Rolling up to the camp pick-up line with AC/DC blasting and feeling like a cool and hip parent, absolutely not one who already has meatloaf prepped in the fridge and laundry in the washer. As always, trying to channel my inner @danielmkim.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLZ5...

Spoilin' for a Fight

YouTube video by AC/DC - Topic

youtube.com

This is the kind of thing that, as you read it, you feel the warmth leech out of the room. H/t @andrewfacini.com for this chilling story from 1950. "'Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California.'" users.wpi.edu/~zrbutzke/Do...

Per @silvermansecurity.bsky.social, a very important thread.

Caroline Baxter@convergingriskslab.bsky.social · 2d ago

What do you get when you mix climate change, logistics, and fossil fuels, and a war? A Bluesky thread on the convergence between summer drought in Europe, a dam in the Netherlands, Germany's reliance on a single river, and why the US still has to care about climate change. Settle in. (1/11)

What do you get when you mix climate change, logistics, and fossil fuels, and a war? A Bluesky thread on the convergence between summer drought in Europe, a dam in the Netherlands, Germany's reliance on a single river, and why the US still has to care about climate change. Settle in. (1/11)

Wildfire smoke is now the primary pollutant affecting pregnancy, study shows missouriindependent.com/2026/08/03/r...

Wildfire smoke is now the primary pollutant affecting pregnancy, study shows • Missouri Independent

A new study examining pollution levels across a 16-year span found that while general pollution levels from sources such as cars and industry have significantly declined, recent increases in wildfire ...

missouriindependent.com

Burnout markers in your 40s are different than prior decades. For example, when the power was unexpectedly out at the climbing gym and Boy requested an indoor playground as a backup, I vectored not towards the one nearest us but instead one in some mythical land called King’s Contrivance. …What.

Hard agree. His is the only performance I can’t stop thinking about - and the whole movie is stupendous.

Danielle Kurtzleben@titonka.bsky.social · 4d ago

I have seen the Odyssey and my main takeaway is that it’s time to give John Leguizamo an award for not only being great but singlehandedly improving EVERY FILM HE IS IN.

Cool - except the last 24 hours have let millions of people generate a catalogue of fake images that intel officers will need to sift through at one point or another. You get power like Google has, you don’t take a flyer on a neat thingie. Think it through. www.theverge.com/tech/973943/...

Google Earth’s AI deepfake tool only lasted one day

The feature generated believable — but edited — images of the real world.

theverge.com

Caroline Baxter@convergingriskslab.bsky.social · 5d ago

Nathaniel Raymond pioneered the use of satellite imagery for war crime forensics. His alarm about Google's baffling decision is appropriate. I tried it earlier today hoping it would be hard, but in ~65 seconds I'd put a convincing F35 base in Papua New Guinea. Google needs to delete this feature.

Nathaniel Raymond pioneered the use of satellite imagery for war crime forensics. His alarm about Google's baffling decision is appropriate. I tried it earlier today hoping it would be hard, but in ~65 seconds I'd put a convincing F35 base in Papua New Guinea. Google needs to delete this feature.

It's one thing to reach into the curricula weeds and put civilian faculty tenure on the chopping block. To make this move without releasing the findings of the 60-day PME eval sprint that should have concluded by now, gives this all the rationale of a nerve twitch. www.cbsnews.com/news/dod-pen...

Pentagon weighs eliminating civilian tenure at military academies and reviewing all curriculum, draft memo says

The Pentagon is considering a sweeping remake of military higher education, including an end to civilian tenure and a "line-by-line" review of courses, according to a draft memo obtained by CBS News.

cbsnews.com

Caroline Baxter@convergingriskslab.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Education and Training for three years before the office was disestablished last year. I owned the policy on professional military education for all five services. I have listened to Secretary Hegseth's announcement. I have thoughts. 🧵

Idle thought: It's a lot easier to eat in tune with the seasons when you don't spend 24hr/day in a climate-controlled box. I've been working with the windows open because it's not boiling hot and lunch was a beefsteak tomato with salt on toast. It was so harmonious it felt like eating the weather.

So September will be 25 years since 9/11 25 years from Pearl Harbor was 1966 which had…Massive civil unrest over racial discrimination/violence and police brutality, and an escalating war with no clear end in sight.

Plus 1500 military forces have been deployed since Saturday to assist, and employees of ArianeGroup (rocket propulsion systems) have been evacuated and companies like Roxel (solid-propellant systems for tactical missiles) and Dassault are in the danger zone. Huge national security implications.

NPR@npr.org · last wk.

French authorities ordered 4,000 more people evacuated from tourist sites along its Atlantic coast, widening what may be France's largest peacetime evacuation. n.pr/4vTV5T4

Inside me are two wolves. One is a young punk who does what she likes. The other is a working parent who gets up two hours before the rest of her household so she can work while it’s quiet. I am feeding this wolf a prepped coffee pot for 5am tomorrow. Still totally punk tho.

A stunningly good use of visuals with deeply sobering analysis. "Defenders of AI argue it can mitigate and reduce these mistakes. But these systems also risk the opposite—not least by increasing error rates across the kill chain." ai-killchain.airwars.org

Interactive: Anatomy Of An AI Kill Chain

Breaking down how militaries are offloading life and death decisions to flawed technologies

ai-killchain.airwars.org

This was a very cool project. Check it out.

Council on Strategic Risks@councilonstrategicrisks.org · last wk.

Nuclear weapons risks don't exist in a vacuum. A new exercise produced by @convergingriskslab.bsky.social models how the use of a tactical nuclear weapon compounds and combines existing ecological, technological, and strategic concerns. Check out the full breakdown 👇 🤝 @ploughshares.bsky.social

Nothing better to put some pep in your step than a strong cup of black coffee and a bit of Jervis: "Given this gloomy picture, the obvious question is, why are we not all dead?"

Weird. It’s not like every major military mind from Thucydides to Clausewitz to Churchill has said war is unpredictable and harder to manage the longer it persists. Oh wait.

Cheers, team.

A thing I say during public lectures when a kid in my audience starts to randomly fuss: “I’m very good at staying focused when kids make noise so we’re just gonna carry on. And if you’re not good at it, it’s time to learn. Staying on task while kids do their thing is a life skill. Mom, don’t leave.”

Matthew Noe@noethematt.bsky.social · 2w ago

"This might be unpopular but I'd like to discriminate against an entire class of people" If this is you, I hope the next 500 books you try to read are a disappointment.

"Kindergarten classrooms in more than 70 percent of counties lack herd immunity." My volcanic response to this aside, sick kids need adult care and not all parents can afford to be home. Vaccines keep adults in the workforce; pandemics punish the vulnerable. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

As measles cases reach record highs, see your school’s vaccine rates

The share of U.S. counties where 95 percent or more of kindergartners were vaccinated against the disease has dropped to 28 percent, public records show.

washingtonpost.com

NYC friends - go to this. My pal and colleague @andrewfacini.com is the real deal.

Andrew Facini@andrewfacini.com · 2w ago

Alright I'm officially allowed to advertise this, so NYC folks, come see me yammer on in person! I promise it won't be a humongous bummer. Monday, Aug 17, 6:30 pm Eastpoint Bar, East Village Presale link: www.eventbrite.com/e/lectures-o...

On Wednesday, the Pentagon reported on its casualties website that a total of 18 American service members had been killed during the war in Iran. By Thursday, the Defense Department had lowered that number, reporting that 14 American troops had been killed in the war.

Number of U.S. Troop Deaths in Iran War Appears Lower on Pentagon Website

Three military officials and a Pentagon spokesman gave conflicting explanations for why the number of Americans killed in the Iran war had changed.

nytimes.com

Settle a household debate for me: should we see The Odyssey in normal IMAX or normal 70mm? IMAX 70mm is not an option.

Spouse out cavorting with pals Wee Lad abed. Major work hurdle behind me. You know what time it is. Martini and “Master and Commander” time.

Torpedo JCPOA Start war to force "better deal" than JCPOA Close critical waterway instead Allow Saudis to enrich uranium for 30yr in exchange for [prob military access, tbd] Create conditions for nuclear prolif in ME + need for a JCPOA-type deal w/ Saudis Nailed it www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/w...

Coveted U.S. Nuclear Deal Is a Coup for Saudi Crown Prince

Saudi Arabia had for years sought the controversial deal to transfer American nuclear technology to the kingdom. It is expected to be sealed on Wednesday.

nytimes.com

Exactly this. Obviously, first and foremost, the human cost of this war should be the focus. (2 more service members today and how many civilians?) But also, we need to talk about the readiness impact of this war and how long (and how much $) it’ll take to rebuild after these choices.

Caroline Baxter@convergingriskslab.bsky.social · 2w ago

Training and maintenance are readiness bedrock, generated deliberately over time. And DoD, having now jackhammered that bedrock til the house started collapsing, will spend a generation - during an unstable moment - recreating what took five months to lose. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Training and maintenance are readiness bedrock, generated deliberately over time. And DoD, having now jackhammered that bedrock til the house started collapsing, will spend a generation - during an unstable moment - recreating what took five months to lose. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

The Pentagon, sinking billions into Iran war, is quickly running short on cash

With some funds set to dry up within weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pressed lawmakers Tuesday to address the increasingly urgent shortfall.

washingtonpost.com

The amount of money Pete Hegseth wants to fund a war no one asked for could fund SNAP for almost a year.

Andrew Russeth@russeth.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Four months into an appeal, Ms. McDonald, a cancer survivor who weighs 69 pounds, bustles to food banks, stretches ground turkey with oatmeal, and skips meals to feed three teenage boys." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...

Could Excel be conscious? We surveyed more than Jan 1 1900 people to find out.