My son, who is reading Bernard Lewis’ — The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 years. Sent me this quote from it, and I thought it pretty amazing.
The most direct route to the Mediterranean lands to the further east lay through the territories ruled or dominated by Persia. But there were obvious advantages, both economic and strategic, in developing routes beyond the reach of Persian arms … The Roman, and then Byzantine interests, was to establish and preserve these external commercial links with China and with India, thus bypassing the Persian-dominated center. The Persian Empire tried to use its position athwart the transit routes to control Byzantine trade, so as to exploit it in times of peace, or stop it in times of war.
Some things never change.
The prolonged rivalry between Rome and Zoroasterian (Sasanid) Persia was for the most part conducted honorably, with respect, even when the two were at war. It was a contest between two stand-up foes, equally matched. The Sasanids acknowledged that Rome was one of the world’s two “civilized” nations and Romans expressed similar sentiments about the Persians.
I imagine most regulars here have a notion of how stars form. A very large cloud of gas collapses due to gravity, the matter gets more and more concentrated, it gets hotter and hotter until fusion begins in the core, and thus a star is born.
But this very intuitive notion doesn’t hold up well to scrutiny. Gravity is very weak – a small magnet can pick up a paper clip even though the entire earth is pulling it in the opposite direction. The gravity of a diffuse cloud spread out over a very great distance would be ridiculously weak. Any counter-acting force, even just some angular momentum within the cloud, or a hint of a magnetic field screws up the narrative.
It has largely been left to theorists to explain the details. New observations have been able to trace velocities of neutral particles and charged particles in these gas clouds – a tiny difference with huge implications. This one is a bit in the astronomical weeds, but I found this fascinating. Hope others will as well. We are living in a golden age of astronomy! By the way, the theorists seem to have gotten it mostly right.
Bastille Day
French still celebrating the beginning of Communism. The country went pretty much downhill after that.
Soon to be The Caliphate once known as France.
Mike Plaiss,
Interesting, but the question I have is where do the mag fields come from? Where are the currents? I know there is a mixture of neutral and ions. Are the ions moving enough in a non-random way such to cause a non-chaotic field that is constantly changing?
Oddball: Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves.
Good question. It would seem these that fields would all cancel out if it were random. I don’t see that specifically addressed in the paper – https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.22541
Perhaps some of what you’re getting at is on page 6 – Interpretation of the observed velocity difference. But not directly.
“Mick Jagger says singers shouldn’t lecture fans at shows”
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger says musicians should stick to entertaining their audiences rather than using the stage to push a political message, a view that stands in contrast to Bruce Springsteen’s approach on his recent tour.
[…]
Mr. Trump has fired back at Mr. Springsteen repeatedly on social media this year, at one point mocking him as a “dried up prune” and urging his supporters to boycott the tour.
Another bit of astrophysical weirdness: stars tend to form from cold gas masses. Hot gas is too energetic to readily collapse. So you need cold to get to heat.
Chases Eagles:
True snippet of a conversation I overheard from a woman talking on her cell phone at Laguna Beach:
“Are the negative ions the good ones or the bad ones?”
Re: Mick Jagger / Bruce Springsteen / Selfy
Yesterday I showed up at the café and ran into one of my conservative chums, also a former political consultant and mayor of Malibu. I played the Jagger conservational card. He flipped over his iPad to the Facebook post he had just made of a Jagger photo and the quote.
__________________________________
Asked how he views his relationship with audiences compared with artists such as Bob Dylan and Springsteen, Jagger said his priority has always been making sure concertgoers leave feeling uplifted rather than weighed down by politics.
‘The bottom line of my thing really is that my job in the live music world is those people that come is to have the best time they possibly can,’ Jagger said.
‘For two hours or whatever it is, to forget all their problems and the problems of the world and their mortgages and whatever, just to give them the best time they can have.’
The 82-year-old rock icon compared attending a concert to watching a major sporting event, arguing that audiences should be able to switch off from the anxieties of daily life while the show is happening.
Jagger has done a bit of lecturing in his time, Keith too, otherwise he keeps his eye on the ball and I for one am grateful.
After ten days of internet outage yesterday I sat around all day in my hot ABQ home waiting for CenturyLink to show up and fix things.
Nada, nada and nada. No notice that they were coming, that they weren’t coming, or that they might come again the next day.
My ISP informed me that I had been bumped to the bottom of the list and the techs had run out of time. Now some guy in Boise is trying to reschedule me, but no hard date/time has yet been set.
On the advice of a commenter here, I contacted T-Mobile for a 5G Home Internet account. No cable. No fiber. It’s a system of large Wifi hotspots which hopefully includes your address. I filled out a form for a trial, took the gateway box home and so far it works fine.
Apparently copper theft is knocking out direct internet connections, so maybe it’s time to go wireless.
huxley:
We have been using the T-Mobile 5G at home for at least 3 years and have been very satisfied, only a few outages.
Before it was copper land line, very sketchy. No reason to go back to the wired (now fiber optic) connection, for us anyway.
What?!?!
Headline over at JPost –
‘They don’t want you there’: Trump tells Netanyahu to pull IDF troops from Syria, Lebanon – report
Axios again, Mike?
Something is kinda off about all that bag-o’-worms.
Why yes,
Trump claimed that the presence of Israeli military personnel in Syrian territory could create tension and may lead to escalation, one US official told Axios.
Yes it is.
huxley, I had that exact experience with Centurylink recently (backup internet only). The appointment was a week out. No show. It turned out whatever asshole we first talked to didn’t open a ticket. I was PO’d. The complaint produced someone the very next morning who also texted when he was 20 minutes away.
Even though I live outside east Hooterville, I have two different fibers in my yard. One from the PUD and one from WAVE. I had WAVE and CenturyLink go down at the same time forcing me to use a Verizon hotspot. Thinking of StarLink now.
huxley:
We have been using the T-Mobile 5G at home for at least 3 years and have been very satisfied, only a few outages.
Huxley and Chases Eagles: I got fed up with Spectrum’s outages and despise AT&T. About 6 months ago I got a deal from Starlink; free equipment and installation. I couldn’t be happier to be free from the cable monstrosities. It does cost a fair amount more monthly, but service has been great.
Chases Eagles, I’m using Starlink in the motorhome and it works great, though I’m only paying for 100 gb download, which means we use it sparingly. I think the home internet (unlimited) is $180/mo (if I remember correctly), and in urban environments I think they’re already reaching limits. But they keep putting up more satellites to relieve the load.
The T mobile 5G is working great and it’s cheaper than fiber in my area. The download speeds are at or higher than the basic fiber.
Anyone watch the world cup.
US did look outclassed against England.
I watched the Argentina-Switzerland match and it reinforces why I don’t like watching soccer. The play was dirty, which the refs seemed to have no control over/refused to police, the players were pathetic actors, and the refs had too much control over the outcome.
I’ll probably watch Argentina-England match, just so I can root against Argentina.
“…could create tension and may lead to escalation…”
Trump’s absolutely right on that one.
Israel trying to prevent Syrian minorities from getting slaughtered by three-piece-suit-wearing former-ISIS terrorist leaders—AND also defend trying to itself—could indeed create a bit of tension (and lead to escalation)…
DITTO for when it DARES to defend itself, PERIOD.
File under: HOW DARE YOU????
Hi, Brian. I’ve been following it somewhat. I think you meant US vs Belgium. That was indeed disappointing, but on the flip side, the US team’s achievement in the match before that was impressive, winning 2-0 on 10 men for most of the second half. They wouldn’t have been able to do that ten years ago.
Thanks for your reply, huxley. The picture in the Washington Times article was pretty scary, but Jagger, Richards and Woods are alive and kicking!
Michael Jordan once explained why he wasn’t publicly political (paraphrased): “Why tick off half of your fans? Their money is just as green.”
One of the Springsteen pics in the Daily Mail reminded me of Robert DeNiro….
As I’ve asserted before, the best interim solution to Iranian attacks, terror on the Strait of Hormuz is a Persian Gulf pipeline across Oman to the Gulf of Oman, which opens to the Arabian Sea. (I know, I know: our CommieKKKrats will immediately scheme to reverse the Mullah-monsters declining power so they can attack it there too.)
This evening, YouTuber Benny Johnson says Trump is on it! As the Financial Times of London announces that a company in the UAE is building it.
It will go from a port called Jebel Ali, SE of Dubai, and running East. (SEE Benny’s video at 6minutes, see a map. Earlier, you can read the paywalled FT article.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbRZT3Ur7Jc
BRIAN E is turned off soccer because…” I watched the Argentina-Switzerland match and it reinforces why I don’t like watching soccer. The play was dirty, which the refs seemed to have no control…”
I don’t really watch, but if it’s on in a bar, I’ll check it out somewhat. For me, my objection is that it’s too slow and too low scoring — the opposite of Ice hockey.
But the “rules” and refs jiggering outcomes makes me…underinvested, too, unlike, say, pro tennis watching.
The only attitude shift you can try is the fact that in the rest of the world, corruption greases not just politics, but everything.
We live in a far better, higher trust, Northern European open and accountable nation — save those Far Left neo-confederate states using criminal “sanctuaries” which are not — radically turning the US into, say, something like El Salvador used to be a few years back: a criminal stronghold, replete with official fraud, grifting, and high violent crime.
Hence, if you adjust your expectations, it is only a dull but quaint replacement for baseball. And a borderline watchable celebration of old-fashioned nationalism!
Re: Soccer
More bicycle kicks would help. 🙂
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WSJ’s lead editorial on Iran is very good.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-iran-blockade-strait-of-hormuz-4a3e2a3a?st=fbLksn
My son, who is reading Bernard Lewis’ — The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 years. Sent me this quote from it, and I thought it pretty amazing.
The most direct route to the Mediterranean lands to the further east lay through the territories ruled or dominated by Persia. But there were obvious advantages, both economic and strategic, in developing routes beyond the reach of Persian arms … The Roman, and then Byzantine interests, was to establish and preserve these external commercial links with China and with India, thus bypassing the Persian-dominated center. The Persian Empire tried to use its position athwart the transit routes to control Byzantine trade, so as to exploit it in times of peace, or stop it in times of war.
Some things never change.
The prolonged rivalry between Rome and Zoroasterian (Sasanid) Persia was for the most part conducted honorably, with respect, even when the two were at war. It was a contest between two stand-up foes, equally matched. The Sasanids acknowledged that Rome was one of the world’s two “civilized” nations and Romans expressed similar sentiments about the Persians.
Then came Islam . . .
News from the world of Astronomy
https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-detect-the-hidden-process-that-may-trigger-star-birth/
I imagine most regulars here have a notion of how stars form. A very large cloud of gas collapses due to gravity, the matter gets more and more concentrated, it gets hotter and hotter until fusion begins in the core, and thus a star is born.
But this very intuitive notion doesn’t hold up well to scrutiny. Gravity is very weak – a small magnet can pick up a paper clip even though the entire earth is pulling it in the opposite direction. The gravity of a diffuse cloud spread out over a very great distance would be ridiculously weak. Any counter-acting force, even just some angular momentum within the cloud, or a hint of a magnetic field screws up the narrative.
It has largely been left to theorists to explain the details. New observations have been able to trace velocities of neutral particles and charged particles in these gas clouds – a tiny difference with huge implications. This one is a bit in the astronomical weeds, but I found this fascinating. Hope others will as well. We are living in a golden age of astronomy! By the way, the theorists seem to have gotten it mostly right.
Bastille Day
French still celebrating the beginning of Communism. The country went pretty much downhill after that.
Soon to be The Caliphate once known as France.
Mike Plaiss,
Interesting, but the question I have is where do the mag fields come from? Where are the currents? I know there is a mixture of neutral and ions. Are the ions moving enough in a non-random way such to cause a non-chaotic field that is constantly changing?
Oddball: Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves.
SCOTUS seeks to increase security budget to $230 million. Seems like a lot, but what do I know? Maybe DOGE should take a look?
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/supreme-court-justices-congress-testifying-security-threats-july-14
Good question. It would seem these that fields would all cancel out if it were random. I don’t see that specifically addressed in the paper – https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.22541
Perhaps some of what you’re getting at is on page 6 – Interpretation of the observed velocity difference. But not directly.
IrishOtter49:
Have you read this?
https://newcriterion.com/article/a-dream-of-reason/
“Mick Jagger says singers shouldn’t lecture fans at shows”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jul/14/mick-jagger-says-singers-shouldnt-lecture-fans-shows/
Neo categorically denies:
==
She has a DVD with all episodes of Lucas Tanner.
==
She has a DVD of the movie Island at the Top of the World.
==
She ever had a crush on David Hartman.
==
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQPRu2csB9c
==
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjHnvAHr3is
Another bit of astrophysical weirdness: stars tend to form from cold gas masses. Hot gas is too energetic to readily collapse. So you need cold to get to heat.
Chases Eagles:
True snippet of a conversation I overheard from a woman talking on her cell phone at Laguna Beach:
“Are the negative ions the good ones or the bad ones?”
Re: Mick Jagger / Bruce Springsteen / Selfy
Yesterday I showed up at the café and ran into one of my conservative chums, also a former political consultant and mayor of Malibu. I played the Jagger conservational card. He flipped over his iPad to the Facebook post he had just made of a Jagger photo and the quote.
__________________________________
Asked how he views his relationship with audiences compared with artists such as Bob Dylan and Springsteen, Jagger said his priority has always been making sure concertgoers leave feeling uplifted rather than weighed down by politics.
‘The bottom line of my thing really is that my job in the live music world is those people that come is to have the best time they possibly can,’ Jagger said.
‘For two hours or whatever it is, to forget all their problems and the problems of the world and their mortgages and whatever, just to give them the best time they can have.’
The 82-year-old rock icon compared attending a concert to watching a major sporting event, arguing that audiences should be able to switch off from the anxieties of daily life while the show is happening.
‘You don’t want to lecture them,’ he said.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15970903/Mick-Jagger-swipe-Bruce-Springsteen-trump-gigs-lecture.html
__________________________________
Jagger has done a bit of lecturing in his time, Keith too, otherwise he keeps his eye on the ball and I for one am grateful.
After ten days of internet outage yesterday I sat around all day in my hot ABQ home waiting for CenturyLink to show up and fix things.
Nada, nada and nada. No notice that they were coming, that they weren’t coming, or that they might come again the next day.
My ISP informed me that I had been bumped to the bottom of the list and the techs had run out of time. Now some guy in Boise is trying to reschedule me, but no hard date/time has yet been set.
On the advice of a commenter here, I contacted T-Mobile for a 5G Home Internet account. No cable. No fiber. It’s a system of large Wifi hotspots which hopefully includes your address. I filled out a form for a trial, took the gateway box home and so far it works fine.
Apparently copper theft is knocking out direct internet connections, so maybe it’s time to go wireless.
huxley:
We have been using the T-Mobile 5G at home for at least 3 years and have been very satisfied, only a few outages.
Before it was copper land line, very sketchy. No reason to go back to the wired (now fiber optic) connection, for us anyway.
What?!?!
Headline over at JPost –
‘They don’t want you there’: Trump tells Netanyahu to pull IDF troops from Syria, Lebanon – report
Axios again, Mike?
Something is kinda off about all that bag-o’-worms.
Why yes,
Yes it is.
huxley, I had that exact experience with Centurylink recently (backup internet only). The appointment was a week out. No show. It turned out whatever asshole we first talked to didn’t open a ticket. I was PO’d. The complaint produced someone the very next morning who also texted when he was 20 minutes away.
Even though I live outside east Hooterville, I have two different fibers in my yard. One from the PUD and one from WAVE. I had WAVE and CenturyLink go down at the same time forcing me to use a Verizon hotspot. Thinking of StarLink now.
huxley:
We have been using the T-Mobile 5G at home for at least 3 years and have been very satisfied, only a few outages.
Huxley and Chases Eagles: I got fed up with Spectrum’s outages and despise AT&T. About 6 months ago I got a deal from Starlink; free equipment and installation. I couldn’t be happier to be free from the cable monstrosities. It does cost a fair amount more monthly, but service has been great.
Chases Eagles, I’m using Starlink in the motorhome and it works great, though I’m only paying for 100 gb download, which means we use it sparingly. I think the home internet (unlimited) is $180/mo (if I remember correctly), and in urban environments I think they’re already reaching limits. But they keep putting up more satellites to relieve the load.
The T mobile 5G is working great and it’s cheaper than fiber in my area. The download speeds are at or higher than the basic fiber.
Anyone watch the world cup.
US did look outclassed against England.
I watched the Argentina-Switzerland match and it reinforces why I don’t like watching soccer. The play was dirty, which the refs seemed to have no control over/refused to police, the players were pathetic actors, and the refs had too much control over the outcome.
I’ll probably watch Argentina-England match, just so I can root against Argentina.
Trump’s absolutely right on that one.
Israel trying to prevent Syrian minorities from getting slaughtered by three-piece-suit-wearing former-ISIS terrorist leaders—AND also defend trying to itself—could indeed create a bit of tension (and lead to escalation)…
DITTO for when it DARES to defend itself, PERIOD.
File under: HOW DARE YOU????
Hi, Brian. I’ve been following it somewhat. I think you meant US vs Belgium. That was indeed disappointing, but on the flip side, the US team’s achievement in the match before that was impressive, winning 2-0 on 10 men for most of the second half. They wouldn’t have been able to do that ten years ago.
Thanks for your reply, huxley. The picture in the Washington Times article was pretty scary, but Jagger, Richards and Woods are alive and kicking!
Michael Jordan once explained why he wasn’t publicly political (paraphrased): “Why tick off half of your fans? Their money is just as green.”
One of the Springsteen pics in the Daily Mail reminded me of Robert DeNiro….
As I’ve asserted before, the best interim solution to Iranian attacks, terror on the Strait of Hormuz is a Persian Gulf pipeline across Oman to the Gulf of Oman, which opens to the Arabian Sea. (I know, I know: our CommieKKKrats will immediately scheme to reverse the Mullah-monsters declining power so they can attack it there too.)
This evening, YouTuber Benny Johnson says Trump is on it! As the Financial Times of London announces that a company in the UAE is building it.
It will go from a port called Jebel Ali, SE of Dubai, and running East. (SEE Benny’s video at 6minutes, see a map. Earlier, you can read the paywalled FT article.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbRZT3Ur7Jc
BRIAN E is turned off soccer because…” I watched the Argentina-Switzerland match and it reinforces why I don’t like watching soccer. The play was dirty, which the refs seemed to have no control…”
I don’t really watch, but if it’s on in a bar, I’ll check it out somewhat. For me, my objection is that it’s too slow and too low scoring — the opposite of Ice hockey.
But the “rules” and refs jiggering outcomes makes me…underinvested, too, unlike, say, pro tennis watching.
The only attitude shift you can try is the fact that in the rest of the world, corruption greases not just politics, but everything.
We live in a far better, higher trust, Northern European open and accountable nation — save those Far Left neo-confederate states using criminal “sanctuaries” which are not — radically turning the US into, say, something like El Salvador used to be a few years back: a criminal stronghold, replete with official fraud, grifting, and high violent crime.
Hence, if you adjust your expectations, it is only a dull but quaint replacement for baseball. And a borderline watchable celebration of old-fashioned nationalism!
Re: Soccer
More bicycle kicks would help. 🙂