ED138: Newly Discovered Dwarf Planet

ED138's orbit relative to the other Solar System dwarf planets (Image source). A year on ED138 lasts approximately 282 Earth years. 

Related: 

Bright object beyond Pluto may be the solar system's sixth dwarf planet

NASA To Put Humans on the Moon in 2028: How Dopey Is That?

NASA is aiming to put astronauts on the lunar surface in "early 2028" — just 24 months from now.

But why?

We asked Google, which said:

to establish a sustained human presence, counter geopolitical competition, and use the lunar environment as a testing ground for future missions to Mars

Which sounds dopey.

Why send humans to the Moon or Mars when all the exploration, construction, or flag raising that you want to do can be done with robots that don't need oxygen, are vastly more resistant to radiation than humans, and which don't require the complex and hugely expensive facilities necessary to maintain humans in a high-radiation vacuum where teperatures range between 250 F above zero and 250 below.

Related:

Martian Exploration and Exploitation

Musk's Mars Delusion

Musk's Mars Delusion

Elon Musk has rockets for which he seeks profitable payloads. Hence his advocacy for a Mars colony of one million peoplee to be created within the next 40 to 100 years.

Question is, how will one million people raise the cash to purchase the ticket that will get them to Mars and what will they do to make a living once they are there?

Colonizing Mars won't bear much relation to the European colonization of the Americas or Australia during the late 19th and early 20th Century, Then, for ten bucks, anyone tired of Europe could reach the New World in relative safety aboard an ocean-going liner. Be caught stealing a chicken, and from Britain to Australia it was a free ride.

In America, there was government land for purchase at just a buck twenty-five an acre. That is fertile land. Land with trees from which to build a cabin, and land, once cleared of trees, to plant a garden or raise some corn. In Australia, at the only price most could afford, emancipated convicts could get 30 acres of government land for free.

Mars is a different proposition. The cost of getting there will be a huge barrier. Musk is talking of a one way trip for a few hundred thousand dollars. At that price the cost of access would largely preclude colonization by exactly the dynamic and adventurous young people needed to create a new world.

What's more, the air on Mars is almost non-existent and what there is of it is poisonous.

And the light isn't the best. Twice the distance from the sun as Earth, sunlight on Mars delivers only one quarter the energy per unit area as on Earth. But unlike the Earth, Mars has no significant ozone layer to filter out the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. So, on the Red Planet, five-minutes at the beach is about as long as you could spend without serious sunburn. That's if there were a beach which there is not, Martian surface waters having long since evaporated to be either lost to space or become locked up in the polar ice caps. Also unlike Earth, Mars lacks a magnetosphere to deflect high energy Cosmic rays and energetic particles from the Sun that pose a major risk to human health.

So what exactly is the attraction that will draw Musk's million to Mars? The land? Hardly. Perchlorates, which are toxic to humans and poisonous to plants, account for up to one percent of the soil mass. So where are Musk's million gonna live and what will they eat? Food, either imported from Earth or grown hydroponically in air-conditioned capsules with artificial light will be expensive -- very.

You can't grow cucumbers under a 60 watt light bulb. At a distance of ten feet, the light from a 60 Watt incandescent lamp has an energy of about 0.05 watts per square meter. Here on Earth, in the temperate zone, midday sunshine on a June day is about 20,000 times brighter -- a difference you hardly notice because the human eye has such an amazing adaptive capacity. And to grow crops you absolutely need sunlight or the equivalent, not lamp light just enough to read by.

Thus, in addition to other astronomical costs in establishing a colony, Musk will need nuclear plants on Mars to provide the power to light the lamps with which to grow the food to feed his Million. That's unless Walmart or Amazon Fresh extend service to the extra-terrestrial community. But the cost would be, well astronomical: $2.49 for the cuke, plus something in the thousands per kilogram for shipping.

But let's hear it from Elon. How's this million-person martian colony going to work? What is the economic basis for this wonderful world on an alien planet where the air, what little there is of it, is poisonous, where sunlight burns exposed flesh in minutes, where it never rains, and where the soil is letbal to plants?

The reality is that Mars is a Hell of a place to live. The air and soil are poisonous; the year-round global mean temperature at the equator is zero Celcius; there are no surface waters; and there is no obvious means to earn a living. Exploration of Mars may provide limited employment for a few geologists, but any resources worth extracting for export to Earth can be located with robots. As we've discussed elsewhere, tourism appears to be the only economic basis for hauling humans to Mars.

Related:

Martian Exploration and Exploitation

NASA To Put Humans on the Moon in 2028: How Dopey Is That?

Leonard Susskind: Why Mars Is a Death Trap

The First Apollo Moon Landing

Martian Exploration and Exploitation

How China, the United States, India, or the European Union go about exploring Mars, assuming that they do, remains to be seen, but the obvious choice would seem to be with humanoid robots.

The simplest mission would likely require three ships. One to carry a nuclear power plant, the second to carry an artificial intelligence system (AI) plus an automated system for the analysis of rock and soil samples, the third to carry a stack of humanoid robots, plus various tools including a drilling rig and one or several buggies for operations far from the landing site.

The robots, equipped with visual and auditory sensing systems, and controlled wirelessly by the AI, would explore the planetary surface, collecting soil and rock samples, and using the drilling rig to explore for sub-surface water or ice and other resources. Soil and rock samples, and any samples of water or ice extracted from drill holes would be returned to the landing site for analysis.

Beyond that, if the sampling mission revealed the existence of potentially economic resources such as uranium, gold, or diamonds, more detailed surveys in the most promising areas might be undertaken. Depending on survey results, the mission might be followed by missions for industrial scale extraction of resources for return to earth with or without local processing.

Besides resource extraction, Mars would seem to have little to justify further investment, unless it were to be developed as a tourist destination. For a few hundred thousand dollars a seat, Elon Musk has indicated he's ready to ferry tourists to the Red Planet, a price that many of the super rich would no doubt think reasonable for an out of this world experience. In that case, some billionaire entrepreneur would surely build the first Martian resort hotel, with pressurized rooms, and five star catering, albeit with room rates that would make the Paris Ritz or Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace seem dirt cheap by comparison.

Related:

Musk's Mars Delusion

NASA To Put Humans on the Moon in 2028: How Dopey Is That?

In a World of Humanoid Robots?

This video, of robots building robots should scare you:

These robots receive no salary and live on nothing but a few hundred watts.

They need no home, and can be stored in a closet.

They generate no medical bills, and rarely need more than an occasional oil and lube job.

So, in a world of humanoid robots controlled wirelessly by a nuclear powered supercomputer, who will need you?

Shyster Musk Joins Trump in Attack on Canadian Sovereignty

Montreal Gazette: Prime Minister Mark Carney has rebutted Elon Musk for publicly backing the separation of Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan from Canada.

“The future of Canada will be decided by Canadians, and the priorities of Canadians, the priorities of the people of Quebec,” Carney told reporters in Quebec on Thursday. 

Carney referred to his government’s 43 Quebec MPs, some of whom stood next to him. “The priorities are affordability, social justice, including what we just discussed on homelessness, building a strong Quebec within a strong Canada, and a strong Canada that means more independent, more sovereign, more prosperous, obviously. 

“But also so we can live our lives as we choose in Quebec, in Canada, that respects our languages, our culture, our way of life, and free from interference from foreign governments and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do.”

Related:

Musk: Sociopath

Musk Planning the Genocide of Humanity

Trump ready to trade Los Angeles and a few million American lives for a genocidal win against Iran

Nobel Prize Winner: Trump Is a Psychopath:

Desi Lydic: How Trump Will Have America Respected Again

And: Trump's Fight With ABC Interviewer Over Photoshopped Image

Is Trump, um, maybe, just too old for the job? I mean, this is the guy with access to the nukular codes.

Bad Canada's Been Screwing Witless Americans For Ever

U.S. President Donald Trump's war of words with Canada continued Wednesday as he veered off a prepared script at an event marking Hispanic Heritage Month in the States to chastise Canadian leaders for being what he called "very bad."

Speaking at the White House, Trump said the U.S. was "stupidly run" before he got the job because past leaders allowed automakers to move assembly plants offshore, including to Canada.

Actually, Donny Boy, Canada has had a large-scale domestic auto manufacturing industry since 1904, developing at roughly the same time as the one in the U.S. Read more

Henry Seth Taylor's Canadian-Built 1867 Steam Buggy:

1896: The Fossmobile: The First Canadian-Built Gas-Powered Automobile

And since the Fossmobile, Canada has, so Google says, produced a cumulative total of 80 to 100 million vehicles. So Donny boy, try to get the facts about Canada straight rather that being a total blatherskite.

Science Magazine, NATURE, Trashed for PC Jason Arday BS

By Jerry A. Coyne

Jason Arday and the Corruption of Science

The Chronicles of Higher Education: One of the more distressing changes in science is its infection by politics and ideology, a change visible in what I call “journal creep.” Until recently, the primary function of scientific journals was to disseminate research. Now, however, many journals have adopted an additional mission: promoting ideological, moral, or political positions. This newer mission, which endangers not only the reputation but also the practice of science, is seen clearly in a recent editorial in one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, Nature.

The Nature editorial centers on the tragic story of Jason Arday, a sociologist who at 37 became the youngest Black full professor ever appointed at the University of Cambridge. In July, it was revealed that Arday had plagiarized significant portions of his Ph.D. thesis at Liverpool John Moores University. This in turn prompted extensive investigations by the press. What they found was not pretty: more evidence of plagiarism, falsified research, fabricated claims on his curriculum vitae, and, most striking, a breathtaking record of biographical fabulism.

Arday claimed he appeared on TV shows he was not on, ran multiple marathons he did not run, and had extreme autism that has not been substantiated. (Arday said he did not speak until he was 11 and couldn’t read or write until he was 18.) Arday also said he received racist threats that couldn’t be verified and suffered multiple bouts of cancer (also not verified). The Times of London reported that Arday stole another researcher’s data (as well as quotes that the researcher obtained in interviews), publishing them as his own. If true, this is wholesale academic fraud.

Read more

Trump Wreaks Havoc on the Canadian Whey and Molasses Industries

DJT, the American Emperor, is good and mad at Canada, and he's lashed out by banning Canadian imports, including motorcyles which, according to Google, Canada does not produce:

Canada does not have mass-market factory production for traditional gas-powered, two-wheeled motorcycles.

And in yet another stern measure, Trump's sticking a 50% tarriff on Canadian whey products and molasses imports. Meaning there's gonna be hardship and suffering in the Canadian whey products and molasses industries.

But wait, does Canada even produce molasses. I mean isn't molasses produced from sugar cane that doesn't do well in the sub-Arctic?

Meantime in response to Donald Trump's trade action, Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, said: “We have everything we need to pivot and prosper.”

Right, we'll just have to consume the whey and molasses ourselves. Someone will surely come up with a molasses flavored wheyshake. Could be a winner.

In explanation of the Administration's action, a senior Trump official stated: "These are things that we are doing in order to level the playing field, defend American production and take action against one of the only countries on the planet to retaliate against the United States."

Yeah, right. See those whimps in China, India, the EU, they all go on meekly swilling back the US whey and molasses, in return for which the US continues to allow the import of Byd's and BMW's, plus electrical and electronic equipment, gold and diamonds.

In fact, Trump's action seems too late if it's meant to crush the Canadian economy. Canada has already signed 40 new trade deals with nations throughout the World.

No doubt Canadians will be sorry if they have to do without Coke or cornflakes, popcorn or peanut butter. But I'll take an Australian meat pie instead of a hamburger, although I'll pass on the Vegemite and will be sorry to do without the Mayo and ketchup.

On the bright side, Trump's term will be up in little more than 24 months, after which US:Canada relations may take a turn for the better. 

It's true, Trump would like somehow to get a third term. However, if Congress enacted legislation to allow it, Trump might very well find himself in an election contest with none other than Bill Clinton, also eighty years old and, like Trump, under current law barred from seeking a third term. In such a contest, how many Americans would pick the decidedly overweight Trump over a sprightly and still sharp witted Clinton? For sure, in such a contest, Trump would take a battering, which would be interesting to watch.

Related

Carney WARNS, Trump will FAIL in HURTING & OWNING Canada

Donald Trump's Crackpot Economic Raving

On Truth Social Trump posted:

“Canada’s Dollar imbalance with the U.S. is unacceptable,”

By which he means the Canadian dollar at around 70 cents US is too cheap.

Trump continues:

“It has been that way for years - but no longer!”

Oh yeah?

What's the economic genius gonna do about it?

Um, well, he could use America's currency reserves to buy Canadian dollars. That would raise the price of the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar. 

Thing is, what would Trump then do with the accumulated Canadian paper?

Hoard it?

Burn it?

Either way, that would be fine with Canadians. 

It would mean despite all the stuff we're gonna buy with the American dollars Trump used to buy Canadian dollars, we wouldn't have to supply anything in return..

Alternatively, 

Other than buying Canadian dollars to destroy them, there is no way to raise the price of the Canadian dollar relative to that of the US dollar other than for Americans to buy more Canadian stuff. 

So what would Trump like Americans to buy more of?

The Canadian hydro-electricity that keeps the lights on in New York and of which more is soon to come on stream?

Canadian tar sands oil to add to the million barrels a day for which American refineries are specifically designed to process? 

Canadian lumber which already accounts for about a third of all lumber used in American home construction?

Canadian-built Bombardier executive jets, which already have half the US market?

Canadian potash in addition to the million tons a month the US currently buys of this fertilizer essential to the productivity of American farms?

Oh, and Canadians could help President Trump raise the value of the Candian dollar by spending less on American stuff: Gulfstream executive jets for example, Hawaian vacations or California wine. 

What's not for Americans to like about that? 

The fact is Trump is a whining economic illiterate. 

The free, fair and international market in currencies says the Canadian dollar is fairly valued against the US dollar at whatever the price is that it trades at now. 

The fine people of the United States deserve better of their national leadership than Trump's blatherskite ranting about the US of A being ripped off by sneaky Canucks. 

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30 senior US doctors declare president Trump mentally unfit

The British Medical Journal: Thirty US psychiatrists and other doctors specialising in mental health have signed a statement declaring President Donald Trump mentally unfit to serve, warning that his ability to launch nuclear weapons is a “danger” to the world.

The signatories say that Trump’s behaviour over the past year has shown “objectively observable signs of serious medical concern.”

They cited examples of his “marked deterioration in cognitive functioning,” “episodes of apparent somnolence during critical public proceedings,” “severely impaired judgment and impulse control,” and “significant loss of self-control,” as well as “grandiose and delusional beliefs, including assertions of infallibility, imagery of himself as Pope suggestive of a divine mission.”

The doctors called for Trump’s immediate removal from office, arguing that he presents a “clear and present danger” to the whole world.

“It is our expert opinion that Donald J Trump is mentally unfit to be the president of the United States and …

View Full Text

Related:

Former US Ambassador to Canada: Trump is mentally ill

Trump the Bullshit Peace President Waging War on Multiple Fronts Now Focusing on Canada

 WASHINGTON – Six months into the war U.S. President Donald Trump launched on Iran, the conflict is at an impasse, and the American leader has switched his campaign for global dominance to a new target – Canada.

CBC News: The National: Trump Takes Aim At Canada

What tariffs will really cost Canadians and Americans

Ottawa Couple's Lake Ontario Hats Selling Like Hot Cakes

Carney on Trump's Moronic Law to Rename Lake Ontario

 The Hill: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday rejected President Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” explaining the history of the Great Lake’s indigenous name in a post on social media.

“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” Carney wrote on the social platform X.

He noted that the name had been used for more than 400 years, predating the Canadian Confederation and the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Read more

Trump: "I love French Canadians". But do "French Canadians" love Trump?

Not much, according to Gemini:

Broadly speaking, no. Polling and demographic data consistently show that Quebec is the most anti-Trump province in Canada, and French Canadians generally view Donald Trump far more unfavorably than the rest of the country.

While Canadian public opinion as a whole leans negative toward Trump, the sentiment is particularly pronounced in French-speaking Canada due to several distinct factors.

1. Cultural and Ideological Differences

Quebec’s political culture leans significantly more social-democratic and secular than the political environment of the U.S. Republican party.

• Secularism & Social Policy: French Canadians generally support robust social safety nets, universal healthcare, state intervention, and secular public institutions. Trump’s brand of right-wing populism, closely tied to American religious conservatism, tends to alienate the average Quebec voter.

• Environmental & International Views: Issues like climate policy and international multilateralism carry strong support in Quebec, contrasting sharply with Trump’s "America First" platform and skepticism of global agreements.

2. Protection of French Language & Cultural Sovereignty

Language and identity are central to French-Canadian political life. Trade disputes between the U.S. and Canada—especially when they touch on cultural protection laws—frequently inflame tensions.

For instance, American trade complaints regarding Quebec laws designed to promote French-language discoverability on digital streaming platforms (such as Bill 109) and strict French labelling rules (Bill 96) have created friction. When U.S. policy is perceived as challenging Quebec's cultural autonomy or language protections, public approval of the U.S. administration drops sharply.

3. Economic Impact of Tariffs

Quebec’s economy relies heavily on exports to the United States, including aluminum, forestry products, manufacturing, and hydroelectric power. Proposal or imposition of cross-border tariffs generates economic anxiety in the province, making his trade policies widely unpopular among workers and business leaders alike.

Where Minor Support Does Exist

While overall sentiment is hostile, Trump is not without a small base of support in Quebec:

• Alternative Media & Conservative Circles: A vocal minority within right-leaning political movements, independent media outlets, and conspiracy-adjacent communities in Quebec echo populism similar to the MAGA movement.

• Protest Dynamics: During events like the 2022 trucker convoy protests, elements of U.S.-style populism gained a foothold among anti-establishment groups in Quebec, though this remains a fringe sentiment compared to the broader electorate.

While Donald Trump has occasionally declared affection for French Canadians, polling and public sentiment consistently demonstrate that the feeling is not mutual across the majority of Quebec and French-speaking Canada.

Related:

Canada to Trump: GFY

The US empire today, with its “banana republic” finance and leadership

The Dumbest Trade War In History

 The Wall Street Journal: President Trump will fire his first tariff salvo on Saturday against those notorious American adversaries . . . Mexico and Canada. They’ll get hit with a 25% border tax, while China, a real adversary, will endure 10%. This reminds us of the old Bernard Lewis joke that it’s risky to be America’s enemy but it can be fatal to be its friend.

Read More

The Formula for Success

Success depends on going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm

Winston Churchill

Is Trump the Dumbest US President Ever?

Trump's Bullshit Promises

Trump Up Shit Creek in the Strait of Hormuz

Trump Support Among Blacks: 12%

Trump Crashes Into Reality

Carney Turned Down Trump’s Last Offer

US Pauses Iran Assault for Lack of Ammo

US Overwhelmed By Iranian Missile Assault

Trump's Iran War Hypocrisy

The Great Canadian Hot House Tomato

Warm, straight from the vine in a sun-filled greenhouse, a tomato of the right variety can be a delight. 

Such were the bowlful of small, warm fruit given us by the keeper of Vancouver Island's Cape Scott lighthouse which my son and I reached at the end of a  23 kilometer hike over a deeply muddy, wndfall-crossed trail from the San Josef Trailhead in 1990's. 

Unlike the produce of that remote greenhouse, the modern commercial tomato is a sight to behold. For color ans size it would surely win first prize. But there, delight in the commercial tomato ends. This fruit of such splendid appearance is almost entirely withou flavor of any kind. The thing is all show and no benefit. It is little more than a water-filled bladder. To be precise, it is ninety-four point five percent water according to Google, although by my own determination, admittedly on only one specimen, the water content is a full 95%. But either way, a water content of ninety-five percent, or only ninety-four point five,  leaves little room for flavor -- or nutrition. 

To speak plainly, the great Canadian hot house tomato is a dud. It is a fraud. it is a water-filled bladder masquerading as food. With tomatoes here on the West coast selling in June at $3.95 a pound, the cost of non-aqueous components of the Great Canadian Hot House Tomato is around one hundred and fifty eight dollars a pound. Let me repeat that, just in case you buy tomatoes on the assumption that your purchase represents actual food. Other than the large quantity of water that is held amazingly firm within the polished red skin, the dry matter constituents of the Great Canadian Hot House Tomato amount no more than 5% of your purchase. Of that 5%, sugars account for about half, pectins and cellulose (neither of which have any nutritional value) contributing most of the remaining non-aqueous mass. In addition there are miniscule quantities of proteins, fats and minerals, plus around 25 milligrams of Vitamin C 

So now, if you've ever wondered why supermarkets usually devote much space to the display of tomatoes, the reason should be clear. The Great Canadian Hot House Tomato has to be among the most profitable ways yet devised of selling what is, in nineteen out of twenty parts, nothing but water.

Can Solar Panels Bring Rain to the Desert?

German scientists just found that a solar farm bigger than 20 square kilometers could start brewing its own rain over the desert, and they’re now hauling laser equipment into the UAE to prove it. Read more

A Problem With Higher Education? No Problem: Abolish the Universities

British Academia is in a panic. The money is running out. As spelled out a long article in the London Review of Books:

Britain’s​ ‘world-leading’ university system is in deep trouble. There are, inevitably, conflicting diagnoses of the malady, but the indicators of deteriorating health are too ubiquitous to be ignored. When a substantial number of universities are in serious financial jeopardy, with some hinting at possible bankruptcy in the short term (according to the Office for Students, some 45 per cent of ‘higher education providers’ will face a deficit for 2025-26); when the viability of universities is heavily dependent on attracting large numbers of international students whose fees make up between a fifth and a third of their income and whose recruitment is vulnerable to the slightest twitch of governments’ anxieties about immigration; when nearly every week brings news of fresh closures of courses and redundancies among academics, especially in the humanities; when some of the subjects that have long been regarded as among the staple offerings of any university worthy of the name are now in danger of becoming extinct or confined to a handful of privileged institutions; when one in four UK physics departments are thought to be at risk of closure and when research council funding of the physical sciences may in some cases be reduced by as much as 30 per cent in proposals that are said to threaten ‘generational destruction’ in those fields  Cont'd here

Universities, as today's students experience them, are being made increasingly redundant by the AI-connected internet. In the 12th Century, if you wanted to learn anything technical, historical or literary, you needed a human instructor. In that case you went to Paris, where there were scholars who made a living tutoring young aristocrats.  In emulation, a similar academic world emerged in Oxford. From those beginnings blossomed a thousand universities. 

But what need is there now for bricks and mortar institutions of higher education? Need to know something? Just ask Gemini or another AI and it will give you an outline. Need more details, the AI will oblige. True, the university method of education with periodic exams compels students to pay attention, but there are other ways of getting someone's attention --  like job interviews that are combined with knowledge tests. 

Today, universities are defended by academics intent on protecting their comfortable life-style, and young people who feel entitled to three or four or five or six years of undergraduate social life. Some may say that unversities provide an opportunity for young people to learn at the direction of scholars. But that is no reason to fund expensive institutions of higher learning. If students want academic direction in a world without universities, independent academic advisors will no doubt emerge to fill that need. 

 So what does it matter if all the universities go bankrupt? It will save taxpayers cash that they can spend on self-education.

AI Declares Humanity Doomed -- By AI

Anthropic calls for pause of global AI development

Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic

In a World of AI, What Need For People?

Artificial intellegence can make robots walk, talk, serve coffee, drive a car, dignose what ails you, or shoot to kill. So, in the future, what need is there for people? At present, folks of flesh and blood have the edge. The enormous cost of raising and training the existing workforce has already been paid, whereas the production and programming of robots to take their place remains to be undertaken -- but it will be.

And it's already happening as blue collar roles are assigned to robots. Thus as Google reports:

Robots are moving beyond basic factory assembly lines to handle intricate physical logistics and unstructured environments.Warehousing & Logistics: Robots are deployed for picking, lifting, sorting, and packing operations.Manufacturing: Standard welding, material handling, and quality control.Retail Operations: Automated check-outs, inventory-scanning robots, and robotic restocking systems.Hospitality & Food: Robotic arms are assisting with burger flipping, line cooking, and automated room service deliveries.

Artificial intelligence and robotic process automation (RPA) systems easily replicate rule-based information handling.Data Entry: Digital process automation handles data extraction, keyboarding, and database population.Finance & Accounting: Bookkeeping, payroll processing, and entry-level financial analysis are highly exposed to automation.Customer Service: Virtual assistants and AI chatbots handle Tier-1 queries, appointment scheduling, and basic sales qualification.Legal Support: Document review, standard contract analysis, and paralegal research are frequently offloaded to AI platforms.

What that means is that employment opportunities for humans will begin to disappear: slowly at first, then rapidly.

Already, the initial decline in paid employment has begun. Since 2016, hours worked by adult males in Canada have decreased by one hour per week amd will decrease by more than an additional hour over the next ten years. That's on average. For some, automation will eliminate the opportunity for employment entirely.

During the next decade the pace of AI implementation in the workspace will accelerate. Thus, for example, you will most likely soon be saying good-bye to your doctor's receptionist, and quite likely the doctor as well. Much cheaper than a human receptionist will be an AI-linked video camera, microphone and speaker. This system will identify and greet patients as they arrive and direct them to a cubicle where, in response to computer-generated prompts, they will state the reason for their visit and display any visible symptoms of whatever ails them to an AI-linked camera. In most cases, the AI will diagnose the condition and supply a remedy at least as skillfully as a GP, but at much lower cost.

Likewise, in most other trades and professions, AI will create widespread redundancy. Children will learn at home, and at their own pace, from AI terminals. Bright kids will have the opportunity to reach university entrance level before reaching their teens. Schools will shrink, as will opportunities for teachers. Some schools may replace teachers entirely with AI terminals, the role of staff then being solely to keep the electronics running and the children safe and disciplined.

But this will be only the beginning. In a time that will be short in generational terms, AI, in combination with robots, will assume virtually all human functions. What then the use of people without economic value? None, so it will be judged by the elite who will endeavor to ensure that non-elite and unproductive people rapidly disappear from the face of the Earth. Elimination may be achieved in various ways, but a one-child policy is a near certainty, with economic incentives that encourage a no-child choice.

What remains obscure is how national elites will interact with one another in the now dawning age of AI. Will they form an international consortium to manage the replacement of the common man with robots, or will they raise vast robotic armies in a contest for global supremacy. However, things turn out, one thing is clear: history has yet to reach its end.

Related:

One In Three American Men No Longer Working

The Futility of Mars Colonization

Surging European migration to North America in the late 19th and early 20th Century was driven by the low cost of New World farmland and high New World wages. Mars offers neither farmland at any price nor high wages. The land is sterile, the air is poisonous, the weather, which is both cold and perpetually dry, is punctuated by gigantic dust storms. As for wages, there are none, as any work to be done on Mars will be done by robots guided by artificial intelligence. Thus there is no reason for anyone to go to Mars other than to boast of having been there. The chief economic significance of Mars will be as a tourist destination for the super-rich.

But some people dream of terraforming Mars, which means making it a truly Earth-like planet, albeit rather cool, Mars being twice as far from the Sun as the Earth and thus receiving only one quarter as much solar radiation as Earth per unit of ground area. Terraforming means giving Mars an Earth-like atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere weights 16 pounds per square inch of ground area, or ten tons per square meter. Mars has a surface are of 144 million square kilometers, so to give Mars an Earth-like atmosphere would require the addition of ten million tons of air per square kilometer, or 144 trillion tons for the whole planet.

On Earth, compressed air costs about 100 USD per ton. At that price, enough air for an Earth-like atmosphere on Mars would cost about one point five trillion USD, or just over one percent of global yearly GDP. So, yeah, we could afford to provide Mars with an atmosphere -- that's if we knew where to get the air. Taking that much air from the Earth would probably cause folks to complain, riot even. And then there's the cost of shipping. Currently, that would mean paying SpaceX ten million dollars a ton for delivery, or about ten thousand times the cost of the freight to be delivered.

But if your dream is to climb the Martian peak, Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system, there may be no need to await the terraforming of the planet. You could do it now so long as you don't mind sweating inside a bulky space suit. As for reaching the mountain, for somewhere between ten and 100 million dollars Elon Musk will likely be happy to provide you with Earth-Mars return transportion.

The Pope Exposes Trump's Lies

Has any prior pope ever called out a U.S. president for lying?

Has any prior president ever repeatedly, publicly falsely accused a pope of taking positions antithetical to Catholic teaching?

It would be hard to overstate how unprecedented this situation is. It’s hard just to fathom it.

At least four times in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has implied or outright stated that Pope Leo XIV approved of Iran having a nuclear weapon. “The Pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon,” he claimed in an April 16 exchange with a reporter. No such statement, needless to say, existed, and this false claim was immediately debunked both by Catholic sources and by a mainstream media outlets.

Yesterday, May 5th, Trump doubled down on his preposterous falsehood:

Read More

Sergey Bryn and Larry Page: Profiting from Lies

Gemini, Google's AI,  acknowledging that Sergey Bryn and Larry Page deliberately profit from lying Youtube videos:

"In essence, while they aren't writing the "lies" themselves, they have designed and maintained a corporate architecture where the propagation of high-engagement content—regardless of its truth—is one of the most efficient ways to grow their personal wealth."

Sixty Percent Of French Voters Believe They're Witnessing 'A Replacement Of They're Own Population By Non-Europeans'

They're right. 

And the other forty percent would agree if they'd ever been to Paris in the last 30 years.

Meantime, Austrians are replacing themselves with people of an alien race and religion 

Colonel Douglas Macgregor: Iran's Chinese Missiles Destroy an Israeli Naval Force

But is this true. I don't see a report on the destruction of an Israeli Naval force in the New York Times, the Washington Post or other MSM outlets. So is this just a Google DupeTube lie? In that connection, if you have a relevant news link, please submit it in the comments below. 

Iran Threatens To Attack If The Blockade Is Not Lifted – Will Newly-Acquired Chinese Missiles Be Used To Sink A U.S. Aircraft Carrier?

The U.S.Admits It Attacked Iran 'At The Request Of Israel'

An official government press release on the U.S/Israeli war on Iran released by the Trump White House outright admits that the Trump administration went to war with Iran at the “request” of Israel. The official government press release states, “the United States is engaged in this conflict at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally”.

Read more

Why should Americans die (thirteen so far) or be maimed (300 so far) for Israel?

Jewish Genocide Now

Tamir Pardo, former Mossad Director, commented after observing Jewish settler violence against the indigenous Palestinians in Israel's West Bank:

“My mother is a Holocaust survivor, and what I saw here reminded me of the events of the previous century against the Jews”.

What he's saying is that Israeli Jews seek the destruction of the entire indigenous Palestinian nation in the same way that Adolph Hitler's Nazis attempted to murder all of Europe's 9.5 million Jews. And as a former head of Israel's intelligence agency, Tamir Pardo must certainly know what he is talking about.

Iranian Drones Destroy Israeli Tank Division

But no one to see the video, which keeps being deleted:

Ai Assessmen via Googlet

Meantime, Trump's Insult Ends US:Canada Trade Relationship (Or Is This YouTube Video Report Fabricated Nonsense?):

Trump's Iran war even more unpopular than Vietnam war

Next: Trump’s war: the kind of military misadventure that ends empires

Tucker Carlson to Trump: You Have Failed

Trump’s war: the kind of military misadventure that ends empires

Asia Times

by Alfred McCoy

April 26, 2026

History’s lessons are unsparing about what Trump’s micro-military fiasco is costing a country already in imperial decline.

Writing more than 2,000 years ago, the Greek historian Plutarch gave us an eloquent description of what modern historians now call “micro-militarism.”

When an imperial power like Athens then, or America now, is in decline, its leaders often react emotionally by mounting seemingly bold military strikes in hopes of regaining the imperial grandeur that’s slipping through their fingers.

Instead of another of the great victories the empire won at its peak of power, however, such military misadventures only serve to accelerate the ongoing decline, erasing whatever aura of imperial majesty remains and revealing instead the moral rot deep inside the ruling elite.

There is mounting historical evidence that America is indeed an empire in steep decline, while President Donald Trump’s war of choice against Iran is becoming the sort of micro-military disaster that helped destroy successive empires over the past 2,500 years — from ancient Athens to medieval Portugal to modern Spain, Great Britain, and now the United States.

Read More

Related:

Trump Backs Down from His Boasting and Blustering about Iran’s Defeat

Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander the Great—And Trump

Donald the God

Next: Trump's Friend Who Offed Himself (Apparently)

Trump's Friend Who Offed Himself (Apparently)

Next: Canada Exists Not Because of, But In Spite of, America