weird news

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/distinguished-us-government-employee-access-nuclear-secrets-busted-robot-porn-scheme

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In what can only be described as a spectacularly ill-advised IT decision, a Department of Energy (DOE) employee with access to nuclear secrets has lost his security clearance after uploading a staggering 187,000 pornographic images to the agency's network, according to 404 Media.

This "distinguished professional" (this is how the DOE described him) with decades of experience apparently decided that March 23, 2023 was the perfect day to back up his 30-year personal collection of explicit content onto a DOE computer. One can only imagine the IT department's reaction upon discovery. The employee remained blissfully unaware of his colossal mistake for six months until officials showed up for what must have been an extraordinarily awkward conversation.

 

Purportedly he was planning to use his porn image collection as generative AI training fodder. 

That certainly seems like a commendable use of taxpayer-purchased IT infrastructure. I'm looking forward to ClankerHub. 

 

 

[sunday]

Results of the NTSB enquiry on that submarine accident have been made public.

This bit is noteworthy, because of who is not-quite-mentioned as an expert in submersibles.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Good thing they redacted the memo, else that guy would have a hard time getting another job. 

 

[sunday]

Yeah, and it is not like he is wealthy enough to retire and stop working.

[Ivanhoe]

He can barely afford groceries as is.

 

[R011]

Robert Ballard?

[Ivanhoe]

James Cameron.

[sunday]

I think @Rick has some landlording business

This looks a bad experience

 

[R011]

1 hour ago, Ivanhoe said:

James Cameron.

Thanks.  Face-palmingly obvious once I switched to a bigger screen and could read that imbedded document.

[NickM]

3 hours ago, sunday said:

I think @Rick has some landlording business

This looks a bad experience

 

and I had to say, "ONLY" $50 mil??

When I see what pols and paperpushers (local, state, federal ) do with the taxpayers' $$, I have learned to not criticize men like Diem, Ky Thieu and their flunkies

Edited October 18 by NickM

[sunday]

How does a 25yo gets to be CFO of a $100 million company that is now owned by daddy, that is what I wonder.

[Rick]

9 hours ago, sunday said:

I think @Rick has some landlording business

This looks a bad experience

 

https://www.mrlandlord.com/landlordforum/

Scroll down to "LA eviction moratorium."

[Ivanhoe]

Four years ago, so technically not news, but still interesting;

https://allthatsinteresting.com/aswan-scorpions
 

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Like most of its African and Middle Eastern neighbors, Egypt is famously arid. That just so happens to be the preferred climate of the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion. However, scores of the creatures were roused from their nests by record storms over the weekend and unleashed on the city of Aswan.

So far, the scorpions have stung over 450 people — killing three.

 

 

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While acting Health Minister Khalid Abdel-Ghafar claimed that no deaths had resulted from stings, local media reported three fatalities and at least 453 people injured. According to Al Jazeera, the hundreds of hospitalized victims were treated with anti-venom from local clinics that helped nearby towns with supplies.

Note to self; before settling in a new town, find out what antivenins the local hospitals keep at hand. 

Spiders, snakes, scorpions? Drive/fly north until at least half the chicks have blue eyes. 

Of course, if the chicks are wearing sealskin togs, drive/fly south until houses no longer have 50 gallon kerosene drums outside.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Well, those were career-limiting moves;

 

https://www.wate.com/news/crime/ex-director-of-nuclear-programs-at-oak-ridge-national-lab-arrested-on-child-sex-charges/
 

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The now-former Director of Nuclear Energy Programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been arrested following an investigation into allegations that he solicited explicit messages and images from underage girls.

Andrew Worrall, 56, faces charges of attempted coercion and enticement, sex trafficking of a child, and exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing child pornography. He is no longer employed at the US Department of Energy’s largest national lab, a spokesperson told 6 News.

An investigation began earlier this year after an 18-year-old woman emailed screenshots of text conversations between her and Worrall to an ORNL employee ethics hotline. According to the criminal complaint, she told Worrall that she was 16 years old and the text messages were sent from a phone number listed as his official ORNL contact. Dialogue included in court documents show he offered to meet her and went on to discuss possible travel arrangements.

Investigators reviewed Snapchat data from an account linked to Worrall and found sexually explicit communications with “many users” who stated they had not yet reached the age of 18. One user interviewed during the investigation said that Worrall sent her $20 in exchange for explicit images and videos according to court documents. Agents confirmed she was underage at the time by reviewing her driver’s permit.

 

 

 

[NickM]

I'm not sure where else to put this:

I'm from the SF Bay Area and the primary conservative radio station is KSFO, recently upgraded to station 810 and it's much more powerful signal. It has the usual array of talent: Hannity, Levin, Armstrong and Getty, John and Randy's Fix California Hours and Rich Valdes' America at night...

BUT Tonight between 7pm to 9pm, for some reason, the programing went full on commie: medicare for all, prog democrats vs 'fascists', etc. I can't even remember picking out a name of a guest or a presenter.  And the website doesn't have any names for this program bloc nor was there anybody to contact to ask questions.

Dopey me...does anybody know anything? 

[Ivanhoe]

We need a Congressional investigation to get to the bottom of this;

https://petapixel.com/2025/10/20/kohler-just-unveiled-a-toilet-camera/
 

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Kohler, best known for its plumbing products including toilets and faucets, is entering the photography game with a camera that goes inside a toilet and analyzes photos of people’s stool.

Kohler describes its new Dekoda toilet camera, as reported by CNET, as a “first-of-its-kind health tracker” that analyzes gut health, hydration, and whether there is blood in a person’s stool. Gut health and hydration are generally practical ways to measure a person’s overall health and inform potential lifestyle changes, but blood can signal a much more serious underlying health issue, and people are generally advised to pay close attention to their bowel movements.

 

 

I guess some data wonk developed a simple model that quantifies sphincters in terms of f/stop. 

 

[NickM]

On 10/20/2025 at 11:53 PM, NickM said:

I'm not sure where else to put this:

I'm from the SF Bay Area and the primary conservative radio station is KSFO, recently upgraded to station 810 and it's much more powerful signal. It has the usual array of talent: Hannity, Levin, Armstrong and Getty, John and Randy's Fix California Hours and Rich Valdes' America at night...

BUT Tonight between 7pm to 9pm, for some reason, the programing went full on commie: medicare for all, prog democrats vs 'fascists', etc. I can't even remember picking out a name of a guest or a presenter.  And the website doesn't have any names for this program bloc nor was there anybody to contact to ask questions.

Dopey me...does anybody know anything? 

OK I gritted my teeth and listened at the very end; for some reason the Conservative radio channel has prog radio host Jeff Santos who doing his 'justice and equity' in opposition to Fascism bit. The question is why he's on this channel?  Inconveniently enough, there's no place to call or write the station; 

[NickM]

On 10/27/2025 at 11:11 PM, NickM said:

OK I gritted my teeth and listened at the very end; for some reason the Conservative radio channel has prog radio host Jeff Santos who doing his 'justice and equity' in opposition to Fascism bit. The question is why he's on this channel?  Inconveniently enough, there's no place to call or write the station; 

 

OK, Santos is on the air at America at Night today--he's gloating up a storm, and totally happy that California and Gavin Newsom will lead the way! 

[Ivanhoe]

https://nypost.com/2025/11/08/us-news/teacher-of-the-year-placed-on-leave-after-allegedly-trying-to-mow-down-baby-daddy-in-walmart-parking-lot/
 

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A former “Teacher of the Year” has been suspended from her job after allegedly trying to mow down her baby’s daddy with her car in a Walmart parking lot.

Sade Delesia Nacheyle Nelson, a 2025 award winner at St. John’s High School in Charleston, South Carolina, allegedly assaulted the father of her child and his girlfriend during an Oct. 18 custody exchange, Live5News reported.

Nelson, 37, allegedly punched her baby daddy and his girlfriend, and witnesses reported that she had attempted to ram him with her car, police said.

 

Another "he said, she said" situation. My guess is the mother is going to be found guilty; the presence of the father's GF being the spark that ignited things. 

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2025/11/15/sweden-rna-woolly-mammoth/6641763255038/

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Nov. 15 (UPI) -- The well-preserved remains of a woolly mammoth found in Siberia enabled scientists to extract RNA for the first time and learn more about the animal.

 

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The successful removal of viable RNA samples is a scientific first and shakes the previously held notion that RNA degrades too fast upon death for scientists to extract useful samples, NBC News reported.

 

 

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It has wound marks on its hindquarters, which suggests lions living in caves attacked it while it was still living or tried to scavenge its remains.

The scientists removed RNA samples from the young mammoth and several others, three of which proved to be useful, including the sample from Yuka.

"You're actually seeing processes going on inside the cells right around the time it died," Dalen said. "These processes have been frozen in time for 40,000 years."

The scientists also identified new types of microRNA, which control how information contained within genes is used to create something more useful, such as a protein.

 

One step closer to Mammothburger. 

 

[lucklucky]

I thought about posting this in jokes section...but it is serious.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/11/cryptography-group-cancels-election-results-after-official-loses-secret-key/

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One of the world’s premier security organizations has canceled the results of its annual leadership election after an official lost an encryption key needed to unlock results stored in a verifiable and privacy-preserving voting system.

The International Association of Cryptologic Research (IACR) said Friday that the votes were submitted and tallied using Helios, an open source voting system that uses peer-reviewed cryptography to cast and count votes in a verifiable, confidential, and privacy-preserving way. Helios encrypts each vote in a way that assures each ballot is secret. Other cryptography used by Helios allows each voter to confirm their ballot was counted fairly.(...)

 

 

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

Check under the couch cushions.

 

[Ivanhoe]

So the latest drumbeat in the search for Bitcoin's founder Satoshi is that Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, is the actual Satoshi;

https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/jack-dorsey-could-he-be-satoshi-nakamoto-big-questions/