Blessed Are the Peacemakers

 5/9/26 BBC:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he thinks Russia's conflict with Ukraine is coming to an end, addressing reporters after a scaled-back military parade in Moscow marking the Soviet victory in World War Two.

"I think that the matter is coming to an end," he said, referring to the "special military operation" in Ukraine, while condemning Western support for the Kyiv government.

Russia's annual parade lacked the usual display of tanks and missiles, due to security concerns as authorities feared Ukraine might target Red Square with drones.

A last-minute ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by US President Donald Trump, reduced the danger of any attack and the parade passed off without incident.

Of course, Putin has talked peace before and it meant nothing. But if Trump's efforts lead to peace, the Democrats will lose it even more than they have already 

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More Packaging Crimes

I ordered an eight pound counterweight recently.  A box arrived about the right size but way too light:

After digging through brown paper wrapping paper and a packing list:

Yes, 5 stainless steel setscrews that could have been mailed in a tiny padded envelope.

Things That AI Is NOT Good For

Anything mechanical. If SuperGrok or ChatGPT was gven control of a robot their lack of mechanical sense and inability to accurately read manufacturer manuals and diagrams would destroy vast numbers of cars, generators, turbines, hand tools,:and houses the first day.

I think jobs for historians and blue collar workers remain safe, for the moment. AI  is, i think, the dot-com bubble of the 2020s.

Oh yes, and too much of, "Use a bigger hammer."

I Need a Very Short Piece of 3" Aluminum Rod

I mean under 6". I do not need a foot of it. Ideally somewhere near by. I have looked at Big Box and hardware store web sites. I am going to replace the knobs on my refea 

The Amazing Autism Increase

5/9/26 Fox News quoting North Carolina auditor:

Boliek is sounding the alarm on potential waste, fraud, and abuse within the state’s Medicaid program, specifically calling out in an interview with Fox News Digital a 47,000% explosion in autism therapy billings that he has flagged since taking office last year. 

"Those are vital services to folks and individuals that need that therapy," Boliek said. "But when you have, like in North Carolina, a system that went from $1.4 million or so in total billings for autism therapy to more than $660 million a year in billings on autism therapy within a five-year range, that begs an audit from the state auditor, who in North Carolina, we are the top watchdog agency for taxpayer waste, fraud, and abuse prevention. So we've dug down into that or in the middle of that."

There has long been concern that additives have caused the dramatic increase in autism. I think i see a more likely reason.

AI Hallucinating: Why AI Will Not Be Replacing Us Soon

 A student turned in a paper that cited The Puritan Moment: The Influence of Protestant Thought on Early American Political Culture (Oxford University Press, 1998). Worldcat.org cannot find it in any library worldwide; books.google.com has not heard of it; a general Google search does not find it. There is a similarly titled book: William Hunt, The Puritan Moment: The Coming of Revolution in an English County (Oxford University Press, 1983).