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Today: 52 articles and 117 comments as of 23:36.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion    Local News    Politix   
Today's Headlines
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1 12:37 DarthVader [68] 
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15 19:43 Elmerert Hupens2660 [157] 
7 19:23 Frank G [141] 
6 12:47 Abu Uluque [102] 
2 12:57 Skidmark [54] 
3 09:43 swksvolFF [71] 
5 16:51 Procopius2k [81] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
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7 17:15 Grom the Reflective [119]
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Day 2: Washington shooting near White House kills two, including gunman
Follow up to this story from yesterday.
[Rudaw] Two people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and four others injured in a shooting on Thursday in a heavily secured area near the White House in Washington, DC, police said.

Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda, reporting from the scene, said the shooting occurred around 8:30 am local time in an area with a heavy police and National Guard presence, setting the incident apart from other shootings in the city.

The shooting took place near Logan Circle, about 1.2 kilometers from the White House. Jeffrey Carroll, interim chief of the DC Metropolitan Police, told reporters at the scene that “at this time we have located four individuals that were shot here at the scene and transported and one individual who is deceased here on the scene.”

Police said the suspected shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said on X that officers responded to an "ACTIVE SHOOTING" near 15th and P streets NW, with emergency response teams deployed to the scene and residents urged to avoid the area.

More at the link


Posted by: badanov || 11/13/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [60 views] Top|| File under:

#1  HOA politics can be aggravating.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/13/2026 12:41 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
Cargo ship strikes bridge between New Jersey and Philadelphia, causing traffic backup UPDATE: damage minor, bridge reopened
[SDUT]Deja Vu, all over again
The collision left the 3,659-foot-long Tacony-Palmyra Bridge unable to close, causing a major backup on the Philadelphia side.
Last time it was the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which collapsed after being struck by the container ship Dali on 26. March, 2024.
Posted by: Frank G || 11/13/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [141 views] Top|| File under: Nut Jobs

#1  Didn't we do this a few years ago? I hate these constant reboots.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/13/2026 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  We did, DarthVader. I added that information to the article.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/13/2026 1:02 Comments || Top||

#3  as of now, no mention of this in Fox News.

I find that interesting.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 11/13/2026 3:48 Comments || Top||

#4  What to know about the cargo ship that took down Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge

Danish shipping giant Maersk had chartered the Dali for a planned trip from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, but the ship didn't get far, with the crew sending a mayday call early Tuesday saying they had lost power and had no control of the steering system. Minutes later, the ship rammed one of the bridge's columns, causing the entire structure to collapse within seconds.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 4:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Re the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge

The collision seems to have done minor damage. The bridge is open now with a lane closed where inspection continues.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 11/13/2026 16:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Thank you, Lord Garth. Do you have a link for that?
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/13/2026 16:49 Comments || Top||

#7  ^ LG's right according to multiple reports
Posted by: Frank G || 11/13/2026 19:23 Comments || Top||


Greta Thunberg laughs at climate protests she started after ditching cause for Gaza: ‘They're still doing that?'
[NY Post] Activist Greta Thunberg broke out into hysterical laughter when she learned that the climate change group she founded was still protesting.

Thunberg looked shocked when she was informed that she was filming a documentary the same day Fridays for Future, which she had formed in 2018 when she was just 15, was holding a protest in Berlin.

"Is it?" she asked, looking surprised before breaking into loud laughter. "Really? They still do that?"

Thunberg’s bizarre reaction came as part of her appearance in "On Tanks into the Climate Crisis How Activism is Criminalised" documentary.

She and her friend continue cracking up, as Thunberg, now 23, yells, "Cut!"

Thunberg recently made news for traveling on a so-called freedom flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza.

Thunberg’s hysterical laughter drew criticism online, with many claiming it was directed at the young protesters who are continuing the demonstrations she began.

"Greta is the OG LARPer, cosplaying a climate activist," one person on X wrote.

"Climate was just the warm-up. Hating Israel is the real job," another user wrote.

The documentarian, Hubertus Koch, described the joke as being "right on the edge," while still hailing Thunberg for her activism fighting climate change and the war in Gaza.





Posted by: Frank G || 11/13/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [102 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1 

Greta Thunberg ---- Oh! what a has been.
Her parents have milked her fame to the
hilt.

But it does also say a lot about the Climate Change Movement followers. Given she was followed by and taken guidance from, despite being an openly stated mentally challenged teen.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 11/13/2026 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2  If you think Greta is a troll (traditional, not Internet), you should see her sister.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 11/13/2026 3:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Grom I prefer to keep my appetite, thankyouverymuch
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/13/2026 9:15 Comments || Top||

#4  The wheels are starting to come off the climate grift. Eventually, Global Warming/Climate Change will be acknowledged as the biggest scientific scam since the Piltdown Man.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/13/2026 9:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Trolls are traditionally from Scandinavia
Posted by: 746 || 11/13/2026 11:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Flitting from one cause to another and then laughing about it seems to be an admission that she is, above all, a shameless attention whore. Forget about her. She's yesterday's news.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/13/2026 12:47 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Reuters: Former Nvidia CEO Huang had a third mistress
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been identified as having a third alleged mistress, with whom he had a close relationship while running the company. Reuters reported this on November 12.

"Attempts to contact the woman were unsuccessful. Nvidia declined to comment," the publication stated.

According to the agency, this concerns another employee of the company.

The personnel changes at the American technology holding company occurred amid a scandal surrounding Huang's personal life. The scandal stemmed from two extramarital affairs he had had—one with an alleged Chinese spy and the other with a company employee.

On November 9, Huang admitted to cheating on his wife of over 40 years. Following this, the company's board of directors announced an independent investigation.

Following the disclosure, Huang's net worth fell by $7.4 billion in a single day. After the close of U.S. trading on November 10, Nvidia shares fell more than 7%. By 1:52 AM Moscow time on November 11, the stock had fallen 7.38% to $160.90. The stock closed up 2.87% to $173.73.

On November 12, Huang resigned. Colette Kress, executive vice president and chief financial officer, became Nvidia's interim leader. She has been with the company since September 2013.

On the same day, US President Donald Trump said that former Apple CEO Tim Cook could take over as CEO of Nvidia after Huang's resignation.

Posted by: badanov || 11/13/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [81 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...When did the poor dear have time to get anything done?

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 11/13/2026 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  He's a Playah don't you know!
Posted by: EMS Artifact || 11/13/2026 13:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Like when Tiger was playing 18 holes away from the home course. How do they have the time??
Posted by: Frank G || 11/13/2026 13:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Can someone send me a copy of his diet ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/13/2026 15:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Why is a body count different for women and men? If a lock can be opened by many keys its not a useful lock. If a key opens many locks, its a master key.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/13/2026 16:51 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Small islands aim to use remittances to fund climate resilience
[Reuters] ANTALYA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - A group of small island states aims to create a fund backed by a charge on money that islanders receive from abroad to eventually raise around $3 billion ​a year for projects to make their nations less vulnerable to climate change.

That would exceed the roughly $2 billion in international public adaptation ‌finance they received in 2021-2022, according to a 2025 study by non-profit research group the Climate Policy Initiative.

Country representatives meeting until the end of next week in the Mediterranean city of Antalya in Turkey for COP31 climate talks are trying to agree ways to increase funding for adaptation to a warming world.

Representatives of Small Island Developing States, or SIDS, have decided ​they cannot wait for the long-running international debate on financing to deliver more help.

"We decided that there had to be a way that we ​can guarantee more reliable sources of funding for the islands," Antigua and Barbuda's UN ambassador Walton Webson said. "We cannot rely ⁠solely on development assistance again."

"What we are now trying to do is create our own."

The SIDS grouping brings together island nations in the Pacific, the ​Caribbean and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea that are particularly vulnerable to the impact of rising sea levels as the planet warms.

Many of them ​also have large amounts of national debt that constrain their ability to invest in protection, such as measures to halt coastal erosion.

Webson said preliminary discussions had taken place with several development banks and a broader meeting with them and SIDS leaders was planned for January to try to make progress by COP32 in 2027.

Their plan would create the first platform to ​use earnings sent by the overseas diaspora rather than international development aid to build a permanent endowment fund for climate resilience.

Total ​remittances from the many islanders who have emigrated were around $22 billion and grew at a compound annual rate of 7% between 2010 and 2023, according to numbers provided by the ‌SIDS group.

It ⁠aims for the planned platform to capture about a third of that total by its 10th year of operation.

Drafted with the help of non-profit organisation, the International Institute for Environment and Development, a first phase would draw on remittances to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Guyana in year one. Fiji, Samoa and Tonga would be included in year two and Comoros, Cabo Verde and Mauritius in year three.

The SIDS platform would charge senders 3% per transaction, lower than average ​costs of around 5% to 9% across ​the markets studied.
The commercial sector ⁠in total charges up to $1.3 billion a year to cover transfer fees and foreign exchange margins, the SIDS document seen by Reuters showed. By contrast, multilateral climate funds approved just $202 million for SIDS in 2023.

After costs, 2 to 2.5 percentage ​points of each transaction would enter the fund, be held as an endowment and invested, seeking base-case returns of ​6.5%. Of the returns, ⁠85% would be spent on resilience measures and the rest held as a disaster reserve.

By year 10, the base-case scenario estimates the endowment would have reached $2.59 billion. Matching grants and other income streams such as tourism levies could take the total to $5.53 billion and generate $306 million a year in distributable surplus.

Leverage through tools such as guarantees ⁠could help ​mobilise up to $3.13 billion a year.

Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr said the small islands that ​did not create the climate crisis are expected to borrow more money to cope with it than those that did.

"This proposal turns that logic around. It takes money that is already ours, already ​flowing home across the Pacific, the Caribbean and beyond, and puts it to work for our own resilience," he said.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 05:00 || Comments || Link || [50 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Their plan would create the first platform to ​use earnings sent by the overseas diaspora rather than international development aid to build a permanent endowment fund for climate resilience.
...
Total ​remittances from the many islanders who have emigrated were around $22 billion and grew at a compound annual rate of 7% between 2010 and 2023, according to numbers provided by the ‌SIDS group.


Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Moving to Ban Migrants on Government Assistance From Wiring Money Outside the Country
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 5:12 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ Hat tip to Bessent. Long, long overdue.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/13/2026 5:19 Comments || Top||


Solar flare activity may drop to zero by November 15
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Solar flare activity may drop to zero by November 15. This was reported on November 12 by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Solar Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

They noted that solar active center No. 4566 is already moving beyond the western edge. Its influence from the current perspective is almost negligible.

"By the end of the week, it will completely move to the far side of the Sun. After that, if nothing new ignites on the star, the flare schedule will objectively drop to zero, since there's nothing active on the star except this region right now," the lab reported on Telegram.

On November 5, specialists discovered one of the largest coronal holes observed in 2026 on the Sun, measuring approximately 1 million km. They warned that solar wind streams from this region could trigger magnetic storms for several days. According to preliminary calculations, the impact could last for about five days, with complete stabilization of the Earth's magnetic field expected by November 13-14.

On October 11, scientists recorded a G3 magnetic storm, the strongest in the past three months. The last disturbance of this intensity was observed on July 4.

Posted by: badanov || 11/13/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [54 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The **Younger Dryas** (YD) was a period of abrupt cooling that occurred roughly **12,900 to 11,700 years ago**, interrupting the general warming trend at the end of the last glacial period.

**Younger Dryas – Quick facts:**
* **Duration:** Lasted approximately **1,300 years**.
* **Temperature:** Central **Greenland** was nearly **14 °C (24.5 °F)** colder than present-day levels; Northern Hemisphere experienced near-glacial conditions.
* **Etymology:** Named after the alpine-tundra wildflower ***Dryas octopetala***, whose fossils are abundant in European sediments from this era.
* **Termination:** Ended with a sudden warming event around **11,600 years ago**, marking the start of the current **Holocene Epoch**.
* **Primary Cause:** The leading hypothesis is a disruption of **thermohaline circulation** (Atlantic meridional overturning) caused by massive freshwater discharge into the North Atlantic, likely from melting Laurentide Ice Sheet lakes.

During the Younger Dryas, significant cooling occurred in the Northern Hemisphere while parts of the Southern Hemisphere warmed and became wetter, indicating large-scale shifts in global atmospheric and oceanic circulation. While the freshwater influx hypothesis is dominant, other theories include impacts from cosmic bodies or natural Dansgaard-Oeschger climate cycles.

Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 12:25 Comments || Top||



A mother bear and three cubs who mauled a woman and her daughter have been euthanized in Canada
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] In Canada, the Wildlife Service euthanized a mother bear and three cubs that had mauled a woman and her daughter. This was reported on November 11 by People magazine.

The predators attacked 48-year-old Jennifer Balcarras and her 20-year-old daughter, Sela Reed, who were taking a walk in the woods on October 31. The mother and daughter did not return home for a long time, prompting other family members to raise the alarm.

Balcarras's remains were found on November 2, and her daughter's the following day. The girl's body was found in a so-called bear cache—a depression covered with branches and earth. Grizzlies typically hide their prey in such caches before eating it.

DNA testing revealed that both women were mauled by a female grizzly bear and her three cubs. A wildlife inspector stated that the animals attacked out of predatory motives, not self-defense. The decision was made to euthanize the bears for the sake of public safety, according to the report.

In July, a bear mauled an elderly couple who were vacationing on McTavish Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. The couple lost contact, and relatives contacted the police. The couple's bodies were eventually found in various locations around the lake, bearing signs of the bear's attack.

About a month earlier, also in Canada, a woman drove off a grizzly bear that attempted to attack her with her piercing screams. The bear had approached the woman and her dog while they were walking in the woods. The woman's screams eventually scared it off.

Posted by: badanov || 11/13/2026 00:00 || Comments || Link || [71 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Euthanizing is big in solving problems in Canada.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/13/2026 6:52 Comments || Top||

#2 

I agree the mother needed to be put down.

But the Cubs' I'd donated to a zoo.

#1^ Procopius2k comment also makes a valid point about socialist headed Canada. If a person isn't good and tax productive for Socialism. They person tends to become dusty
Posted by: NN2N1 || 11/13/2026 7:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Didn't canada just kill a bunch of zoo animals because zoo life is cruel, but so was releasing zoo animals into the wild?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/13/2026 9:43 Comments || Top||


Britain
Britain eyes welfare cuts to tackle surge in youth unemployment
[Reuters] Faisa Omar applied for more than 500 jobs in the UK and got nowhere — a slog she likened to "shouting into the void". It took a 10-week training course, ​tailored to the green energy sector, to finally land her a job within a month.

Her story is one the Labour government hopes to replicate on a much bigger scale, ‌as it prepares to receive a report and proposals next week that would, controversially, restrict youth sickness and disability benefits in order to fund back-to-work programmes aimed at the nearly 1 million young people not in work, education or training.

Britain had 981,000 people aged 16-24 not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the second quarter of this year, accounting for 13% of the age group as a whole and a share that was the second-highest in Europe last year.

Its 15.6% ​youth unemployment rate is also unusually high compared with the 3.4% rate for older workers — elsewhere in Europe, the youth jobless rate is typically only just over double that of older ​age groups.

Former minister Alan Milburn, a party ally of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, warned of a "lost generation" in May in the first part of his ⁠report into youth unemployment.

Disagreement is likely to arise over Milburn's plans for how to fund more back-to-work programmes against a backdrop of stretched public finances, something he addressed in a newspaper interview on Thursday.

"I'm ​not saying that any of this will be easy, or that it will be pain-free," Milburn told the Times. "Candidly, it could mean that some people will get less financial support."

Milburn said earlier this year that ​he wanted to shift the 25-to-1 ratio of spending on benefits versus employment support more towards the latter, and draw lessons from the Netherlands and elsewhere where more young people are in work.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 04:42 || Comments || Link || [45 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "surge in youth unemployment"

We need them b/c there are so many positions we cant fill.
Posted by: mossomo || 11/13/2026 12:25 Comments || Top||


Cyber
Twitter user got banned for revealing exact Haiti gang HQ location, resulting in lethal airstrike by Bukele
[YouTube] The 400 Mawozo is the largest gang in Haiti, mainly based in Ganthier and in the Port-au-Prince suburbs of Tabarre and Pétion-Ville. It largely consists of deportees, former leaders of opposition groups, former smugglers and police officers. In 2022, it aligned itself with "G-Pèp" after its leader was extradited to the United States. It came to international attention in October 2021 when it kidnapped U.S. citizens acting as missionaries in Port-au-Prince. In 2024 it was part of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which at that point controlled up to 90% of metropolitan Port-au-Prince.
Posted by: Angomonter Slosh8600 || 11/13/2026 09:10 || Comments || Link || [68 views] Top|| File under: Mob Rule

#1 
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/13/2026 12:37 Comments || Top||


Microsoft scrambles to restore services as major outage hits users worldwide
[Reuters] Nov 12 (Reuters) - A disruption of Microsoft services such as Outlook, Teams and Copilot stretched into Asia-Pacific business ‌hours on Friday after affecting thousands of US users, as the tech giant struggled to fix server problems it blamed for the outage.

The outage hit government agencies in Australia, Japan and the United States, as well as companies including OpenAI and Anthropic. It is the second disruption to Microsoft's 365 services this year, raising concerns that repeated failures could push corporate clients to question Microsoft's reliability.
EH?
In its latest update, Microsoft said it had applied adjustments to ​the affected servers, but they did not result in sustained recovery. It said it had observed some partial recovery in the regions where it applied the adjustments.
"We're reviewing what additional ​actions we can take to improve overall infrastructure stability," the company said on X.

Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number ⁠of sources, showed more than 18,000 reports of Outlook problems in the US at 11:30 p.m. ET (0430 GMT). It also showed outages for several Microsoft services in the Asia-Pacific region, including India, Australia ​and Japan, early Friday local time.

At its peak, Downdetector showed more than 130,000 reports of Outlook problems in the US around 1 p.m. ET on Thursday. The outage has lasted for about 12 ​hours.

In a service health notice, Microsoft said features of Microsoft 365 services that depended on Exchange Online and email were affected, while elements that did not rely on Exchange Online remained functional. Exchange Online is the company's cloud-based messaging platform that delivers email, calendar, contacts, and tasks.

The company added that it was "not aware" of any malicious activity that was causing the outage.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 04:28 || Comments || Link || [157 views] Top|| File under:


#2  This is a major reason why I hate 'subscription' software.

If primary service dos down, so does my work with no way to access my work.

I much refer to pay once and keep all the works and files locally.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 11/13/2026 4:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Microsoft presses Trump to scuttle ban on Chinese data center tech
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 5:20 Comments || Top||


#5  But my refrigerator and coffee maker are working fine.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/13/2026 5:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Outlook users told to act now as hackers exploit dangerous flaw to steal login data

Microsoft released a fix as part of its November 10 security updates, but affected computers remain vulnerable until the relevant patch is installed.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 5:57 Comments || Top||

#7 

Comcast / Xfinity also had major (but likely selective) planned outages.

They started telling customers calling in, they needed to replace the NON-Xfinity Cable Modems for security reasons.

The ITSEC Gray-hats are openly wondering it may have something to do with the recent A.I. implementations the company has adopted and the New Cable Modem.

"Comcast and NVIDIA announced plans to put AI computing closer to users in Comcast’s network..."

"Comcast and Broadcom ... announced joint efforts to develop the world's first AI-powered access network with a new chipset that embeds artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) within the nodes, amps and modems that comprise the last few miles of Comcast's network....."
Posted by: NN2N1 || 11/13/2026 7:24 Comments || Top||

#8  My workday effectively ended at about 12:30 EST yesterday when (for me) Outlook, One Drive, SharePoint and Copilot all stopped working. I'm off today, but it's still an issue.
Posted by: Chantry || 11/13/2026 9:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Finally came back up around 5am for my work. Started getting phone alerts of people needing things now they could email.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/13/2026 10:18 Comments || Top||

#10  This is why diversity in software is important.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/13/2026 11:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Too big to fail means just plain too big. Time to find another way.

And in an age of multi-terabyte solid state hard drives, who needs a cloud?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/13/2026 12:55 Comments || Top||


#13  Most of us don't really need a cloud, BUT...

It's the technical savvy people that can roll their own storage sysyems. Those of us (most of us sadly) either don't know how or is not inclined to learn, these are the ones that find cloud setups (usually by other techs) handy and are willing to pay for the 'convenience'.

Then there are shopping sites, online menu ordering and the like and those companies are not willing or cannot afford to set up their own IT departments, it's cheaper for them to rent storage and processing time to run their own "internet commerce".

But I agree with Abu Uluque in that if you can, 'tis better to roll your own cloud and storage ststem!
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 11/13/2026 13:13 Comments || Top||

#14  Many years ago a major shipping company asked for a software change. The change was made but not tested in the whole system. When it was installed it found a portion of the software that had not been used. a major part of the whole shipping company shut down for several days.
Posted by: Old Salty || 11/13/2026 17:32 Comments || Top||

#15  @13 "Cloud" is just a fancy word for someone else's hard drive.

"Rolling a local storage system" can be just copying important, irreplaceable data to a cheap multi terabyte external hard drive.

There's nothing more to it than "cp", "copy" or a GUI drag&drop.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 11/13/2026 19:43 Comments || Top||


Economy
Pepsi sends a shocking memo to employees
[The Street] PepsiCo (PEP) North America plans to cut about 1,000 jobs across its North American operations over the next week, according to a Nov. 9 letter to employees from CEO Ram Krishnan, CNBC reported.

The letter described a goal of building what Krishnan called a "stronger, more future-fit business that delivers industry-leading growth." PepsiCo wants to better connect teams across its North American operation, which runs both its beverage and snack businesses.

The memo did not say which roles would be cut. But the timing tells part of the story.

PepsiCo has been struggling with weak demand in the United States and Canada, and the job cuts signal that management has decided the situation calls for more than price adjustments and marketing spending.

What PepsiCo’s memo told employees

Krishnan’s letter, as reported by CNBC, did not name the specific roles or divisions that would lose positions. PepsiCo has not issued a public statement beyond what the memo contained. The company employs about 125,000 people in the United States, according to a company filing, and roughly 306,000 globally.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/13/2026 11:29 || Comments || Link || [79 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shocking, as in drinking Pepsi can give you diabetes? As in you're actually better off drinking beer or iced tea or plain old water?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/13/2026 12:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice looking model though.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/13/2026 12:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Carbonated corn syrup. Crap we no long even use as beekeepers.
Posted by: Woodrow || 11/13/2026 18:09 Comments || Top||

#4  I like Pepsi Sugar Free on a very occasional basis. No cals and not metallic-tasting like Diet Pepsi (same with Diet Coke). Tastes like the original back in the day. Yeah, I know, artificial sweeteners, but my A1C is below 5
Posted by: Frank G || 11/13/2026 19:28 Comments || Top||


Europe
Dutch government set for talks to stave off collapse after wealth tax row
[Reuters] AMSTERDAM, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Rob ​Jetten will try to save his minority government from collapse in a meeting with coalition ‌partners on Friday, after a heated debate over wealth taxes exposed deep divisions a day earlier.

Jetten's three-party coalition threatened to fall apart less than 9 months after its installation, as parties bickered over a deal with the left-wing opposition to support a ​2027 tax plan in exchange for a slight increase of wealth taxes.

The right-wing, pro-business VVD had ​vehemently opposed this amendment to the original tax plan, while Jetten's centrist D66 and ⁠the Christian Democrats endorsed it.

In its resistance to the proposal, the VVD ultimately voted against its own ​government's tax plan, only to see it reach a narrow majority with the support of opposition parties.

VVD leader ​Ruben Brekelmans said the result of the vote was "disillusioning", and would force his party to seriously reconsider its position.

A break with the VVD would likely be the end of the minority government led by Jetten, who became in February the youngest prime ​minister in Dutch history.

After the vote, Jetten said he would do all he could to hold his ​coalition together and would seek "a new start" in Friday's meeting with the leaders of the VVD and the Christian Democrats.

Not truly new information, just a reminder of what the mainstream parties — but not Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) — consider acceptable:
Dutch Jewish leader tells ‘Post’: ‘If you’re visibly Jewish in Holland, you have a real problem’

[Jpost] Speaking ahead of the EJA’s delegation to Auschwitz, Ellen van Praagh warned there may be no Jewish life in Europe in 20 to 30 years if leaders look away.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 04:46 || Comments || Link || [36 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Ancient tunnels beneath famous Hagia Sophia explored after 3,000 tons of debris cleared
[FOX] Archaeologists have removed roughly 3,000 tons of debris from a centuries-old network of underground tunnels beneath Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia — revealing previously inaccessible passages beneath one of the world's most historic religious landmarks.

The findings were announced by archaeologist Hasan Fırat Diker at a presentation this fall in Istanbul, as local outlet Türkiye Today reported.

The tunnels have been undergoing excavation and clearing work since February 2025, allowing researchers to explore sections that were previously buried beneath mud and debris.

During the Oct. 16 presentation, Diker said the roughly 1,600-year-old tunnels were built by the Romans and originally functioned as part of the city's water distribution and drainage network, while also providing a protected underground space.

Some of the underground structures predate the present-day Hagia Sophia, which was completed in 537 A.D. under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

Although the underground network has been known for decades, much of it has remained difficult to access, and the ongoing excavation work is allowing researchers to examine previously buried sections of the historic site.

Diker's research has shed new light on the intricate network, which he compared to a modern subway system, Türkiye Today said.

The tunnels were designed to carry rainwater from surrounding streets into the sea, according to Diker.

Researchers have cleared nearly 558 feet of an underground route connected to a fifth-century Roman street, which extends from the Sarayburnu area toward Little Hagia Sophia, Diker said.

He said his team had cleared both the upper and lower sections of an ancient underground burial complex discovered in 1946, excavating an additional five feet beneath it.

The burial chambers predate the current Hagia Sophia; they had accumulated large amounts of mud over the centuries, according to Diker.

Hagia Sophia — which means "Holy Wisdom" in Greek — served as a major center of Eastern Christianity for nearly 1,000 years until Ottoman forces conquered then-Constantinople and converted the church into a mosque in 1453.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 11:55 || Comments || Link || [38 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
SpaceX investing more than $74 billion in new supercomputing facilities
[FOX] SpaceX announced this week that it's investing more than $74 billion into supercomputing facilities in Texas and Arizona.

"We’re advancing two extraordinary projects: a major new supercompute facility at Starbase in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and a second campus in Cochise County, Arizona," the company said.

"Together, they represent more than $74 billion in planned American investment, thousands of new jobs, new power and water projects, and the opportunity to transform regional economies while advancing technologies that will benefit humanity," it added.

The company said in the Rio Grande Valley project, SpaceX is "planning to invest more than $24 billion in new supercomputing infrastructure, building on the more than $15 billion already invested in Starship and related infrastructure at Starbase.

"The new project has already generated more than 3,000 construction jobs and is expected to support more than 500 permanent jobs once operational," according to SpaceX. "The facility will generate its own electricity without drawing power from the public grid.

"In Cochise County, Arizona, we’re pursuing a roughly $50 billion supercompute campus expected to create approximately 5,500 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs," it also said. "Working with local electric cooperatives, the project aims to strengthen regional energy infrastructure, leverage existing renewable resources, and potentially reduce electricity bills for cooperative members by up to 20% while using dry cooling with no planned industrial groundwater consumption."
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/13/2026 11:44 || Comments || Link || [39 views] Top|| File under:


#2  "The new project has already generated more than 3,000 construction jobs and is expected to support more than 500 permanent jobs once operational," according to SpaceX. "The facility will generate its own electricity without drawing power from the public grid.

Elon Musk to announce Jensen Huang will head up the efforts at both Starbase and Cochise County. Official ceremony to be announced soon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/13/2026 15:44 Comments || Top||



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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2026-11-12
  Opening of a new missile city in Iran
Wed 2026-11-11
  Iran-backed terror suspects plotted attack on US troops using vans packed with fuel, DOJ says
Tue 2026-11-10
  European Union says Iran hacked cooling systems in 700 supermarkets in France, raising freezers and fridges as high as 80°C
Mon 2026-11-09
  Iranian Houthi militia is losing nearly a thousand of its fighters every day
Sun 2026-11-08
  CENTCOM launches Task Force Iron Gate to block Iranian weapons and illicit shipments
Sat 2026-11-07
  Iran-linked ships spotted over critical undersea internet cables
Fri 2026-11-06
  Defiant Iran claims fresh tanker attacks as Tehran celebrates Republican election defeat
Thu 2026-11-05
  Bomb threat targets Haifa-bound Israeli cruise ship docked at Greek island
Wed 2026-11-04
  Brace for Impact: 2026 House Results: Democrats Win Control
Tue 2026-11-03
  In several strikes in northern Gaza Strip: IDF eliminates four Hamas terrorists who advanced terror plots
Mon 2026-11-02
  Nearly 1,200 migrants cross English Channel in four days after weeks-long pause
Sun 2026-11-01
  Insurrection: Violent Paris protests draw 70K people as Molotov cocktails hurled at cops, US and Israeli flags burned
Sat 2026-10-31
  Coup rumors in Poland: Polish president turns back mid-flight amid court 'coup d'état' claims
Fri 2026-10-30
  Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down several US MQ-9 / MQ-1 drones over the Strait of Hormuz


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