The Pentagon issued several memos on Tuesday that outlined a broad range of personnel changes, instituting stricter grooming standards and gender-neutral standards for combat jobs. The memos follow a Tuesday address by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of senior military leadership at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., previewing the new policy changes for the military. "From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this war fighting," Defense Secretary Hegseth said. "Preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit. Not because we want war " no one here wants war " but it's because we love peace."
A U.S. Navy destroyer is operating in the Baltic Sea as part of a NATO mission that is adding air defense to its underwater focus as the alliance confronts repeated unidentified drone incursions into northern European countries. USS Bulkeley joined Baltic Sentry on Tuesday, the first deployment of a U.S. ship to the mission, an unidentified Defense Department official said Tuesday, speaking on background because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the matter.
Without explanation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Trump administration has reverted from using the disease name "mpox" to the obsolete "monkeypox," which the world abandoned in 2022 because it was seen as racist and stigmatizing.
On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump addressed the top brass at Quantico in a ceremony billed as a revival of the "warrior ethos." At first glance, it looked like a routine reaffirmation of courage, discipline, and commitment. But the optics -- and the context -- revealed something far more calculated: a staged, made-for-TV performance of personal loyalty, designed for Fox News viewers rather than the men and women in uniform.
The pro-European party of Moldovan President Maia Sandu has claimed victory and a new majority in parliament in Sunday's elections seen as critical for her country's future path to the EU. Sandu had warned of "massive Russian interference" after voting, saying the future of Moldova, flanked by Ukraine and Romania, was at stake. Igor Grosu, the leader of Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) which secured about 50% of the vote, said Russia had thrown "everything it had" at the election.
2nu - This Is Ponderous (1990)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
"This Is Ponderous" is an avant-garde spoken word novelty song about a bizarre dream Jock Blaney, then the production director at KPLZ FM, once had.
After the basic dream concept was used in a local hot tub commercial, Blaney and producer Michael Nealy made it into a full-length song and aired it on KPLZ where it quickly became the #1 requested song on the station for weeks.
Atlantic Records noticed and signed the duo, releasing the track to moderate nationwide success. The song reached #46 in the US and got airplay in Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Austria & Germany in early 1991.
This is ponderous, man, really ponderous
I had this dream the other night
I went to work one day
And nobody remembered who I was
So, I decided to take the day off
On my way out
I run into my boss and he says
Hey, you look familiar
I said, thanks, people say that
A lot in these dreams
Then the horns kicked in
And my shoes started to squeak
Then all of a sudden
I'm standing on a beach
In some tropical part of the world
And there's this sign that says
'Aren't you supposed to be at work'
Sort of screamed out at me
Then I remembered
I'd been here in other dreams
But usually there was a water polo game
And a girl who could talk with her eyes
See pop shows near Bridgeport
Get tickets as low as $33
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What a Wonderful World
Louis Armstrong
Die With A Smile
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
Slime You Out
Drake
And she'd say
'Can you see what I'm saying'
Then the horns kicked in
And my shoes started to squeak
Before I knew it
I was walking near a lake
When a phone rings
And the operator speaks to me
In a language I don't understand
Oom papachucka maka nanu singow
Meling kapalana wani domo chingpow
Heddy kapalua cuma jenising tea
Oomama chucka pana one is now three
Then the horns kicked in
And my shoes started to squeak
Before long, I was coming up
On this really weird part of my dream
You know, the part where
I know how to tap dance
But I can only do it
While wearing golf shoes
...
Call - I Don't Wanna (1987)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
I ain't here to hold you when you cry
I ain't here to hold your shaky hand
I ain't here to look you in the eye
Or beg for you to understand
I ain't gonna walk you thru your dreams
Walk you thru this life that we all know
I ain't here to listen while you speak
I ain't here to heal your broken soul
...
Ms Goodall taught us so much. We should be forever grateful for her work.
Dame Jane Goodall
achievement.org
...Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born in London. Her father, Mortimer Morris-Goodall, was a well-known race car driver. From early childhood, Jane was fascinated by all animals, an interest encouraged by her mother, Vanne. When Mortimer Morris-Goodall went to war, young Jane moved with her mother and younger sister, Judy, to live with her grandmother and aunts in the seaside town of Bournemouth, where they remained when her father and mother divorced following the war.
A precocious reader in a family of women who encouraged intellectual accomplishment, Jane read everything she could get her hands on about wild animals and Africa. She did well in school despite an unusual neurological condition, known as prosopagnosia, which makes it difficult to recognize faces. Unable to afford a university education, she moved to London after school to work as a secretary for a documentary film company. When an opportunity arose to visit a friend's family in Kenya, she returned to Bournemouth and worked as a waitress in a local hotel, living at home to save money for her trip.
Young Jane Goodall loved animals, books, and books about animals. (Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute)
In Kenya, Goodall was introduced to the legendary anthropologist Louis Leakey. Leakey hired her as an assistant and secretary, and she accompanied him and his wife Mary on an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge.
A leading authority on the evolution of man, Leakey knew there was a lack of hard data concerning the behavior of chimpanzees -- our nearest evolutionary relatives -- in the wild.
Although Jane lacked scientific training, or even a college degree, she was eager to attempt the research herself.
Despite Leakey's confidence in her abilities, other experienced professionals did not believe a lone young woman from England could survive in the African bush. When the British colonial authorities refused to allow her to travel alone to the chimpanzee reserve near Lake Tanganyika, she recruited her mother to stay with her.
In the summer of 1960, Jane Goodall and her mother arrived at Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in what is now Tanzania. At first the Gombe chimps fled at the sight of a human intruder, and Goodall could only observe them from a distance through binoculars.
Over the months that followed, she gradually won the trust of a single male chimpanzee she named David Graybeard. ...
3.7M breach notification letters set to flood North America's mailboxes
www.theregister.com
Cybercrims claim raid on 28,000 Red Hat repos, say they have sensitive customer files
www.theregister.com
Oracle says hackers are trying to extort its customers
www.reuters.com
etc., etc., etc....
Shriekback - This Big Hush (1985)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Verse]
Is there a fire in the sky?
Is there a moon up there?
Is there anything alive now?
This darkness is what I hear
This is a breathless silence
A moment out of time
I see your face in the shadows
The telltale signs are in your eyes
[Chorus]
More than I can hold in my hands
Running through the gaps like water
Aching with a passion inside
Deep as the river
All desire, the ashes and the fire
Turning this night inside and the light from you
[Verse]
Is there a flame in the dark?
Is there a bright hard star?
These creatures look the same now
We freeze wherever we are
We wake alone in the blackness
We sleep wherever we fall
One dream all around us
This big hush infects us all
...
@#9 ... Under the memo, "Reduction of Mandatory Training Requirements to Restore Mission Focus," the department will relax or remove a number of trainings, including on cybersecurity. ...
Reducing training in cybersecurity at a time when cybersecurity has become quite important?
So, maybe not trying to prevent this from occurring?
Top Trump officials included The Atlantic editor in group chat about plans to bomb Yemen (March 2025)
www.cbsnews.com
... Top Trump officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance allegedly discussed the details of a highly sensitive operation to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen in a group chat that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Goldberg wrote on Monday. ...
@#9 ... I really don't think so. Cults need a celebrity leader and Vance was, and frankly still is, a nobody. ...
VP Vance seems to lack the ability to connect with Americans.
JD Vance says he 'felt terrible' for donut shop employee after filming video (August 2024)
www.cincinnati.com
... On the campaign trail, vice presidential hopeful JD Vance has been stopping at local eateries, most recently at an A&W in Big Rapids, Michigan. Speaking with NBC News, Vance responded to one spontaneous stop that didn't quite go as planned: the now-viral donut shop video.
In the clip shared on social media last week, Vance, members of his team and Secret Service agents visited a bakery in Valdosta, Georgia. One employee asked not to be on camera while the Ohio senator tried to make small talk and buy donuts.
"I just felt terrible for that woman," Vance told NBC in a story published Wednesday, referring to the bakery employee. "We walked in, and there's 20 Secret Service agents and there's 15 cameras, and she clearly had not been properly warned, and she was terrified, right? I just felt awful for her." ...
Yeah, apparently not a clue about how people may react.
@#5 ... Sometimes reading can be beneficial. ...
I agree.
So, e.g., how does Connecticut seem to be unable to "pay its bills?"
CT headed for second-largest surplus in state history
ctmirror.org
Yeah, reading is indeed beneficial.
Yer up.