Oops

 It’s official: The woman who wrote the 2011 essay “How to Murder Your Husband” has been convicted of murdering her husband. 

The lost rule: Don't get into a war if you can't define how it ends

How Does It End? Fissures Emerge Over What Constitutes Victory in Ukraine

In recent days, presidents and prime ministers as well as the Democratic and Republican Party leaders in the United States have called for victory in Ukraine. But just beneath the surface are real divisions about what that would look like — and whether “victory” has the same definition in the United States, in Europe and, perhaps most importantly, in Ukraine.

Watch this and itch all day

Northwestern engineers develop smallest remote-controlled walking robot

May 26 (UPI) -- A team of Northwestern University engineers announced the invention of the world's smallest remote-controlled walking robot, which measures only one-half millimeter wide.

I call shame

 This from an article in Ars Technica this morning on the danger posed by tech platforms collecting location data from mobile phones being used to track women's visits to abortion providers — a real and present concern —

The draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade could be followed by strict limits or bans on abortion in many states, and Democrats wrote that "Republicans in Congress are already discussing passing a law criminalizing abortion in all 50 states, putting the government in control of women's bodies."

 The Democrats have had opportunities over the last half century to pass a law legalizing abortion in all 50 states but they didn't do it. Now they complain.

That shame's on them.

The wonder of it all

Guns are banned during Trump's upcoming speech at the NRA conference

The Secret Service will search attendees with magnetometers before they enter the hall, the NRA said.

The tangled web we weave

U.S. says it imposes sanctions on Moscow-backed Iranian oil smuggling network

May 25 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on what it described as a Russian-backed oil smuggling and money laundering network for Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, even as Washington tries to revive the Iran nuclear deal.

Yikes!

On the shady side

 

Wait, buying an electric car is not the whole solution?

Commodities in 'perfect storm' says ERG, as crisis starts super cycle

"Anything between $200-$300 billion in investment per year will be required for the mining industry to satisfy demand for the energy transition," he said, with much of this invested into the mining of copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals.

Note from a sunny afternoon

 

Facts

Regarding firearm deaths in the U.S.

Not offering any conclusions here, nor recommendations: Just data. 

Street blue

 

It's "no pain, no gain" now?

Biden praises high gas prices as part of ‘incredible transition’

“[When] it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said during a press conference in Japan following his meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Hard to keep track of this high-petrol palaver. My own meager understanding of economics suggests this much is correct: Soaring gasoline prices will push more people into electric vehicles.

Speaking of which — heads up —

CNN — Extreme temperatures and ongoing drought could cause the power grid to buckle across vast areas of the country this summer, potentially leading to electricity shortages and blackouts, a US power grid regulator said Wednesday.

So there's that.

 

You have to be of a certain age to even remember

City removes last-standing public payphone from NYC street

The Midtown payphone will be sent to the Museum of the City of New York as a relic of the times before cell phones became widely used. The exhibit, Analog City: NYC B.C. (Before Computers), opened just last Friday.

Now, 97% of U.S. adults now own cell phones (85% own smartphones) 

NYC is replacing payphone booths with kiosks offering free public wifi.

Q: What makes a cheap egg cheap?

A: About a dollar, it seems.

At the grocery store this morning the cheap eggs were 4 freakin' 50 a dozen and the expensive eggs, for some undisclosed reason, were about a dollar more. They all look the same to me. Taste the same, too. 

Maybe the expensive ones come from richer chickens. 

Reds