Administrivia.
Wheatie’s Watching.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. <<< T H I S.
2. No running with scissors.
1. No food fights. (Launching dinner rolls encouraged.)
AI stuff posted, requires a link. Please use spoiler, for longer posts.
Wolf Speak. No obnoxious behavior towards fellow QTreeper(s). Freedom of Speech is honored here QTree. But Do Know, every poster, IS personally responsible for what they post.
KK
If nothing follows, KK below, Night Shift, your nickel.
Fresh Stuff. May be worth a read, listen, or scroll on by.
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APMEX https://www.apmex.com Bitcoin https://www.bitcoin.com/
Prices pulled last evening. Gold $4,238.40. Silver $56.67. Bitcoin $90,922.
Silver jumped up. Bitcoin recovering. More Bitcoin thoughts further in the daily.
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American Stories. (A series)
The White House Salute to America 250 Task Force has partnered with Hillsdale College to provide a history series that tells the remarkable story of American Independence.
It will highlight the stories of the crucial characters and events that resulted in a small rag-tag army defeating the mightiest empire in the world and establishing the greatest republic ever to exist.
This is the story of America. This is our shared heritage and our proud destiny that will continue to lead us to unimaginable achievements in the centuries to come.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/america250
The Story of America: The Formation of the Army
13:29
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Articles.
Chiefio Only one Chiefio this week.
>>> Yup. Chiefio’s thoughts on Bitcoin and a video. Did not listen to the video. Guessing it’s Bitcoin centric.
Bitcoin – No I’m not in it – advocate POV
This guy is a Hard Core Bitcoin Advocate
And no, I own no bitcoin. Full disclosure: In about 2010 I set up a bit coin miner on a R. Pi in a hotel room while working “on the road” as a computer “rent a guy with brains” aka “consultant”. It never found a single bigcoin and that likely colored my opinions. I personally find the idea of “digital assets” foreign. I prefer gold, silver, and platinum (natures limited assets 😉 and they have done well for me. BUT: I missed the entire Bitcoin ramp from about 25¢ per coin to now about $100,000 (modulo swings of 50%).
Do I regret it? Nope. There is no inherent value in Bitcoin or any other artificial scarcity “asset”. Like cards for “Magic the gathering” it is a social construct, not a real thing. I have a blindness to that. Just can’t get interested in things that are “social constructs” as I am obligatory Reality Centered. Yes, you can make a lot of money out of the idiocy of it; but I can’t and won’t. I see it as an entirely artificial construct from the start and “just can’t go there” due to the risk of people just changing their minds about it.
So no, I don’t “endorse” this guy. BUT he does give me insight into “them” and their behaviours.
He’s a hard core bit coin advocate and at about 18 minutes pushes a “digital wallet”. Whatever. His observations about Chase bank and Mr. Diamond are interesting and likely have some worth. To what extent is our world owned and manipulated by TLAs? Things to ponder.
More…
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Another Bitcoin.
>>> Fortunately, Texas bought low. (Unless Bitcoin dive again.)
Bitcoin ETF? Blackrock? Everything about this stuff smells, to Slow Guy.
Texas Takes First Step Toward State Bitcoin Reserve with $5 Million ETF Purchase
Texas has invested $5 million in a bitcoin ETF as an initial move toward establishing the first state-based crypto reserve in the U.S.
CoinDesk reports that Texas has purchased $5 million worth of shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) exchange-traded fund (ETF). The investment, confirmed by a spokesman for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, serves as a placeholder as the state continues working toward directly holding bitcoin in its own reserve.
The purchase comes after Texas passed legislation earlier this year, appropriating $10 million to fund the creation of a state-managed bitcoin stockpile, known as the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. As part of the process, Texas recently concluded an information-gathering phase, soliciting input from the crypto industry on best practices for implementing and managing such a reserve.
While Texas is not the first state entity to invest government funds in a crypto-based ETF, with states like Michigan and Wisconsin having previously allocated pension fund money to similar investments, it marks a significant step toward a state directly holding and managing its own cryptocurrency reserve.
More…
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>>> What Could Go Wrong?
Rainmaker seeks to refill depleted Great Salt Lake
“Rainmaker, a US startup, is attempting to use cloud seeding to increase snowfall in Utah, thereby replenishing the Great Salt Lake,” reports The Doomslayer.
The Great Salt Lake is severely depleted, about 500,000 acre feet below its threshold.
Snow Brains says that
Rainmaker is a company that increases snowpack by utilizing cloud seeding and operates over the course of the winter to increase snowfall by about 10-20%. This fall, Rainmaker will commence the largest American cloud seeding program in modern history. Its operations in the Bear River Basin, the largest watershed feeding the Great Salt Lake, will increase water supply and support drought resilience in Utah, Idaho, and other Western states….
In Utah, the state receives 95% of its water supply from snowpack during the winter, and cloud seeding can be a game-changer. Therefore, Rainmaker targets maximizing this snowpack, linking winter recreation to spring and summer water needs, with campaigns like “Save Our Snow” and “Snow to Stream Flow.” By increasing Utah’s snowpack, it not only brings more snow to the slopes at ski resorts in the winter, but it also provides more sustainable drinkable water in the summer for farmers, cities, and communities.
Parker Cardwell of Rainmaker says its “main focus is to increase snowpack, which is the same snow that we’re skiing on in the wintertime, and is the same water that you’re drinking in the springtime.”
Rainmaker uses drones and advanced radar in its system to increase snowfall.
More…
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>>> About that Chinee / Japanese spat in the news a couple weeks ago…
Trump, After Call With China’s Xi, Told Tokyo to Lower the Volume on Taiwan
Japan, a U.S. ally that had angered China on Taiwan, found the message worrying
Chinese leader Xi Jinping was angry, and President Trump was listening.
Days after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi outraged China by suggesting a Chinese attack on Taiwan could mobilize a Tokyo military response, Xi spent half of an hourlong phone call with Trump, people briefed on the matter said, hammering home China’s historic claim to the democratic self-governing island as well as Washington and Beijing’s joint responsibility to manage the world order.
Later the same day, Trump set up a call with Takaichi and advised her not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty, said Japanese officials and an American briefed on the call. The advice from Trump was subtle, and he didn’t pressure Takaichi to walk back her comments, those briefed on the calls said.
The Japanese officials said the message was worrying: The president didn’t want friction over Taiwan to endanger a detente reached last month with Xi, which includes a promise to buy more agricultural products from American farmers hit hard by the trade war.
Asked about the exchange with Takaichi, the White House issued a statement from Trump to The Wall Street Journal: “The United States relationship with China is very good, and that’s also very good for Japan, who is our dear and close ally. Getting along with China is a great thing for China and the U.S. In my opinion, President Xi will be substantially upping his purchase of soybean and other farm products, and anything good for our farmers is good for me.”
More…
https://archive.is/5YvYR#selection-891.0-921.461
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>>> Drones…or more like commandeered pigeons.
BIRD BRAINED SCHEME
Putin’s scientists launch chilling squadron of remote controlled spy pigeons fitted with brain implants
The tech firm has already tampered with cow brains in a bid to boost milk yields, now it’s time for pigeons
VLADIMIR Putin’s scientists have launched a squadron of remote controlled spy pigeons fitted with brain implants.
A Kremlin-backed Moscow neurotechnology firm boasts its operators can steer flocks across the sky by zapping signals directly into their brain.
Russia’s sick “bird-biodrones” codenamed PJN-1 are ordinary pigeons surgically implanted with neural chips that allow technicians to direct their routes.
Field tests are being carried out using birds with electrodes inserted into their brains connected to tiny solar-powered backpacks containing onboard electronics, GPS tracking, and a receiver.
Russian tech firm Neiry chillingly claims “no training is required” and birds can be steered remotely in any direction.
Neiry claims the birds can fly 310 miles a day, or more than 1,850 miles in a week on spy missions but bigger birds may soon be weaponised.
More…
https://www.the-sun.com/news/15557255/putin-scientists-launch-chilling-remote-controlled-spy-pigeons
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>>> Good news…
Trump: South Africa to be excluded from 2026 G20 Summit
President Donald Trump has announced that South Africa will not receive an invitation to the 2026 G20 Summit, which is set for December in Miami, Florida, at his Trump National Doral resort.
Trump tied this to the U.S. boycott of the 2025 G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, over human rights abuses against White Afrikaner farmers, including killings and land seizures. Additionally, he accused South Africa of refusing to hand over G20 presidency responsibilities to a U.S. Embassy representative.
“At my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year. South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere,” Trump wrote on Truth Social platform on Friday.
The 47th president noted that the United States did not attend the prior summit in South Africa “because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers.”
More…
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>>> Looking forward to the rest of the story…
Russia Unable to Send Astronauts to Space for First Time Since 1961
Damage to a Russian launch site has stopped Moscow from sending people into space for the first time in over six decades, it has been reported.
Moscow’s space agency Roscosmos said that Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan had sustained damage during a launch on Thursday carrying Russian and American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
But Russian space bloggers said the damage to Russia’s only launch site for crewed missions was more serious than authorities were claiming.
One expert, Vitaly Egorov, said if the damage is as suspected, Moscow will have lost the ability to launch people into space for the first time since it put the first human in orbit in 1961. Newsweek has contacted Roscosmos for comment.
More…
Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was damaged on Thursday following the launch of a manned Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station, the Roscosmos space agency said. Read more: https://themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/28/baikonur-launchpad-damaged-after-russian-rocket-launch-to-iss-a91265
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>>> What a nightmare …
Hong Kong apartment fire tests Beijing-backed rule as anger mounts
With elections looming, the fire undercuts the government’s insistence it can cater to people’s needs without giving them a greater say in who rules the city.
The fire that blazed through a cramped Hong Kong apartment complex and killed at least 128 people this week has become a major test for the city’s Beijing-backed leaders, who have tried to win back public trust after mass protests by promising better lives for everyday Hong Kongers.
Hong Kong authorities have said that the flames spread unusually quickly across the eight towers of government-subsidized housing. Dozens of WangFuk Court’s 4,600 residents were trapped inside the 31-story buildings as the inferno burned for 43 hours before being largely doused by 10:18 a.m. local time Friday.
https://archive.ph/GWaw5#selection-391.0-407.166
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>>> Some goof is newly unemployed.
FIRST ON 7: Nearly 400 gallons of fuel dumped into wrong home with no oil tank in Medford
MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) – Hazmat crews were called to a home in Medford Monday after an oil delivery driver dumped 383 gallons of heating oil into a home that had a fill pipe but no oil tank, according to officials.
Officials said the Fawcett Oil delivery driver went to the right address, but in the wrong city. Instead of going to 48 Linwood Street in Malden, he went to 48 Linwood Street in Medford.
Fire officials said the driver attached the hose to the fillup pipe on the side of the house, but that pipe was not connected to any oil tanks — so 383 gallons of oil ended up in the home’s basement.
“Oil delivery driver pulled up to the wrong address,” said Medford Deputy Fire Chief Nick Davis. “Put 385 gallons of oil into a basement with no oil tank.”
Residents of the two family home quickly evacuated and the area was sealed off.
“It smelled very bad,” said Dang Nguyen, the homeowner. “Even, you know, I’m living in the second floor and I smell. I came home and came in to drop something off and it smelled very bad.”
Crews began cleanup using shovels and speedy dry. They first tried to contain then remove the oil with the Department of Environmental Protection on the scene.
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Tunes.
Billy Currington Saturday.
Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right
Are Crazy (Official Music Video)
Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer
Night crew, your nickel.
KK
