Rare depiction of the savagery of the American natives.

Canadian banks prohbit you from storing cash in safe deposit boxes; Ukrainian banks advertise it.

A recent video of a mother with her child in Kramatorsk, Eastern Ukraine. She's hiding from Russian FPV drones: This is a new development. Previously Russia didn't have the range, and wasn't close enough, to threaten Kramatorsk with FPV drones much. Unfortunately this is gradually changing. Friends of mine are in that area, holding Russia back. They're the ones keeping that mother and child safe. One of the soldiers I know recently paid $1800 of his own money to get another vehicle that they need. I'm trying to get him paid back, and get funds for more vehicles. So far I've gotten 726,360sats (~$586 USD):

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Ukraine is doing really well right now winning the war on the economic front, by destroying tens of billions of dollars of Russian oil infrastructure. But the ground war is a brutal game of holding ground and minimizing losses, and they need all the help they can get. I know these soldiers myself, and have seen first hand the good work they're doing with the ₿ donations I've gotten for them:

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Peter Todd (@peterktodd) on X

Flash Battalion had another vehicle hit by a Russian FPV drone. Unfortunately too close to the front line to recover and repair. They urgently nee...

https://stacker.news/items/1475314

The Bob calendar is down right now because it's out of funds to pay tx fees: bob.btc.calendar.opentimestamps.org If people can send funds to bc1q83zmvtfks2dnvqfgcmxme24kah602cxr59h5v7 to get it back up that'd be much appreciated.

TechRadar

Solar farms might double as water generators in arid landscapes

Scientists say giant solar panels could trigger rainfall in deserts and even supply water for thousands of people

“The researchers modeled solar panels as nearly black surfaces that absorb 95% of incoming sunlight.” It's hilarious how easy it is to debunk this article. Typical solar panels convert about 15% to 25% of the incoming light into electricity while operating. That's energy that is removed from that location entirely, and re-released somewhere else. This is one reason why putting solar panels on your roof can keep your house cooler. It is physically impossible for efficiently operating solar panels to absorb 95% of the incoming sunlight.

Kramatorsk, Ukraine

Your daily reminder that journalists are parasites on productive society.

Police collecting bodies in Kherson, Ukraine, after a recent Russian FPV drone attack. Notice how fast they're moving? They're worried about themselves getting killed by follow-up attacks: Here's another recent example. A son whose elderly mother was killed. The police officer has to pull him away because they need to collect the body before a follow-up attack kills them too. I recently had an opportunity to visit the outskirts of Kherson. I turned it down, because I didn't have a good enough reason to be there to take that risk. Maybe I'll visit with a better reason; hopefully Ukraine pushes Russia back far enough that it's safe again.

Question: can I rent an Umbrel Air in the cloud? View quoted note →

So we just found a good deal on a Ford Transit van for ~4000€. Not as sexy as a truck. But the unit does need efficient transport to move soldiers and equipment around. At the moment we already have 2653€ left over from previous donations, so we just need another ~1500€ (~1725$) in donations to get them them that van.

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I also managed to do some interviews with some of the soldiers and foreign recruits of the unit. Flash Battalion is an English speaking one, so mainly from the US and UK/Commonwealth. It's telling how many of the recruits are conservative. One was even a self described MAGA Republican; another from New Zealand had previously worked in the gun industry in manufacturing. Which of course is now basically dead in NZ. Those videos should come out soonish once their editors finish. Sarah and I going for a walk to the east edge of Kramatorsk out by the (former) airport: Sadly that's getting to be a dangerous place to be. The road we were walking down had a few fibers left over from Russian fiber optic drones. Not a lot, yet. But we were about 14km away from the very edge of Russian lines. View quoted note →

Lots of Bitcoin donations are still flowing to Ukraine. I personally have raised about $5000 in the past few weeks in a single fundraiser to get a truck for for my friend Sarah's unit:

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Explore the full Bitcoin ecosystem with The Mempool Open Source Project®. See the real-time status of your transactions, get network info, and more.

The stuff he's doing in Eastern Ukraine is absolutely wild. View quoted note →

...and that's one reason why every single time I've encountered a bear in the woods the bear has ran away from me as fast as possible.