WTF-Beta

Empty rooms and Fifa cancellations - US hotels fear World Cup washout

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c9q34pxv79eo

From someone who has known him for decades.

https://time.com/article/2026/05/20/the-truth-about-donald-trump-s-sanity/

As states seek out much-needed supplies of clean, reliable energy, some are looking to an unconventional source: abandoned oil and gas wells harnessed for geothermal heat.

Millions of inactive wells are littered across the United States, the relics of earlier eras of fossil fuel production. A large number of the sites have no official owner, and many are still polluting groundwater and leaking heat-trapping methane. The country has barely scratched the surface in dealing with this problem.

Policymakers in both Republican- and Democratic-led states are exploring whether these sites could instead be converted into new wells for producing geothermal energy. The holes are already drilled in the ground, after all. And regions with widespread oil and gas development have rich subsurface data that geothermal firms need in order to determine where and how to build their carbon-free systems.

The concept is relatively new and largely untested, though scientists and startups are working to change that. States are also laying the groundwork for action by lifting regulatory hurdles and launching in-depth studies

.https://www.wired.com/story/oil-wells-second-life-clean-energy/

The era of the “ten blue links” is officially over.

At its Google I/O conference on Tuesday, Google unveiled an AI-powered overhaul of Search centered around a reimagined “intelligent search box” — what the company describes as the biggest change to this entry point to the web since the search box debuted more than 25 years ago.

Instead of returning a simple list of links, Google Search will drop users into AI-powered interactive experiences at times. Google is also introducing tools that can dispatch “information agents” to gather information on a user’s behalf, along with tools that let users build personalized mini apps tailored to their needs.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/

Really.

Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I.

Steven Rosenbaum, author of “The Future of Truth,” said he had started his own investigation after The New York Times asked about the fake quotes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/media/future-of-truth-ai-quotes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jlA.vI3I.KC4XP9v7HtUH?smid=url-share

Colossal Biosciences is growing chickens in a 3D-printed artificial eggshell

In an early step towards artificial wombs, a biotech company claims it’s developed a “fully artificial” chicken egg.

What could possibly go wrong?

In order to create a moa, Colossal will have to genetically alter another type of bird, changing potentially thousands of DNA letters. But so far, chickens are the only bird species that can be genetically engineered. And that’s via a tricky process of editing stem cells that produce egg and sperm. Scientists have to add or delete DNA letters from these cells and then inject them back into an egg. The resulting bird will carry the genetic changes in its gonads—and then be able to pass them on.

Pask says Colossal’s idea is that it could modify avian stem cells enough to produce moa-like sperm or eggs. But then you might have the odd situation of a chicken laying an egg with a moa embryo inside it. “You would have chickens making moa egg and moa sperm. But it’s still a chicken egg,” he says.

Helen Sang, a professor emeritus at the Roslin Institute in the United Kingdom, says she’s not sure a moa embryo could survive on the yolk of a chicken egg, given evolutionary differences. “There are significant challenges to overcome to grow an embryo of a different species in artificial eggs,” says Sang.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/05/19/1137471/colossal-biosciences-is-growing-chickens-in-a-3d-printed-container/

I think I like the original equipment version better:

More ethically questionable activity:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosures show that he or his investment advisers made more than 3,700 trades in the first quarter, a flurry totaling tens of millions of dollars and involving major companies that have dealings with his administration.

The transactions, spelled out in more than 100 pages of documents filed Thursday with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, list purchases and sales in broad ranges, making it hard to calculate an exact value. But the volume of trading — more than 40 per day over a three-month period — stands out as much as the potential dollar value.

“This is an insane amount of trades,” said Matthew Tuttle, chief executive officer of Tuttle Capital Management, in an interview, adding that it looks more like something done by “a hedge fund with massive algo trades” that buys and shorts securities than a personal account.

In the first quarter, the president bought at least $1 million each in companies including Nvidia, Oracle, Microsoft, Boeing and Costco Wholesale, according to the documents. Other trades involved eBay, Abbott Laboratories, Uber Technologies, AT&T and discount store Dollar Tree.

The disclosure reignites conflict-of-interest concerns that have shadowed Trump’s terms in the White House. Critics have regularly accused him of mixing his official duties with his business interests. Unlike his predecessors, Trump didn’t divest or move his assets into a blind trust with an independent overseer. His sprawling business empire is managed by two of his sons and operates in several areas that intersect with presidential policy.

At the same time, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner helps manage billions in investments for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates while simultaneously serving as a “volunteer” envoy for the president on issues affecting the war in Iran and the Middle East in general.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/05/18/markets/trump-3700-trades-wall-street/

Matthew Mueller spends a lot of time thinking about doomsday scenarios. After all, it’s his job.

Mueller is the director of Denver’s Office of Emergency Management, but it wasn’t until recently that he had to start considering the reality of how wildfires could threaten the Denver metro area, which prompted his office to create a new kind of plan.

The office is drafting a mass evacuation plan, which Mueller said is a first for the city because it takes into account wildfire threats. While previous plans included evacuation protocols in the event of a hazardous materials disaster or a failure at Cherry Creek Dam, wildfires were a blind spot.

“We have not had a plan for something like that in Denver because we have frankly, historically not had wildfire risks,” said Mueller. “In the city of Denver, that’s not something we’ve had to deal with before.”

But 2021’s Marshall Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County, necessitated a new plan, Mueller said.

The Marshall Fire didn't affect Denver directly, but it made Mueller realize that parts of Denver —like the region close to the airport and the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Refuge — could experience similar grass fires.

“We would need not just a few blocks, but an entire neighborhood evacuated,” said Mueller.

Colorado experienced one of the driest and hottest winters on record, raising concerns about summer wildfires. Earlier this month, the Clear Creek and Jefferson County Sheriff's Offices practiced evacuations in case of fires.

https://rmpbs.org/news/science-environment/denver-mass-evacuation-plan-wildfire

It just keeps getting better.

The Justice Department on Tuesday expanded the just-announced settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit over the leaking of his tax returns to include a pledge that the IRS will no longer pursue any claims it may have against Trump, his family members and his companies over unpaid taxes.

The nine-page settlement agreement DOJ released Monday, setting up a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of alleged weaponization of law enforcement, did not mention any resolution of disputes over Trump’s tax returns, which he has repeatedly claimed were under protracted audits by the IRS.

However, a one-page document posted on the DOJ website early Tuesday includes a sweeping release under which the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “examinations” of Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” and related trusts and businesses.

The waiver specifically encompasses “tax returns filed before the effective date” of the settlement, which was Monday.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the addendum, dated Tuesday. It does not bear the signature of any representative of the IRS or any current Trump lawyers. Metadata attached to the document indicates it was prepared or scanned at 7:50 a.m.
Tuesday.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns-00927911

Wonder if Kelly, Comey, and Powell will apply.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday defended the Trump administration’s plans to create a $1.776 billion fund that could pay allies of the Republican president who believe they were targeted politically as he faced questions from lawmakers in his congressional appearance since taking the reins of the Justice Department.

Blanche acknowledged that the “unusual” nature of the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which critics have called an illegal abuse of power designed to line the pockets of Trump supporters with taxpayer dollars. But the fund is not unprecedented, Blanche said, adding that those who benefit will not be limited to Republicans or to people who were investigated or prosecuted by the Biden administration.

Blanche also left open the possibility that people charged with committing violence during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol will be eligible for compensation.

“As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were a victim of weaponization,” Blanche told a Senate appropriations subcommittee. The decisions on payouts will be made a five-member commission appointed by the attorney general.

https://apnews.com/article/todd-blanche-justice-department-congress-irs-fund-1b8c7130c12253af161367b701d914b7

@CHAS Sorry to hear about your two friends.

@CHAS said:

At a high school reunion in September a list of those that are gone was read. Did not hear my name.

I LOLed. So did Mr wtg.

In a library in Rome, of course!

The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem.

“We were extremely surprised. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin’s school of English, told The Associated Press.

What’s more, she said, the poem was within the main body of Latin text: “It was extraordinary.”

Composed in Old English by a Northumbrian agricultural worker in the 7th century, “Caedmon’s Hymn” appears within some copies of the “Ecclesiastical History of the English People,” written in Latin by a monk and saint known as the Venerable Bede. His history is one of the most widely reproduced texts from the Middle Ages, with almost 200 manuscripts, according to Magnanti’s colleague Mark Faulkner, an associate professor of medieval literature at Trinity.

He considers Caedmon’s poem to be the start of English literature.

https://apnews.com/article/old-english-manuscript-poetry-bede-caedmon-hymn-latin-italy-106769c014901cf06d8a56839d56ac90

Oops...just saw @axtremus post about the same story...

https://wtf.coffee-room.com/topic/3595/the-anti-weaponization-fund

Yea, but Hunter's paintings!!! And his being a board member of Burisma!!

I looked out towards the backyard this morning and saw a bajillion birds in one of the bird baths. At first I thought they were sparrows but then I looked again and realized they weren't. I used the Merlin app to identify their call. Cedar waxwings.

First couple of photos are from the screen room, through a window screen, so a bit fuzzy. I snuck out onto the deck for the last one and got a clearer snap but about half the birds had flown away. I've never seen so many of these guys at one time in our yard!

Zoom into the bird bath just to the left of the bridge to see the original crowd:

A bit closer, but still through the screen:

From the deck:

Cedar waxwings:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id

sidebar: I have a lot of anemone deadheading to do....

The Justice Department on Monday launched a nearly $2 billion “anti-weaponization fund” as part of a settlement after President Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10 billion.

The fund, which will receive a total of $1.776 billion dollars, will give payouts as well as issue “formal apologies” to those who pursue settlements after arguing they were wronged by the government.

The settlement comes after Trump was criticized for seeking a major payout from the IRS over a suit he filed related to the leaking of his tax returns.

“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund.

“As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5883454-doj-launches-anti-weaponization-fund/

Stole these (and the thread title) from someone next door. So much fun!!

Bit of naval-themed Busby Berkley-arranged dance by the Igor Moiseyev Ballet:

Scientists analyzing the genomes of thousands of people across Japan discovered evidence for a previously overlooked third ancestral group, challenging the long-accepted “dual origins” theory. The newly identified ancestry appears linked to the ancient Emishi people of northeastern Japan. Researchers also uncovered inherited Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA connected to conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260514003314.htm

Gutting the department.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/16/politics/global-crises-state-department-cuts

Why a Single 5.51-Carat Diamond Commanded $17.3 Million in Geneva

When an ultra-rare blue-green stone with no comparables returns to market, collectors take notice.

https://observer.com/2026/05/auction-news-ultra-rare-ocean-dream-blue-green-diamond-geneva-christies/