy fiasco that's getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror. The design, financing and construction of the monstrous semi-conductor warehouses means huge dollars for those involved. The financing is the most interesting part in that the guys with the money aren't physicists and need to believe the spiels they're told about the potential profits of pixel storage, retrieval and reassembly. Nobody seems to have come up with an estimate of how many data centers will be needed to keep the economy chugging along while relegating China to an inferior position in the world hierarchy.

How many data centers will be needed to accomplish the goals? Since they will all be finding and storing the pixels off the internet, isn't it likely that there will be considerable redundancy in their inventories? Isn't it almost a sure thing that every data center will have a digital copy of Thomas Frank's "What's The Matter With Kansas?", Barak Obama's "The Audacity of Hope", and Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" among all the other screeds in the history of publishing? If they are providing answers to questions, how are they different from a number of supermarkets in a neighborhood that sell the same brands of breakfast cereal and other products with different names but identical qualities? Sure, one data center could provide more accurate and valuable information than another but how would the buyer know this? 

The construction of the data centers, their consumption of immense amounts of energy, the costs of the jobs  promised, etc. mean that if the data centers are going to be businesses, some one will need to pay for the product they produce. Who will that be?

Imagine that an automobile manufacturer pays the operators of a data center for information on the  prospects of a kind of drive train. That's the sort of thing that will be sold, information on the possibilities of the future. Relevant knowledge of the past in such a situation is easy to come by, predicting the future has never been guaranteed. If a business buys a scenario of the future from a data center operator, how does it know that this info is exclusive or even correct? Won't the cost of that knowledge need to be added into the price of the car? In a capitalist system technological advances are meant to make products cheaper.

In the past and today, problems involving technology have been solved by engineers, who use computer expertise as they have slide rules and various math models. The information that they use isn't necessarily a secret but its implementation may be and probably is unique, which takes it out of the AI realm.

A different aspect of the AI program could be the total digital operation of a business, let's say an outboard motor manufacturer. A data center would have a digital interface with every moving part in that plant, no humans would be needed. Trucks would arrive at the loading dock with all the necessary raw materials and robots would unload them and direct them to the correct entry points in the continuous assembly process. Once completed the engines would be tested and then shipped maybe to dealers or directly to consumers. The role of contractors who supply various components may change or expand. How big would an outboard motor manufacturer have to be in order for such a situation to be financially feasible?

The market for information that will subdue the advance of China is basically limited to the US government. That's an important point for the Whigs since at least at this time the government has an unlimited amount of money to advance Whig operations. The validity of information needed to counter the godless commies, based on digital sources, isn't something that the US should base its foreign policy upon.    

What Will AI Actually Do?

On the heels of the Trump inauguration the AI confidence men have shown up to make America great again. By combining forces they have created "Stargate", a company that will keep the godless commies of China trailing the USA in AI and prevent their making slaves of the Yankees. 

Additionally, AI development will make every aspect of American life better and employ thousands of people in well-paid, meaningful jobs. The infrastructure, however, must be in place for this utopia to arrive. That will require money, more money than the operating businesses can round up. The government can take care of it.

The pro-AI profiteers have described the benefits of AI in only the most general terms. If AI is to be such a problem-solving benefit shouldn't it be really easy for them to point out some very specific problems or opportunities that AI will quickly tackle? In the military sphere, will AI be the director of defense research and procurement and then the planner of kinetic attacks and defense? Since AI only has access to material on the internet, which is the product of human intelligence, will it be able to produce genuine innovation or just a list of most likely options? Since billions are being spent on AI data centers wouldn't it be foolish to reject any AI suggestions or commands?

On a more mundane level will AI be used in the design and manufacture of consumer goods? Perhaps the billions of dollars spent on AI will yield more efficient washing machines, microwave ovens and blenders. For sure AI designed automobiles will end any arguments over the pluses or minuses of EV vs. ICE transport. Closing or building highways or bridges will be something that AI can do with no effective opposition. Building codes are a perfect area for AI use. Why haven't we heard more about the actual projects planned for AI? OK, they say that AI will be able to cure cancer.

Who will monitor the ethics of AI? No one knows what manner of control AI might recommend to address a perceived social problem. Will AI have a conscience? What if AI recommends or commands the extinction of some species of animals or even a given human population? How will the argument between the AI advocates and the post-modern Luddites be resolved? Sam Altman, Larry Ellison and Masayoshi Son and others should have ready answers to all these questions. What are they?   

The Minor Leagues of American Football

A game played between teams representing The Ohio State University and Notre Dame University on the evening of January 20th in Atlanta, Georgia resulted in a victory for the team from Ohio and defeat for the one from Indiana. The winner is considered the champion of NCAA football at the highest level.

While college football is immensely popular with the students, alumni, and residents of the state and surrounding area, the fact is that it's very much inferior to the professional model of the NFL. This is quite obvious since the NFL ranks are made up of the best players from college rosters. Even so, NFL games are filled with misplays and incidents that indicate that the players are either ignorant of the rules or ignore them, which results in many "penalties".

College football is thus the "minor league" of the NFL.

Major league baseball, on the other hand, generally prefers not to draw its players from the college ranks. Very few baseball players advance to the big league clubs without some experience, often a lot, in the minor leagues, teams that give young players an opportunity to learn the basics and nuances of the game. These leagues are financed by major league affiliates and gate receipts. 

The highest level of professional baseball under the major leagues is the AAA League, made up of the International League and the Pacific Coast League. Teams like the Durham Bulls, Toledo Mudhens, Albuquerque Isotopes and Salt Lake Bees, thirty in all. The two branches of the AAA League select their playoff participants on the basis of a split season result, one team that has the best record in the first half of the season the other the last half. The winners of each  of the three game series play a single game for the AAA League Championship.

Most sports fans are probably unaware that the 2024 AAA Championship game was played on Sept. 28 at Las Vegas Ballpark between the PCL representative Sugar Land Space Cowboys from Houston and the IL Omaha Storm Chasers from Nebraska. The Space Cowboys won the game 13-6, a rather football-like score, in front of 8,007 fans.

The point is that this contest, between the talented veterans of a 148 game regular season, has much more athletic validity than a college football game at any level, or even an NFL game.    

A Ride In A Chinese AV

 

$4,207 In Legal Costs Annually For An American Family

Yes, according to the Institute For Legal Reform of the US Chamber of Commerce dividing US legal billings by the number of US families equals $4,207. About $529 billion or 2.1% of GDP. Another component of GDP is the production of America's farms. The latest USDA figures show that this amounts to $223 billion or .08 percent of GDP, less than half of the expense of the national tort system.

Ergo the total sum of the agricultural production of the US, the corn, beets, soy beans, raspberries, milk, butter, pork, cabbage, beef, lettuce, mushrooms, chicken, water melons, barley and everything else that leaves the farm for further processing is much smaller than the industry that settles arguments between social adversaries or them and their government. The law business is more important than the food business.

According to the American Bar Association there are currently 1.3 million lawyers in the US. These are the secular Levites that make up the priesthood of the god Mammon. They draw up the laws and ordinances used  to regulate society, fix the punishments for disobedience and administer the legislatures and court systems. The income of this priesthood is a tax on even the law-abiding population. Perhaps artificial intelligence can slow the growth of this industry.  

Department of Energy Loan Programs Office

An agency of the federal government has decided to loan failing EV automaker Rivian $6.57 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Georgia. Rivian has yet to make a profit in any quarter of its existence that began in 2009.

 

There's a smidgen of politics in the DOELPO news release: "Today’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to strengthen the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness, helping ensure American businesses remain global leaders in the rapidly expanding EV industry." How would making the price of Rivian EVs make them competitive with internal combustion automobiles when there's no comparison between the EV charging infrastructure and the many thousands of gas stations in the US?

It seems there has been a lot of complaining and even  diplomatic fervor over various nations unfairly subsidizing manufacturing that puts the US at a disadvantage. Chinese PRC shipbuilding has recently received attention for undercutting production costs through government subsidies. Since China is said to be a communist country with government ownership of assets it seems that it would be the logical place to go for finance. An early nail in the coffin of the renewable energy components business was Janet Yellen's complaint that Chinese solar panels were so much cheaper than their western competitors.

If a bank loans a business a substantial amount of money they essentially become part owners of it and able to approve or cancel management decisions. The defenders of capitalism in Washington are now in the car manufacturing business, just like East German Trabant was.  Rivian has a market capitalization of $14.504 billion so the loan, which is meant to build a car factory, is almost one half of the market value of the company itself. Though the terms of repayment aren't spelled out, maybe they will be similar to that of the student loan fiasco and failure to repay will be accepted. Or, at some point, the facility can be repurposed as an immigrant shelter.

Subsequently, EV start-up Canoo has filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations. It's a loser in a contest for market decided by government agencies with the ability of determining who gets how much taxpayer funding, evidently a feature of modern capitalism.

Limited Access Highways

There doesn't seem to be a cure for collective insanity. The malady in this case is formed by the relatively new phenomenon of being able to align with others and shape public opinion, at least in some form, by hunting and pecking at a computer keyboard. In days gone by "influencers" had to leave their homes and attend meetings of like-minded dreamers to acquire enough imaginary authority to make changes. 

The perfect example of this is one that's been mentioned here before, the I-94 link between St. Paul and Minneapolis. 

In the so-called "democracy" that supposedly determines the relationships between us there won't be a vote of everyone concerned over the stretch of busy freeway. Ultimately, the decision to stop or proceed will be based on a small sample of the area's busy-bodies and the money available to do the task. This resembles nothing so much as the much-ridiculed Soviet "5 Year Plans" that routinely failed to produce the desired results. The government bureaucracy that referees this game is happy to have the business and hire more people to sit at more desks. They're encouraged by their typical Whig associates that own the construction companies that would necessarily be involved.

The local media has finally jumped into the fracas.

 

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients

In case you missed this important ceremony, here is a list of those awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joseph Biden, Jr. on Jan. 4, 2025.

 

Jose Andres, Spanish chef and philanthropist

Bono, Irish vocalist

Ashton Baldwin Carter, deceased US Defense Secretary

Hillary Rodham Clinton, American wife of former US President 

Michael J. Fox, American actor

Tim Gill, Denver gay computer entrepreneur

Jane Goodall, British primatologist

Fannie Lou Hamer, deceased American civil rights activist

Earvin Johnson, American professional basketball player

Robert F. Kennedy, deceased American politician and government official

Ralph Lauren, American clothing designer 

Lionel Messi, Argentine professional footballer

Bill Nye, American television personality

George W. Romney, deceased American politician

David M. Rubinstein, American founder of the Carlyle Group and one of the owners of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team

George Soros, Hungarian born currency speculator

George Stevens, Jr., American television and film director

Denzel Washington, American movie actor

Anna Wintour, British-American magazine editor and executive 

President Biden was himself awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then President Barak Obama on 12 Jan., 2017.  

 

 

German Bicycles Go Here

A DW piece from 2021 describes the travels of stolen bicycles from Germany to Ukraine.  According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, the thefts of more than 260,000 bicycles, with a total value of almost €200 million ($236 million), were registered in Germany last year. 

 

autoevolution.com 

Executive Orders

What's so "democratic" about an executive order? Apparently the mechanism of an executive order doesn't have any restrictions on its use. Is there anything that can't be done by a president's, or perhaps his entourage's, whim? When the convoluted process of selecting the senior administrative official in the US is completed, is that individual able to commit any amount of US funds to whatever project takes his fancy?

The current US president, who is only going to be around for a few more days, has, by executive order, demanded that federal property be made available to corporations involved in the development and use of artificial intelligence and marked $30 billion in  greenbacks to help them along.

 gregoryconstruction.com

While the immense internet filing systems called "data centers" have yet to prove their worth in any but the most mundane ways, those expected to finance their construction are supposed to shut up and pay.

Just as "virtual reality" is only an imitation of reality, artificial intelligence is imitation intelligence also. If it were real intelligence with value it could be asked "What's the answer to the Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 problem?" and after a few flashes of light and beeps a correct, unchallengeable answer would pop up on a data center screen and shortly thereafter on the on-line site of the New York Post. That's what a genuine but impossible artificial intelligence program would be able to do. 

Instead, a small but influential group of Whigs has used its influence to gather tax payer cash to build factories that can only reproduce the thoughts of the past, but perhaps in a different sequence. According to these entrepreneurs and their government allies, this data must be assembled and analyzed so the hordes of Chinese won't have the exclusive use of the technology and use it to spread their tyranny to the western hemisphere. It must be completely developed for defense purposes. It's also the case that these neo-Whigs will become very wealthy.

The failure of the Soviet Union was generally thought to have been caused by its attempts to match the developing military capabilities of the US which were so expensive that the Russians were basically bankrupted. It seems unlikely that a profusion of useless AI data centers will accomplish the same result with China.

In the case of the Soviets, the enormous expenses of the Cold War were at least visible flying around US air bases and sailing in and out of port. The data centers will produce only pixels arranged in different configurations on solid state hard drives. Hardly as impressive as an F-15 Strike Eagle or a Minute Man missile.

As usual when government is concerned, secrecy will be paramount. If the AI machine says tomorrow is the optimum date to shoot an ICBM at the Norks or even the Chinese, will the AI's advice absolve those who pulled the trigger? Will we be informed before or after? Or, will the AI make the ultimate decision itself?    

NASA Whig PR

If discovering planets that have been around for billions of years is the routine, NASA will also be a presence for some time. Of course, that's the colonialist version of discovery, like that of Christopher Columbus, finding something that wasn't known to a particular society or individual is a "discovery" for them. They were unaware of it but now know of it. It's been "discovered". 

In this case the discovery is a big planet, at least in the view of NASA, with a surrounding atmosphere that contains methane, thought to be present only in an environment that includes life.

This is another benefit of the fabulous James Webb Space Telescope, discovering more interesting planets.

"But even if life is not confirmed, the implications remain extraordinary. This discovery demonstrates the capabilities of human ingenuity and the relentless drive to push boundaries. It proves that, as a species, we are capable of asking bold questions and seeking answers in the vast unknown. In many ways, the search for life beyond Earth is also a search for meaning".

Yeah, OK. A search for meaning. Meaning for most people is insuring enough food is on the table. The relentless drive to push boundaries is a search for the benefit of meaning even if no life is found in the perhaps infinite reaches of the cosmos. We wouldn't want to be some cosmic flotsam on the shore of the galaxy. That wouldn't have meaning. Astronomy is a religion. 

The Seed Corn Of Artificial Intelligence

As it's currently understood, the information that AI will file, analyze and use to make decisions will be scoured from the internet. The verbal ideas and opinions of Cambodian farmers, Canadian truck drivers and Colombian cocaine traffickers won't be grist for the AI mill. Probably the material most desired for data center storage will be gleaned from things like this, containing ample statistics that can't be verified as guidance for future activity.

In fact, the only purpose for extensive files of any information is to guide later decision making. Gibbon's studies of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire were meant not just for amusement but also to point out the failures of that nation perhaps in the hope that they wouldn't be repeated. Judicial records of a person's behavior can determine his entire future. Before today the positive or negative effect of decisions made to achieve a certain outcome had to be measured against the information used to make those decisions. In the future, the total information that AI uses to make choices will be too complex for human analysis. AI systems will need to be used to validate the findings of previous efforts in a never-ending loop. 

Evidently an AI conclusion, should one be reached, will supersede that of any lowly human or all this investment is in vain. Thus if AI says drop the bomb on the Kremlin, that will be the thing to do. No level of "natural intelligence" will be sufficient to negate the AI findings. Who will have access to this AI "opinion" is another question.

Man may be capable of doing many things but considerations must be taken into account. The findings of AI, whatever they may be, are incredibly expensive. Giant data centers, filled with esoteric semi-conductors, filing and rearranging information, are using humongous quantities of power that's already putting a strain on the national electrical grid. What's more important, a town washing its clothes and microwaving its Eggos or a data center making an informational omelet? This isn't a new issue. The Amish made their choice many years ago.

 

                                                                                 tripsavvy.com

In the Jan 4-5 issue of the Wall Street Journal Ben Cohen describes the work of ASML engineer Breanna Hall who looks after an Extreme Ultraviolet Light lithography machine in the Boise, Idaho fab of Micron Technology. He describes it as "the most indispensable machine in the world." This is because the semiconductor chips it manufactures are used in so many high tech products, appliances, electronics equipment, automobiles, etc. The new EUV chips are simply extremely small versions of earlier semiconductors. The fact is that most of the products that now contain semiconductors existed before they became available and the world got along fairly well. A new ultraviolet lithography machine costs as much as $370 million. There might be an increase in productivity in the use of this machine but productivity is figured in dollars and hours. Is that all there is in life? If the EUV machines disappeared from the face of the earth corn would still grow, cows would continue to produce milk, crude oil would still be pumped from the depths.

It could be the case that drivers need and want "value added" features in automobiles like GPS systems or self-driving capabilities but for well over one hundred years they puttered from point A to point B without sophisticated and unrepairable components that now make up most of the cost of a car. Isn't there a point where advancing technology simply isn't worth the price?

 

earthtrekkers.com

Moderns have always wondered about the construction of incredible projects of the past, the pyramids of Egypt and the similar structures of MesoAmerica, the fantastic amount of labor and engineering that went into what now seems to be a waste. How could it have been possible to coerce people into devoting so much energy into what must have seemed very important to someone else? The AI data centers may inspire similar questions from future humans, should they come to exist.