Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

Got home last night about 9pm from a cardiology appointment in Las Cruces (all is fine, annual EKG monitoring me). I pull in to the driveway, then into a path so I can turn around and back in to the carport. I back in so I won't have a problem pulling out if it snows, not that it may ever happen here again.

And when I pulled into the path, something scampered away - BUNNY!

At first I thought it was a cat or raccoon, as those are normal for the area. In my two decades up here, I can't recall having seen any BUNNIES up here, but sure enough it started hopping away! Thus applying my powers of deduction, I concluded it wasn't a kitty or raccoon.

I mentioned it to Russet, and she reported seeing one on the neighbor's property, perhaps we may have a warren in the area. I'm a little surprised as I'd think that coyotes and raccoons would make quick work of one and a population wouldn't be very viable up here on the mountain.

The bill passed the Commons 314-291 and now goes to the Lords, and I don't have a clue what happens there.

The bill is fairly simple in operation. If you have a terminal condition and six months to live, you have the right to end your life. Two doctors go before a three-person panel who must approve your application, and that seems to about it. The original legislation had the two doctors going before a judge, fears of further clogging up the judiciary had them change it to the panel. No information on how the panel is constituted.

Canada, Spain, New Zealand, most of Australia, and clinics in Switzerland support assisted dying, along with the USA states Oregon, Washington, and California.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/20/uk/uk-assisted-dying-commons-vote-gbr-intl

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/06/20/1354239/lawmakers-in-britain-narrowly-approve-bill-to-legalize-assisted-dying

The European Union, on top of France's recruiting efforts, is investing €500 million to lure displaced/disaffected American scientists to the other side of the pond. France has a head-start, having begun their program pretty much as soon as the Ketamine Kid and his goon squad started axing programs. The EU amount is about $570m USD, I'm not sure how many jobs that represents. What they need to do is relax visa restrictions to allow people to move without having direct job sponsorship: give them longer to find employment if they can't fall in directly to their recruitment program.

This paragraph makes me wonder if this program replaces the French program:
"The plan, originally proposed by the French government, also proposes creating long-term “super grants” for outstanding researchers, to provide them with financial stability; these would last for seven years. The program also plans to double the amount of financial support available this year for those who decide to move to the European Union."

I'm not really clear on the matter. But since they're not likely to be looking for telescope operators, we're not likely to fall into this program.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/05/europe-launches-program-to-lure-scientists-away-from-the-us/


Japan's program is throwing a cool ¥100 billion ($693 million) into the program. Meanwhile, Great Britain is throwing a whopping £50 million ($67 million) to attract top talent!

I can see Japan increasing their spend as they have a serious population problem: a shortage of young families with children. By bringing in more scientists, they may well give extra priority to those that might shore up that base, giving long-term benefit to the country.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/16/japan_has_a_yen_for/

Brian was the last of the three Wilson brothers, Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums. The other two members of the Beach Boys, Mike Love - a cousin - and Al Jardine, are still alive.

Brian has been in a medical conservatorship for the last year. Trouble with alcohol and drugs probably accelerated things. He met his last wife at a car dealership where she was working, which began a chapter where it was found that Wilson's psychiatrist was exploiting him and his finances, eventually resulting in a restraining order. When his wife died, Wilson entered into a decline, finally culminating in the conservatorship.

There's so much that can be said about The Beach Boys and their influence on music and various groups and musicians, and their being a core for surf/beach music in the '60s. I spent a few hours tonight revising a bunch of my Beach Boys music for my band in Lord of the Rings Online and adding some more songs to my catalog, I think I'll be performing them tomorrow night in an impromptu concert as I need to do some testing on my band as I've been having some system problems.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-wilson-beach-boys-dead-1234810073/

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/brian-wilson-beach-boys-visionary-165711806.html

And here's the first trailer!



It won't be out until late this year, and there is a possibility that it will see theatrical release!

https://gizmodo.com/guillermo-del-toros-frankenstein-has-its-creepy-first-trailer-2000608830

GO, PAKISTAN!

It's always lovely to see these arrests take place in countries where you don't expect them to happen.

This particular ring, who operated the Heartsender malware service, are accused of stealing more than $50mil from U.S. businesses over the last decade and are under investigation in the EU for more theft. Their package was advertised as undetectable to malware/anti-virus systems and used to trick businesses to make money transfers to criminals.

Great malware, lousy opsec (operational security).

The guys apparently thought that Pakistan was totally fine with their running a big cybercrime operation with no consequences. And perhaps they were, I don't know if other countries 'encouraged' Pakistan to get serious about shutting down people like this or what.

This is where it starts getting good...

"Mr. Shahzad ['alleged' head of the group] was named and pictured in a 2021 KrebsOnSecurity story about a series of remarkable operational security mistakes that exposed their identities and Facebook pages showing employees posing for group photos and socializing at work-related outings.

...

Sometime in 2019, The Manipulaters failed to renew their core domain name — manipulaters[.]com — the same one tied to so many of the company’s business operations. That domain was quickly scooped up by Scylla Intel, a cyber intelligence firm that specializes in connecting cybercriminals to their real-life identities. Soon after, Scylla started receiving large amounts of email correspondence intended for the group’s owners."

Like I said, sloppy opsec.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/05/pakistan-arrests-21-in-heartsender-malware-service/

Yep, we now have a new jet. The decision came from Upon High to accept the "donation", and it is now parked in San Antonio while the Air Force and Boeing decides what to do with it.

Would you like to know what a tricked-out 747-8 looks like after it took four years to plan and refurbish? Look no more, just click on the link below!

https://www.businessinsider.com/qatar-boeing-747-plane-trump-air-force-one-photos-interior-2025-5


Apparently Secretary of Defense Otis Hegseth (shout-out to the Andy Griffith Show) gave the order to accept the offer. It isn't in the below Newsweek article, but SecDef Otis said that the donated plane's remediation should be done in a way that should not "unduly impact" the delivery of the two new AF1's on order from Boeing and due to be delivered around 2029.

ROFLMAO!

One of the things delaying that delivery date is the difficulty in getting workers screened for their security clearances. And now there's a THIRD 747 that's going to require a massive refit before it can be put into service for use as an Air Force One that is going to further strain that clearance chain. Not to mention they still have to maintain the TWO EXISTING AIR FORCE ONE 747s!

Yeah, it won't unduly impact the delivery of the ordered planes in the slightest. And to quote Wayne's World, monkeys might fly out of my butt.

https://www.newsweek.com/hegseth-update-qatar-jet-trump-air-force-one-2074837

And remember, they're making government smaller and more efficient and saving money!

My heart is always lighter and my smile brighter when something like this happens.

Pardoned by El Presidente four months ago, he was arrested after being confronted by the home owner while breaking into someone's house. He fled, but was caught by police a short distance away, and is now being held pending charges, bail hearing, court appearances, all that good stuff.

He was one of the most violent J6 rioters and had an extensive criminal record prior to that event, including "...past arrests for residential burglary, grand larceny, assault, disorderly conduct, and vandalism". He was sentenced to eight years prison to be followed by 36 months supervised release. He was convicted of eight felonies and three misdemeanors.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capitol-rioter-zachary-alam-arrested-burglary_n_682c7b6ae4b0dc52ee2c8505

If a mailer is trying to send more than 5,000 emails a day to Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or Live.com email addresses, and the server is not configured to standards, Microsoft is going to block the emails from going through their networks with an error message. Yahoo and Gmail have been doing this for some time.

Specifically, "... (the) SPF record must clearly identify which IPs can send on your domain’s behalf. DKIM must sign the message with a valid key. And DMARC needs to be published, with alignment to either SPF or DKIM. Preferably both. Without all three in place, Microsoft will silence you."

This will make it harder for fly-by-night spammers to get messages through as they often do not have top-shelf IT people supporting them. It will also cause problems for legitimate mass mailers who use third-party email providers who also do not have top-shelf IT people who may be a little soft on their mail server configuration.

But this is the price paid because scammers are determined to make sure that we cannot have nice things.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoftdefenderforoffice365blog/strengthening-email-ecosystem-outlook%e2%80%99s-new-requirements-for-high%e2%80%90volume-senders/4399730

https://betanews.com/2025/05/05/microsoft-email-blocks-start-may-2025/

https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/05/05/1817247/microsoft-cracks-down-on-bulk-email-with-strict-new-outlook-rules

The jet that Our Beloved Leader is so keen on accepting? Let's ignore the accepting gifts from foreign kings and all that for the moment.

He never stopped to wonder why they're so eager to get rid of it.

If he'd looked around, he would have seen that pretty much none of the Arab countries are flying the 747-8 jets. Why?

1. COST. $23,000 PER HOUR. It's a big effing plane, consumes a huge amount of fuel and requires a lot of maintenance. That plane has logged a little over 1,000 flight hours over the last five years - it's a yard bird! And yet it still costs money because it has to be stored and maintained and insured or it'll fall apart!

2. Size. Monster big heavy jets are very limited in where they can go. Monster big heavy jets require very long and wide runways to take off and land on. The royals are going to Gulfstream 5s and narrow-body jets that have a lot more options as to where they can travel to.

3. This particular jet is coming up on major maintenance. Currently it is due to have its front landing gear taken apart for major maintenance and inspection. The engines are also coming up on their complete tear-down and inspection. These are VERY costly procedures.

4. They can't sell it. There is no market for selling planes like this, it is described as "illiquid". The only use for 747-8s is for cargo, and this one cannot economically be converted for freight: you'd have to rip-out all that bling, reinforce the entire fuselage, cut a monster big hole in the side, recertify the fuselage as airworthy, and then you'd be able to use it for cargo transport. Probably cheaper to buy a used 747-8 that was built for that purpose.

I'm pretty certain he'll accept the bribegift. After all, his Attorney General said it's okay! And she should know, she was a paid lobbyist for Qatar, earning over $100,000 A MONTH for doing that. And he may refuse to let the military/Boeing modify it to bring it closer to the standards needed to be a proper Air Force One plane, because doing so would cost tens/hundreds of millions of dollars and take a lot more time than He would have patience for, and would also delay the two new AF1 jets further. He's going to want it NOW NOW NOW like the toddler that he is.

The Qataris fund Hammas. And the Huthis. And are pretty much allies with Iran. And now they're building a multi-billion dollar Trump golf course/resort in their country.

Qatar gets rid of a boondoggle that costs them money. They get to curry favor with the "Leader of the Free World". It is an absolute win/win situation for them.

Yep. No conflicts of interest to be seen here.

The NJ.com article excerpts from the Forbes article, which may be paywalled.
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/05/turns-out-the-jokes-on-trump-when-it-comes-to-that-qatari-jumbo-jet.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2025/05/14/qatar-747-trump/