Kall of Duty kreator kroaks in Kalifornia kar krash
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Respawn Entertainment co-founder and studio head Vince Zampella, one of the creators of the Call of Duty franchise, died in a sports car accident in Southern California. This was reported on Monday, December 22, by NBC4.
"A vehicle traveling southbound left the road and crashed into a concrete barrier," the television channel reported, citing the California Highway Patrol.
Zampella, 55, was driving a Ferrari when it veered off the winding Angeles Crest Highway in the San Gabriel Mountains. Police say the collision caused a fire, and the driver was unable to escape. A passenger, ejected from the car, later died in the hospital.
Zampella previously served as CEO of Infinity Ward, the studio behind the Call of Duty series, and later headed Respawn Entertainment, the creators of games such as Titanfall and Apex Legends.
#1
I went to high school north of Boston. Needing a translator to understand people in Lawrence is not that extreme.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/23/2025 5:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
According to the Daily Wire, Lawrence is over 82% Hispanic. Also, Hizzoner came over from the Dominican Republic in the early 1980s, first settling in New York City before moving to Lawrence in 1989, so the fact that he required his personal assistant to translate for him in court is shocking if the need last Friday was real rather than tactical.
We have all seen the Porch Pirate Boxes blowing up with dyes and etc on those stealing packages.
NOTE: Spoke a buddy that occasionally works around ATF.
It seems there have been a few arrested for the builders of those that actually used real exploding boxes.
But seems most are nothing more that AI created videos.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Magnetic storms of varying severity are possible on Earth in the coming days due to the impact of a large coronal hole on our planet. This was reported on Monday, December 22, by the press service of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to scientists, signs of solar wind flow impacting Earth from a coronal hole formed on the Sun were detected approximately a day earlier than expected. Moreover, the fast solar wind, including that affecting our planet, originates primarily from the equatorial regions of coronal holes.
The laboratory clarified that the hole, which is located in the center of the solar disk, covering the southern and part of the northern hemisphere of the Sun, has a particularly complex shape.
"For this reason, the geomagnetic forecast for the coming days is quite unstable: both moderate disturbances are possible if plasma streams from the central part of the hole, where large ruptures are observed, reach the planet, and prolonged storms of around G2 level are possible if a plasma stream from the above-located region of 'solid blackness' descends into the plane of the planet," the laboratory's Telegram channel states.
On the morning of December 12, two solar flares of the penultimate M-class occurred. The first was recorded at 08:05 Moscow time and lasted 24 minutes, the second occurred at 08:44 Moscow time and lasted 26 minutes.
[FoxNews] Report claims China accelerating military buildup with Beijing on track to exceed 1,000 warheads by 2030.
President Trump’s people need to get with Israel’s engineers to get the Gold Dome defenses up and running before China starts getting itchy fingers near triggers.
China has reportedly loaded more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles into three newly constructed silo fields near its border with Mongolia and shows little interest in arms control talks, according to a draft Pentagon report seen by Reuters.
The assessment underscores Beijing’s accelerating military buildup, with the report saying China is expanding and modernizing its nuclear forces faster than any other nuclear-armed power. Chinese officials have repeatedly dismissed such findings as attempts to "smear and defame China and deliberately mislead the international community."
The Pentagon declined to comment when contacted by Fox News Digital about the Reuters report.
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he may pursue denuclearization discussions with China and Russia. The Pentagon report, however, concluded that Beijing does not appear inclined to engage.
"We continue to see no appetite from Beijing for pursuing such measures or more comprehensive arms control discussions," the report said.
According to the assessment, China has likely loaded more than 100 solid-fueled DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missiles into silo fields near the Mongolian border. While the Pentagon had previously disclosed the existence of the silo fields, it had not publicly estimated how many missiles had been placed inside them.
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report did not identify potential targets for the newly loaded missiles and could change before it is formally submitted to Congress, U.S. officials said.
China’s nuclear warhead stockpile remained in the low 600s in 2024, reflecting what the report described as a slower production rate compared to previous years. Still, Beijing is on track to exceed 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
China says it adheres to a nuclear strategy of self-defense and maintains a no-first-use policy. But analysts say Beijing’s public messaging increasingly contradicts that restraint.
"For a country that still advocates a policy of ‘no-first use,’ China has become increasingly comfortable showcasing its nuclear arsenal, including parading its nuclear triad together for the first time in September," said Jack Burnham, a senior research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
No hint of who dunnit, apparently, but so many possibilities, including Antifa and Russia.
[AnNahar] A suspected cyberattack knocked La Belle France's national postal service and its banking arm offline Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments at the height of the busy Christmas season.
The postal service, called La Poste, said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, "rendered its online services inaccessible." It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package and mail delivery.
At a Gay Paree post office decked out in holiday garlands and usually bustling this time of year, employees turned away frustrated customers lining up to send or retrieve packages, including Christmas gifts.
Customers of the company's banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the application to approve payments or conduct other banking services. The bank redirected approvals to text messages instead.
"Our teams are mobilized to resolve the situation quickly," the bank said in messages posted on social networks.
[AAPS] The public has been bedazzled by the ascendancy of artificial intelligence (AI). It has the seemingly magical ability to chat with humans in every language, know more than any human expert, write poems and scientific reviews, create realistic images, compose music, and even program computers!
The optimistic narrative promises utopia with simultaneous huge profits for companies adopting AI and "post-scarcity abundance" benefiting society. A pessimistic counter-narrative warns about a dystopian future (https://tinyurl.com/nrubfz59), with catastrophic unemployment (tinyurl.com/5xt49c7k) and the possible extinction of the human race.
These grim predictions might become reality in the distant future. But the immediate dangers of AI stem from basic economics: massive capital expenditure chasing speculative future returns. More than a trillion dollars has been poured into AI, and 83% of companies say that AI is a top priority in their business plan. International Data Corporation (IDC) projects that AI solutions and services will generate about $22.3 trillion in economic impact worldwide by 2030, equivalent to roughly 3.7% of global GDP (https://tinyurl.com/murb4ta3). But so far investors have realized only about $30 billion in returns.
The largest planned AI datacenter in the world will be Fermi’s Donald J. Trump Project Matador campus near Amarillo, Texas. [formerly, a lovely place]
It will be consuming twice the power to run New York City. It has yet to sign up its first tenant, and reported a net loss for the first 9 months of 2025 of $332 million (tinyurl.com/szvtzntw).
[BEAgov] Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2025 (July, August, and September), according to the initial estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8 percent.
Due to the recent government shutdown, this initial report for the third quarter of 2025 replaces the release of the advance estimate originally scheduled for October 30 and the second estimate originally scheduled for November 26
-------------------------------
Of course this is just a 1st estimate. Still it is good news. Positive economic growth but not so fast as to discourage the Fed from reducing the Federal fund rate.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/23/2025 08:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1753 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Typical adjustment from the 1st to the 3rd estimate is about 0.5%.
Of course this time there is a data gap because of the shutdown so I wouldn't be surprised at an adjustment of up to 1.0%.
But even a 3.3% wouldn't be too bad (it is above the long term average over the past 50 years). I would, however, be alarmed if the final was 5.3% as that would show overheating in the economy and the Fed would slam the brakes on monetary easing.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/23/2025 12:51 Comments ||
Top||
[FoxNews] Grok will be deployed across systems serving 3 million military and civilian personnel by early 2026
The Department of War announced Monday that the Pentagon is partnering with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem to deploy Grok across its government systems.
The agency said the "frontier‑grade" capabilities of xAI’s Grok family of models will be integrated into the department’s recently launched AI platform, GenAI.mil.
As soon as early 2026, the partnership will allow the Department’s 3 million military and civilian personnel to safely access more advanced AI tools for everyday tasks, including handling sensitive government information. That's next week!
According to xAI, its tools can support administrative tasks at the federal, state and local levels, as well as ‘critical mission use cases’ at the front line of military operations.
"Today, the War Department officially entered into an agreement with xAI, paving the way for the deployment of its advanced capabilities on GenAI.mil," the department said. "This move builds on the rapid deployment of cutting‑edge AI across the Department's 3 million military and civilian personnel."
The tools will allow employees to use xAI safely on secure government systems for routine work, including tasks involving sensitive but unclassified information, without violating security protocols.
With xAI designed to analyze real-time data, the War Department said the partnership would give personnel "a decisive information advantage."
Grok will give personnel access to live information from X, providing the War Department with faster situational awareness around the globe, the department said.
[AnNahar] Thailand and Cambodia will resume talks later this week to work toward a more durable ceasefire along their border, Thailand's foreign minister said Monday, stressing that progress depends on detailed bilateral negotiations rather than public declarations that internationalize the dispute.
A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by U.S. President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Monday after an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
While Cambodia has publicy said it is ready for an unconditional ceasefire, Bangkok never received any direct proposal and Thailand believed such statements were aimed at increasing international pressure rather than resolving the issue, Sihasak said following the meeting that was arranged to seek ways to end the crisis.
The general border committee involving both nations will meet Wednesday to iron out detailed measures toward a lasting ceasefire, he said.
"This time, let's thrash out the details and make sure the ceasefire reflect the situation on the ground and the ceasefire is one that really holds, and both sides are going to fully respect the ceasefire," Sihasak told a news conference.
The border conflict escalated into deadly combat two weeks ago and derailed the agreement promoted by Trump, which ended five days of fighting in July. The agreement was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through under pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. The ceasefire was formalized with more detail at an October regional summit in Malaysia attended by Trump.
The fighting has drawn international concern. The U.S. Department of State on Sunday released a statement calling for Thailand and Cambodia to "end hostilities, withdraw heavy weapons, cease emplacement of landmines, and fully implement the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords, which include mechanisms to accelerate humanitarian demining and address border issues."
The fighting is a result of a dispute over patches of territory claimed by both nations along their shared border.
The latest round of fighting began Dec. 8, a day after a border skirmish maimed two Thai soldiers. Since then combat has broken out on several fronts, with Thailand carrying out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Cambodia with F-16 fighter jets and Cambodia firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets from truck-mounted launchers that can launch up to 40 rockets simultaneously.
More than three dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in the past week of fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced, according to officials.
Under the October truce Thailand was to to release 18 Cambodian soldiers held prisoner and both sides were to begin removing heavy weapons and land mines along the border. But the two countries have carried on a bitter propaganda war with minor cross-border violence.
Land mine explosions have been a particularly sensitive issue for Thailand, which has lodged several protests after alleging Cambodia laid new mines that maimed soldiers patrolling the frontier. Cambodia insists the mines were remnants of its decades-long civil war, which ended in 1999. How long do landmines remain active after being planted?
"These were clearly newly planted landmines, and this was confirmed by the ASEAN observer team," Sihasak said Monday, calling it a "clear violation" of the October agreement.
The Thai navy said Sunday one of its marines on the front line sustained serious injuries to his right leg from stepping on a land mine.
The navy also claimed to have discovered a large number of abandoned weapons and explosive ordnance while securing an area described as a Cambodian stronghold, which showed "deliberate planning and intentional use of anti-personnel landmines" against Thai troops.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said it would send letters of protest to Cambodia and Zambia, the current chair of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, also known as the Ottawa Convention, to pursue further action under the convention's mechanisms.
Cambodia did not immediately respond to the Thai claims.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...
