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All this talk of gigabit and stuff...

When I first went online on a public data network (Telenet's X.25 network in 1979), my dial-up modem communicated at the breath-taking speed of 300bps.

Yes, 300bps. (that's not a typo)


Telenet
en.wikipedia.org

... Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in August 16, 1975.[1][2] It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States.[3]

Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines connecting their computers and local networks to this backbone network.

Free public dialup access to Telenet, for those who wished to access these systems, was provided in hundreds of cities throughout the United States. ...



@#3 ... Only 30% of its customers are in the US. ...

Currently.

But, from the Starlink website, there appear to be ambitions. ...

starlink.com

... Starlink V5, built for reliable home internet

The next generation Starlink Kit is designed to deliver reliable, high-speed home internet. Starlink V5 has a smaller form factor and lightweight design with greater power efficiency than the Starlink V4 Kit.

With speeds up to 375+ Mbps, Starlink V5 delivers seamless connectivity for streaming, video calling, gaming and more.

Currently available in select areas. As production ramps, Starlink V5 will be available in additional areas. ...



@#7

Reflecting Pool peeling likely caused by application flaws, experts say
www.seattletimes.com

... First, the light blue epoxy is applied as a base coat. Then, the dark blue is added as a durable top layer.

On May 3, workers applied the dark blue coating across a rectangular section of the pool.

The next day, they applied the same coating to an adjacent area, producing a visible seam. This is one of the places where the coating failed.

More than a week later, on May 12, multiple sections had been sealed. The new coating failed in at least three places.

By May 15, several more sections were completed toward the east end of the pool. That coating failed in three more places.

In five of the spots, the dark blue Pipeliner 5000 coating had peeled off to reveal more of the same material. Experts said this appears consistent with an adhesion failure caused by an overlap of the dark blue over a dried layer of the same material at the seams. For any overlapping Pipeliner 5000 to adhere, the underlying layer would need to still be wet or, if not, steps would need to be taken to prepare the surface.

Pipeliner 5000 dries within four hours, according to technical documents, depending on temperature and humidity. The Post confirmed that in each of the five spots, five hours or more had elapsed between when adjacent sections were sprayed.

At a sixth spot The Post identified, the dark blue Pipeliner 5000 had peeled back to reveal the light blue Rhino 406 primer. The Pipeliner 5000 should be applied within 24 hours of the primer, according to technical specifications. Photos and a video of the renovation process showed that, at this location, it was applied more than 24 hours after the primer, which experts said made it less likely that the two materials bonded properly.

At the seventh spot, both the dark blue coating and light blue epoxy primer underneath had peeled away, leaving the concrete exposed. This was one of three failure points that occurred on top of visible expansion joints built across the concrete basin " which experts said would also strain the coating. The width of the perimeter expansion joint referenced by the Interior spokesperson is not clear from visuals, but at least one failure point appeared directly on the pool's edge.

When applying the product, the goal should be to have the coating be "as monolithic as possible" and to lay down as much material at one time as possible, said Vito Mariano, president of waterproofing company Basecrete Technologies. "Anytime you have a stop [and] go, you're going to open yourself up to a problem that might occur," he said. ...


@#1 ... The engineer noted that the "top layer of liner has peeled," adding that it is "very thin and will not impact the strength of the liner." The person explained in the email that the "contractor stated that the peeled area was overspray' from spraying the perimeter joint with polyurea," according to the Justice Department. ....

From an article I have cited previously ...

Why is the paint peeling off the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool? An investigation (June 22, 2026)
www.scientificamerican.com

... Poor preparation and a failure to properly apply the coating may be just a few of the reasons why the Reflecting Pool's new paint job appears to be peeling off

President Donald Trump ordered the pool's renovation in April, and that order included painting its floor and walls blue. Yet within weeks of the work's completion, photographs and videos of floating chunks of a cerulean material that appears to have detached from the pool's walls have gone viral. This material is polyurea coating"a fast-curing and durable surface membrane that can seal in water and is often used to coat swimming pools.

We spoke to engineering and pool experts to find out what could be going wrong at the beleaguered monument. ...

Another key factor would have been how the pool's walls and floor were prepared before they were painted "American flag blue" during the renovation. The cost of that renovation, originally estimated at less than $2 million, has since ballooned to almost $15 million.

"It's actually a really specific process to add a coating like this to any basin," Auerhahn says.

When applying coats of polyurea, workers need to make sure they paint on a new coat within 24 hours, or less, of the last layer, depending on the specific type of the substance being used. That ensures the polyurea layers adhere to one another and form a solid mass, blocking water from seeping through. ...

[emphasis mine]


I purposely wrote out my own thoughts on why progressives are winning before reading the article. Now that I've read it, I see that there is much overlap, so I'll just leave it as is:

1. Trump has seriously damaged nearly every American institution and ideal, as well as America's international standing. Establishment Democrats have been far too weak in responding. Many people see this going on every day and are fed up with it.
2. Trump aside, both the Republicans and the establishment Democrats have shown they'd rather stay in power than rock the boat. The wealth gap continues to grow.
3. Boomers are in or close to retirement and are enjoying greater wealth than previous generations. Not only that, but many boomers grew up in households where the income of only one parent was enough to sustain a decent lifestyle, including a house and a car or two, college for the kids and a more reasonable bottom line on healthcare. Young people face a less rosy picture, as the costs of housing, groceries, education and healthcare have all soared. Good-paying jobs are also harder to find. Younger people feel bitter toward most folks over 40 and don't want to vote for them anymore.
4. The COVID pandemic had a long-term impact on the workplace. It allowed millions of people to discover work from home, and most of them preferred not to go back to the office when the pandemic faded. For better or for worse, loyalty to one's employer declined. Even outside the work-from-home crowd, the traditional mindset of doing whatever the boss or company tells you to do has slipped dramatically. There's more to life than work. This changing view aligns better with progressives.
5. Younger and more progressive voters are increasingly wary of the United States' support for Israel because of Netanyahu's brutal response in Gaza and Lebanon. AIPAC funding is not working in your favor if you're trying to win the progressive vote.

*** Kim Jong-un Sends 8,500 NORKs to their Certain Doom Fighting the Hearty Ukrainians ***

Coupla three things here:

  • Phatpuq Kim Jong-un keeps the Russian salaries of these poor devils
  • Desperate ICC-indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin is trying to buy time for his Nakba
  • Dummkopf Trumpf signaled he intends to reduce military cooperation with ROK and he wants to meet the porcine Pol Pot this year; D/FBI Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel visits Russia in Oct after UNGA takes place in NYC
  • Russian soldiers dislike the North Koreans, calling them "ch_inks." American soldiers, who fought several Asian countries in the last century, have a more expansive vocabulary for Oriental adversaries. In the 1960s, US soldiers called the Vietnamese "g__ks," a term from the lengthy US occupation of the Philippines. Tagalog sounded like "baby" talk to the gringos, so our GIs called them "goo-goos" which shortened to just "g__k."
  • The world would be better served if these 8,500 NORKs were deployed to Gaza to help the beleagured Palestinian people against the onslaught of the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) einsatzgruppen.

    Source: North Korea gets more WMD help from the Kremlin

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