the word "voting" has certainly changed. Here in colorful, flammable Colorado, we all wait with bated breath to see what der Orangefurzenwolkeführer and his MAGAts do to fuck up our perfectly functional vote-by-mail system for the midterms. If I get a ballot at all, I'll vote by dropping it off in the county lockbox, as I have done for the past many cycles. But that's a big "if".

Speaking of changing meanings, I'd love it if the dems decided to run Thomas Massie in the '28 Presidential race. That's a campaign I could get behind, for two reasons: 1. he is not the average empty suit, and has some actual populist gravitas; and 2. it would force the dems to finally and publicly rip the band-aid off and admit that they are in fact no different than the repubs. That'd be fun to watch, wouldn't it? He might even win.

Oh, well, a guy can dream. Carry on...

...with typos. Must have used a computer translation. Spellings change too! There are typos in both Korean words in Russian Federation, not just one. So I'm guessing it's a Russian made sign. Rashid added another note to this effect. I say invisible bridge, because it is contended that it's more difficult to observe and estimate military commerce across the bridge to and from Russia than by other means? I'm imagining that would be by sea.

There's a big typo on the sign at the new Russia-DPRK road crossing that opened yesterday.

It says "러ㅅ아 연방" (Russian Federation), clearly trying to use the South Korean spelling, 러시아 (Russia), but the "시" has somehow become a bare "ㅅ".

Basically: "R%ssia". https://t.co/7KoJdRCZ91 pic.twitter.com/3T2rTwTg9h

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2026

Mainland China's "bridge to Kinmen" threat or opportunity?

China "threatens" construction of a new bridge to Kinmen island just 3 km off the Xiamin coast. Kinmen was subject to a fierce military bombardment from China in 1958. However, they could not take the island due to a lack of naval forces, and the presence of US air and naval forces in the region. I have read elsewhere that in 58 the US seriously contemplated nuclear war at the time. Ike disapproved. Evidently, Ellsberg was the source of this information.

US military considered using nuclear weapons against China in 1958 Taiwan Strait crisis, leaked documents show

It's quite doubtful that China could construct a 3 km long bridge to Kinmen without a formal agreement of some kind with Taiwan. The current DPP administration would be unlikely to support this. It does make one wonder if this topic was raised during the KMT leader's visit to mainland China not too long ago. If they took power, could it happen? One contrast between the Taiwan issue and the stalemate on the Korean peninsula, is that a great deal of trade and cross border travel goes on between Taiwan and the mainland. It militates against the constant war talk coming from Taiwan media and for even more constructive relations. 90 percent of tourism in Kinmen comes from the mainland.

This video in Korean below is a report by a South Korean reporter who observed the recent military Han Gwang exercises in Taiwan which were basically a preparation for emergency situations that might arise during a mainland "surprise attack" on Taiwan. I don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing. The google English subtitle translation is quite good. The graphics at the outset of the video show the bridge plans to Kinmen and then the intensity of Chinese strikes on Kinmen Island in 1958. The photos which I haven't seen before were remarkable. I understand the Strait's crisis at that time also involved the Matsu islands, under Taiwan/KMT control. I tried to set it up with the English subtitles (settings button auto translate, select English). The rest of the video shows the military exercises of the so called "strawberry army" operating in Taiwan city venues. The reporter claimed the more recent heavy tank imports from the US were assigned in a manner they were there to protect TSMC fab facilities.

The first 8 minutes cover the Kinmen island bridge plan and the historic bombardment of the island in 1958 with interesting graphics:

Hi Q! Thanks for the OT. I was very distressed when some hacker destroyed my newer computer a few months back. Then my regular old one started dying later when I moved here and I had to buy another. I'm still having a few problems with the ms 11 transferring JPG and PDF files from other operating systems. I've got to parse out how often I ask others more savvy than moi to help me with the fix.

from Sp's weekly photo diary checking in. Very good luck in getting your laptop up and running. Hope you had a decent Labor Day. I got back from running some errands and heard this one on someone's radio.

Only big hit Jakob D had, but it was a da##ed good one! Rec'd!!

"Stopped Clock is Right Twice a Day" category, we have this from Zerohedge:

https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/it-could-kill-us-all-2030-ai-researcher-res...

"I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below."

"Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing," Coxon said.

"The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible - but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger."

Coxon certainly knows whereof he speaks. Original tweet here: https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843

The comments are bizarrely disconnected from reality in many cases.